F.M. Howarth and Puck Magazine

When you think Puck, you may think of Shakespeare’s meddling little sprite. But did you know that the word Puck has yet another connotation with pop culture?

Puck was the name of a German language humor periodical that debuted in 1871 from Austrian immigrant Joseph Keppler. One year later, Puck was being published in English as well. It wasn’t easy getting the publication on its feet, however, and both language-versions soon folded before Keppler decided to relaunch them in 1874.

While the new German version did extremely well, it took the English version slightly longer to catch on. By adding color lithography in every issue, as well as black and white sequential comics and cartoons throughout, however, Puck soon became a revolutionary publication that set the stage for such publications to come. But not only was the layout of Puck noteworthy – so also were the artists who helped bring the publication to life. Artists such as Frederick Burr Opper, Eugene “Zim” Zimmerman, and especially F.M. Howarth.

Franklin Morris Howarth, who was born in 1870, was a pioneer of illustration at the end of the 19th century. His unique narrative style of drawing and highly stylized characters made him a forerunner of the new publications that were surfacing during the time, and he contributed his work not only to Puck but also to Judge (which debuted in 1881), Truth (which also debuted in 1881), and Life (which came along in 1883). Howarth also created the full page sequential color comic strips on the back covers of many Puck magazines, beginning in the 1890s.

It was an anthology devoted to his work for Puck, however, that helped establish the format many books reprinting Sunday newspaper comic strips would follow in later years. See, in the 1880s, the idea of collecting anthologies of one particular theme or one particular artist began to gain popularity. The earliest anthology of this type known today is A.B. Frost’s Stuff and Nonsense, which was published in 1884.

Four years later, in 1888, there was Frederick Burr Opper’s Puck’s Opper Book. This notion caught on, and soon, Puck began a monthly Library series of smaller, mostly black and white books that republished material theme and artist-oriented material. In 1899, it was Howarth’s turn. And the 90-page hardcover Funny Folks, published by E.P. Dutton and measuring a rather large 16” x 12”, stands today as one of the first books to establish the format that many Platinum Age comic books would follow. Recreating several of Howarth’s Puck pieces, both sequential and single-gag and in both color and black and white, this book is also often regarded as a “bridge” between the Victorian and Platinum Ages.

Of course, the publication of Funny Folks was only one step in Howarth’s fantastic career. In 1903, he began work on his first weekly continuing newspaper strip, Lulu and Leander. This led to the creation of 1907’s Ole Opey Dildock – The Storyteller. Sadly, however, Howarth died in 1908, so we are only left to speculate upon what sort of brilliant inspiration he could have contributed to comic books to come.