Panels and Pages… Art and Artists… Creators and Conventions… Musings and Memories…
Commission, 2019
I asked my pal Dan Parent for this commission in 2019, shortly after he completed art chores on the actual Batman / Archie crossover.
I love this piece, but shortly after I returned home with it, the first thought that occurred to me was: “Shouldn’t this be Robin?” Duh.
Well, there’s always next time. Meanwhile, in addition to the 80th anniversary of Archie, it’s the 55th anniversary of the Batman television show as well.
Holy dual celebration!
Archie #647, October 2013
“Three on a soda” is likely the most iconic image in the Archie universe. Bob Montana, Harry Lucey, and Dan DeCarlo all created their own versions, and Dan Parent introduces his version in 2013.
That’s the four most influential creators in the company’s history.
Nuff said.
Little Archie #54, July 1969
Dexter Taylor creates a sweet (literally AND figuratively) page of the Little Archie gang from a 1969 issue. Archie comics hit my radar from time to time as a youngster when I couldn’t find any new comics from Marvel or DC, and the is likely one of my earliest encounters with the younger versions of the Riverdale crew.
Many of the Archie stories from this period, especially the one-pagers like this one, are unsigned. And although, some are easily identifiable, some are not.I’m grateful to my pal, the late, great Archie Editor Victor Gorelick, who could identify pretty much any classic Archie artist and story, for always helping me sort it out. Victor, who worked at Archie fore more than 60(!) years, passed away just about a year ago, and he is sorely missed.
Archie’s Joke Book #132, July 1969
Many consider Dan DeCarlo THE quintessential Archie artist. A generation of Boomers would probably find little argument with that.
As part of the Archie 80th anniversary celebration in 2021, we will have a special tribute to Dan later in the year. In the meantime, here’s a great DeCarlo cover featuring Betty, Veronica, Mr. Lodge, and… Archie… sort of.
It’s a typical fashion gag from the era, and this original is a nicely rebuilt and restored “large-art” cover. (The penny-wise folks at Archie reused the nameplate boards as templates over and over again, simply removing the art, and pasting the new art and issue dates in place. I’ve owned another one where the original art was actually pasted over the previous issue’s original art. Ouch.)
Who wants to sell these guys a superhero?
https://www.npr.org/2021/02/12/967425295/we-buy-a-superhero-origins
Planet Money is our favorite economics podcast (Freakonomics is a close second) and we were pleasantly surprised to see the most recent episode (likely part one of a two-parter) discuss superhero economics. Or at least the part that deals with the intellectual property valuation of superhero ownership.
We’re extra delighted that our old pal Alex Segura, co-president of Archie Comics is the featured interview.
And yes, the hosts do get it in their head to try to buy Doorman, an especially — and purposely — lame character, from Marvel.
Listen… and subscribe.
Archie’s Joke Book #2, January 1954
Although the newspaper strip kept Archie co-creator Bob Montana busy, he did manage to continue to find time to provide comic book pages as well, setting (and ultimately evolving) the house style for the Archie family.
Archie’s Joke Book used a similar formula to the newspaper strips: Short gags, either a half page or full page in length, possibly even recycling or amplifying some of the same gags from those strips.
IDW collected one small volume of these “jokes” from that era to minimal success. The format didn’t appeal to collectors, and the joke themselves in all fairness, don’t appeal all that much to a contemporary audience.
Sunday June 13, 1954
Archie, as noted in the previous blog, rapidly achieved success. Within a few years after the character’s introduction, the Archie family added a hit newspaper strip to the successful comics line. Bob Montana, Archie’s co-creator, worked on the strip for nearly 30 years until his untimely passing in 1975.
IDW and the Library of American Comics intended to publish a complete sequential series of these strips, but ran into a problem: Finding the actual strips themselves. Archie had no strip archive, and collectors, who had kept clipped strips from the era, concentrated primarily on adventure series and mostly ignored Archie.
Fortunately, we managed one book each of dailies and Sundays from the period, and even a cursory glance reveals Montana’s cleverness in cartooning.
Archie Americana Volume 1: Best of the 1940s HC, 2011
Archie Andrews, (along with many of the rest of his timeless Riverdale gang), celebrates his 80th anniversary this year.
Starting as a back-up feature in MLJ’s Pep Comics #22 (cover date December 1941), Archie and his pals gradually took over the whole comic, and eventually, in 1946, the entire company.
Archie’s creation is generally credited to MLJ founder John Goldwater, and cartoonist Bob Montana. Montana apparently based many of the characters on friends and neighbors from his high school days in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
IDW Publishing and Dark Horse both relentlessly chased Archie Comics for archival reprint rights — an area the company itself was slow to develop, and in 2009, Archie ultimately split those reprint rights between the two publishers.
AT IDW, we published hardcover “Best of” collections, based on both era and artist. We also added the Archie strips to our Library of American Comics imprint headed by Dean Mullaney. (More on that later.)
Andrew Pepoy drew era-specific covers for all four Archie’s Americana volumes. This cover from the first volume — Best of the 40s — is a faithful and clever re-working of Montana’s cover for Archie’s Pals and Gals #3. Ironically, Montana’s original is from the 50s (1954), but I don’t think anyone complained.
More Archie coming up in the next few posts as we celebrate his very youthful 80th.
Hawkworld #1, August 1989
What happens when you reboot a reboot? What happens when you change some continuity, but not all of it? What happens later when you er… change your mind?
What happens is you get DC superhero continuity for the last 35 years or so, post “Crisis on Infinite Earths.”
This is not a knock, per se, just an observation. Along with these many changes have been some great series and story arcs. Just enjoy the ride while it lasts, because a new one is probably around the corner.
Hawkworld is an early “prestige” re-do of the post-crisis Hawk backstory, nicely told by Tim Truman. It led to an ongoing series, and then later on… more retconning.
I like this page because it uses the art “camera” to heighten drama and increase tension, as opposed to more traditional character action. Coincidentally, I also own a Mark Bagley page that’s similarly cinematic in approach to similar subject matter. (I don’t think it’s an homage or swipe, just a classic case of great minds thinking alike — 25 years apart.)
Hawkman #30, September 2004
Greg Land delivers a simple, powerful and striking image of Hawkgirl (“Hawkwoman”*) metaphorically defending Hawkman in front of his Wanted Poster.
Superheroes framed for crimes — or constantly hunted as actual criminals (Spider-man, et al) — is a trope, that for whatever reason, I enjoy. But even if I didn’t, I’d still appreciate this terrific cover.
*Hawkgirl adamantly changes her name to Hawkwoman in issue #272 of World’s Finest (1981) but the moniker doesn’t stick over time. I can’t say I blame her for having a chip on her shoulder. When Hawkman was admitted into the Justice League in 1964, she was denied membership, because, according to League “rules”, only one new member is allowed at a time. Ouch.
