Published by Eastern Color Printing, Famous Funnies is considered by popular culture historians as the first true American comic book, following seminal precursors.

Neither sold nor available on newsstands, it was sent free as a promotional item to consumers who mailed in coupons clipped from Procter & Gamble soap and toiletries products.

[8][9] It was distributed through the Woolworth's department store chain, though it is unclear whether it was sold or given away; the cover displays no price, but Goulart refers, either metaphorically or literally, to Gaines "sticking a ten-cent pricetag [sic] on the comic books".

As a test to see if the public would be willing to pay for comic books, Dell published the single-issue Famous Funnies: Series 1, also printed by Eastern Color.

[citation needed] After the previous successes, Eastern employee Harold Moore proposed a monthly comic book series.

When Dell nonetheless declined to continue, Eastern Color on its own published Famous Funnies #1 (cover-dated July 1934), also 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 debt[10] (prompting George Delacorte to sell his interest back to Eastern).

[10] The Ledger Syndicate provided many strips for Famous Funnies issues #1–87 (from 1934 to 1941), including A. E. Hayward's Somebody's Stenog and The Back-Seat Driver; Frank Godwin's Connie, The Wet Blanket, Babe Bunting, Roy Powers, Vignettes of Life, and War on Crime; F. O. Alexander's Hairbreadth Harry and High-Gear Homer; Clare Victor Dwiggins' Footprints on the Sands of Time; Joe Bowers' Dizzy Dramas; Gar (Schmitt)'s Dumb-Bells; and Walt Munson & Kemp Starrett's Such is Life.

In May 1936, Federal Bureau of Investigation director J. Edgar Hoover contacted cartoonist Rex Collier and proposed a comic strip based on true stories of FBI agents.

[15] Inspired by the popular trend of superheroes, Famous Funnies #81 introduced Invisible Scarlet O'Neil, one of comics’ earliest super-heroines, authored by Russell Stamm.

This issue marked a change in mood for Famous Funnies, as the covers switched from whimsical gags to more serious adventurous fare.