Army & Navy Fun Parade #52
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeArmy & Navy Fun Parade #52 (December 1951) holds its place in Harvey's long-running military-humor digest as part of a series that bridged America's World War II home-front comedy tradition into the early Cold War era, keeping the gag-panel format alive for a readership that had grown up on wartime camp humor. The 1951 series itself is notable as a seamless numbering continuation of the earlier Fun Parade line, demonstrating Harvey's commitment to sustaining a distinct humor imprint separate from its superhero and romance output. As a product of Fun Parade Inc.—Harvey's dedicated indicia publisher for this corner of its line—the issue reflects the studio's unusually organized approach to genre branding in the Golden Age. No singular first appearance or landmark story has been documented for this specific issue, making its significance primarily contextual and archival rather than character-driven.
In "I Was a Lovesick Fan," a young boy shares his frustration with a teacher who seems to be taking up all his family’s time—first keeping him after class, then sneaking out with his older brother at night. Written and drawn by Robert Barnes, this 1951 Harvey gem captures a quiet, heartfelt moment of childhood bewilderment with gentle humor and charm, all on a cover by Robert Barnes.
ComicBooks.com Value
Find on ebay
Read it digitally
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
The Army and Navy Fun Parade lineage dates to 1942, when Alfred Harvey launched it as a digest aimed at servicemen, with the indicia published under Alfred Harvey Publications. By the time the 1947 'Fun Parade' series reached issue #49, Harvey restarted numbering and retitled the book Army & Navy Fun Parade with issue #50 (August 1951), now under the Fun Parade Inc. indicia imprint. Issue #52 lands three issues into that renaming, during the Korean War period, when military-adjacent humor still held a ready civilian and veteran readership. The series drew heavily on reprints from Harvey's sibling humor titles—Hello Buddies, Army & Navy Jokes, and Army and Navy Hot Shots—meaning much of any given issue's content recycled gags from the publisher's WWII-era back catalog.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published by Harvey (indicia: Fun Parade Inc.), cover-dated December 1951, as part of the 1951 series that ran from issue #50 through at least #100 (circa 1960).
- Issue #52 is the third issue of the retitled 'Army & Navy Fun Parade' run, which picked up numbering directly from the earlier Fun Parade (Harvey, 1947 series) at issue #49.
- The original Army and Navy Fun Parade series launched in 1942 under Alfred Harvey Publications, making this one of Harvey's longest-running humor properties at the time of #52's publication.
- The series format across the run was a humor digest mixing single-panel gag cartoons, pin-up 'girl of the month' features, recurring comedy columns (e.g., 'A Lass and a Laugh'), and military/domestic humor vignettes.
- Issues throughout the 1951 series regularly reprinted material from Harvey's companion humor titles, including Hello Buddies, Army & Navy Jokes, and Army and Navy Hot Shots.
- The publisher entity named in the indicia across the 1951 run is Fun Parade Inc., distinct from the Alfred Harvey Publications credit used in the original 1942 series.
- Later in the same run, some issues (specifically #89–91) dropped the 'Army & Navy' prefix from the indicia title, reverting to simply 'Fun Parade,' reflecting the fading salience of military branding in the late 1950s.
- No issue-specific table of contents, creator credits, or unique story content for #52 has been indexed by the Grand Comics Database or any other public comic-history resource at this time.
Full credits
Reprints
↩ Reprints Hello Buddies #10 (1943), Hello Buddies #2 (1943), Fun Parade #46 (1950), True Love Problems and Advice Illustrated #7 (1951)
Reprinted in Army & Navy Fun Parade #94 (1959), Hello Buddies #94 (1959)
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.