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[MarkWarner]

So last week's book Our Place in Space was a confirmed hit. I do however agree with Crashryan that it is sad that the commercial aspect (military dollars) have actually directed a lot of the research and effort over the years.

As for this week's book ... I thought we ought to go for a non U.S. book and something out of our comfort zone. So I plucked out this book.  All Fun Comic v3 #4 was printed in England around 1940 and looks like 16 pages of strips, with I guess quite a few war time references.

The book can be found here: https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=58879. It looks very light so we'll make this a cover to cover. To be honest I am not expecting comic book gold (or even bronze) on this one ... but we'll see!

[crashryan]

Alan Fraser is so bizarre! Half his jokes make no sense, and the rest just lie there. His cartooning is as basic as it gets. Yet for whatever reason I like his stuff! "Norman the Nib" and "The Old Sea Dog" take the cake for non sequitur weirdness. The "War on the Moon" strip is wiser than it lets on. "Silly, Isn't It?" is the same idea that Paul Coker, Jr., milked for years in Mad. "Biff and Bang" wins the prize for the longest build-up to a lousy joke.

A very strange comic but it made a fun read.

[SuperScrounge]

Charlotte the Char - Okay.

Invisible George - Eh.

Biff & Bang - I think the spies took the laughter.

Bunty's Baby - Yeahhhhhhhh...

Poor Old Pop - Not bad.

Nosey Parky - Eh.

Silly Isn't It? - This one was cute.

Dreamy Dick - Eh.

Moko the Monk - Meh.

The Loony Family - Shame it wasn't the Funny Family.

The Comic Army - Eh.

Boarding House Bertha - Eh.

The Old Sea Dog - Bwha??? 

Gran'pa - Okay.

Sammy and his Sister - Can't help thinking how much funnier this would have been as an advertisement for rifles or BB guns. 

Artie - Not bad.

Little Adolf - Hehehe. 

Tea Pot Tilly - Ummmmm... eeeeew?

Norman Nib - Ooooookayyyyyyy... why use anthropomorphic pens instead of people for this joke?

The Man in the Moon - The moon people really like citrus fruits. 

Smokes - Interesting.

Overall I'd say it's a mildly amusing read, some bits are a little strange though.

Some information about this issue has been submitted to the GCD and it should be up in a day or so. http://www.comics.org/issue/958034/

[K1ngcat]

Can't help thinking how much funnier this would have been if the jokes made you laugh.    Sorry to let the side down, it serves me right, I was tempted to read this because it was British, but what a disappointment. Can this be from the country that created The Goon Show, Round The Horne, Monty Python, Fawlty Towers, etc?    Give me Dizzy Don any day. 

[EHowie60]

I had no idea that wartime Britain had to ration humor too. At least, that's the best explanation I can think of for this book . A good number of the jokes keep going a couple panels after the punchline, but not in the way that a good cartoonist can pull off a reaction shot for an extra laugh. Others, like the Biff and Bang joke, deliver the joke so flatly they seem to actually suck humor away from the surrounding area. There are some good ones though; I liked the visual of a raisin shotgun for making raisin cake. I agree with SuperScrounge: Why make Norman Nib a pen if you're not going for a pen joke? Also, I want to see an ongoing series about the First Moon War (Aka the Moonian Orange Crisis).

[MarkWarner]

Oh dear, I have just finished the woefully misnamed All Fun Comic. On a positive, I rather liked the art work. But, I am afraid I didn't laugh very much ... in fact I didn't laugh at all. Try as I might I could not even force out half a chuckle.

I think Biff & Bang was the best of a bad bunch and The Old Sea Dog managed to score a "Z minus" 

Verdict: Art was good. Well to be honest I think intriguing would be a better description. But unfortunately the book has not been funny for 75 years and counting.

[narfstar]

I am getting late to these parties. I agree with the others that there is not much fun to this. I like Mark's remark that " Art was good. Well to be honest I think intriguing would be a better description."

[paw broon]

As with narfstar, I'm also getting behind with my reading.  Lots going on that have sfa to do with comics.
But this comic does nothing to cheer me up.  Away from the great humour strips of Beano, Dandy, Radio Fun, Slick Fun etc., there are many comics like this which are very low on the chuckle counter.  This one is probably close to the bottom of any list.  Oddly, Soloway produced some very good adventure strips and it's strange that their funnies, as evidenced by this effort, are so poor.  Alan Fraser's work is odd, to say the least but it is eccentric and somewhat interesting - just not very funny.