The final book of De Haven’s Comic Book Trilogy is Dugan Under Ground. This book deals with the end of Derby Dugan during the rise of underground comix. Overall I enjoyed the series, but Derby Dugan’s Depression Funnies(my review) is still my favorite of the three. The first and third one are more loosely organized and ultimately don’t deliver the same impact as the second one. I don’t know if it’s the changing narrators or the scope, but they just didn’t resonate the same with me. So, let’s see how the little imp Derby Dugan ends up.

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Since I previously reviewed the middle book (Derby Dugan’s Depression Funnies (my review)), I decided that I should review the first book, Funny Papers. Where Derby Dugan’s Depression Funnies showed the high point of newspaper comic strips during the 1930s, this book shows their beginning during the 1890s. We get to see the introduction of photographs and the start of comic strips as a differentiator among the newspapers. We brush past Hearst and Pulitzer and we see the beginning of a phenomenon. So, let’s head back to the roaring ’90s and the newspaper wars to see the beginning of the wars in the Funny Papers.

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Derby Dugan’s Depression Funnies by Tom De Haven is a homage to the days when newspaper comic strips ruled the comic world. Starting with The Yellow Kid, Little Nemo in Slumberland and my favorites, Krazy Kat and The Spirit, comic strips were a huge cultural touchpoint up until Max Gaines decided to fold the strips up into a book and sell them on the newsstand. De Haven creates a new strip, Derby Dugan, and focuses on the artist and the writer to show the time and place. So, who is Derby Dugan?

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