From Wikipedia's Famous Funnies article:
That same year, Eastern Color salesperson Maxwell Gaines and sales manager Harry I. Wildenberg collaborated with Dell to publish the 36-page one-shot Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics,[4] considered by historians the first true American comic book; Goulart, for example, calls it "the cornerstone for one of the most lucrative branches of magazine publishing".[5] It was distributed through the Woolworth's department store chain, though it is unclear whether it was sold or given away; the cover (see left) displays no price, but Goulart refers, either metaphorically or literally, to Gaines "sticking a ten-cent pricetag [sic] on the comic books".[6]
When Delacorte declined to continue with Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics, Eastern Color on its own published Famous Funnies #1 (cover-dated July 1934), a 68-page periodical selling for 10¢. Distributed to newsstands by the mammoth American News Company, it proved a hit with readers during the cash-strapped Great Depression, selling 90 percent of its 200,000 print run; however, its costs left Eastern Color more than $4,000 in the red.[6] That quickly changed, with the book turning a $30,000 profit each issue starting with #12.[6] Famous Funnies would eventually run 218 issues, inspire imitators, and largely launch a new mass medium.
If you look at The cover of that first issue of famous funnies, you will See the subtitle "100 COMICS AND GAMES – PUZZLES – MAGIC".
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The idea behind those early comics was simply to make cheap reprints of some of the most popular features of the daily newspapers. There was at least one major difference, while newspapers were seen primarily as an adult medium with some content thrown in for children, comic books were seen as primarily a kids medium.
This difference in target audiences was particularly notable when you look at the puzzle sections. In a newspaper or magazine of the time, these sections could be extremely demanding (such as the New York Times crossword puzzle) and even mathematically sophisticated. Starting in the late 19th century in magazines such as the Strand, creators like Sam Loyd, Henry Dudney, and, of course, Lewis Carroll were composing puzzles that often opened up areas of serious mathematical research.
You wouldn't find much in the way of cutting edge mathematics in the pages of famous funnies and other early comic books. These were puzzles intended for children. What's more they were cranked out at considerable speed and were usually fairly standard and often redundant.
Within those limitations, however, some creators really did manage to shine. Two in particular stand out, both as puzzlers and artists. The first was Art Nugent, a gifted cartoonist who produced a steady stream of charming and often quite clever puzzles for about a half a century. The second, though less prolific as A puzzlemaker, is sometimes considered one of the premier cartoonist and graphic artist of the 20th century, George Carlson.
Carlson was an extraordinarily successful commercial artist. Among other notable accomplishments, he painted the dust cover for the first addition of gone with the wind. As a comic book artist and writer, he created the highly influential jingle jangle comics which writer Harlan Ellison claims puts him in the company of artist such as Windsor McKay and George Herriman.
In terms of puzzles, Carlson was equally gifted. Martin Gardner said of Carlson's Peter Puzzlemaker series "no better collection of puzzles for young people was ever published."
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