Greg Goldstein's Comic Art Gallery

Tag: Archie

Dan DeCarlo — Iconic (Part 3)

Original Art and The Artists

Archie’s Girls Betty and Veronica #58, October 1960, “Happy Hallucination”

Our final Dan DeCarlo entry this week is a story filled with irony, pathos and self-sacrifice… and infused with trademark humor.

Wait — that sounds like I’m in English literature class again. And even 40 years later, I’m pretty sure I’m not ready for that.

So let’s simplify: Here’s a complete DeCarlo story that’s an absolute classic. Don’t take my word for it: The full story here is included below — in original art form, and published version too.

As Rod Serling would have would have intoned in his own hallucinogenic tales on Twilight Zone at at about the same time, this complete tale is officially  “submitted for your approval.”

Happy 80th, Archie. You occasionally look very different, but definitely not much older.

“Happy Hallucination” is also featured IDW’s Dan DeCarlo collection. (Volume 4, specifically — but let’s face it, you need to own them all.)

Dan DeCarlo — Iconic (Part 2)

Original Art and The Artists

Pep #148, August 1961

One of my first DeCarlo pages is sill one of my favorites.

To say Dan infused the storytelling and character personality here with pizazz is an understatement. In fact, this page is a typical DeCarlo classic: Simple, clear, fun — and completely engaging.

The third panel (Archie’s close-up) is a classic summation of the dizzying nature of the character’s life overall, not just in this story.

I like that headshot so much I use the published version as my icon for this blog, as well as in other places too.

Dazed and confused? I’m pretty sure I can relate.

Dan DeCarlo — Iconic (Part 1)

Original Art and The Artists

Archie Giant Series #153, Original Pin-up, reworked for cover, June 1968

Archie and his gang fully hit their stride with the baby boom generation, and no one was more responsible for that than cartoonist Dan DeCarlo.

Bob Montana created the original appearance of the gang, and DeCarlo modernized it — and never stopped tweaking the appearance (he had a very keen eye for fashion) and the personalities of the beloved characters for more than forty years. 

I loved Montana’s work — I even edited a hardcover collection of Montana strips — but DeCarlo’s clear and expressive art fully imprinted on my young reading eyes in the 60s and 70s.

So… to continue Archie’s 80thcelebration, we’ll feature just the tip of the iceberg of Dan’s great work this week.

And we will start with a fun anomaly: A gag that was redesigned — and rewritten — before it morphed from a pin-up page to a full cover.

Which one works better? I think I can come up with pros and cons for each, although from a comics code perspective, it’s possible the published cover might be slightly more acceptable than the original. It’s a bit more open to the imagination as to whether Archie is painting Veronica’s shirt — or her actual body.

In the unpublished version, it’s pretty much a no-brainer.

Dan Parent — Three On A Bat-Shake

Original Art and The Artists

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!

Dan Parent — Three On A Soda

Original Art and The Artists

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.

The three previous versions of “three on a soda” by Bob Montana, Harry Lucey, and Decarlo. Decarlo’s version made it as a postage stamp. The Riverdale television show recreated the image as well.

Dexter Taylor — See The Stars

Original Art and The Artists

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.

Superboy set the standard for “the younger version” comic, and eventually Archie caught up. As a side note Little Archie #1 is one of the rarest comics of the 1950s.

Dan DeCarlo — Cover Girls

Original Art and The Artists

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.)

Bob White — School Daze

Original Art and The Artists

Archie’s Joke Book #18, September 1955

Whether in a classroom, or stuck at home in front of a computer, the school year is indeed upon millions of kids and their folks.

And lets face it, when you’re a kid, the school calendar is much more important than the “yearly” calendar.

Archie comics was one of the few publishers that frequently employed the calendar to its advantage. New stories (or reprints for that matter) were typically timed to Christmas Vacation, Summer Vacation, camp time, and of course, school years. 

In hindsight, Archie’s publishing schedule was similar to the merchandise planning of a department store. You have to stay ahead of the seasons.

And since the Archie gang were teens, school played an oversized role in the storytelling and gags.

Appropriately, here is a great one pager by Bob White. Sure the gags are corny, but 65 years ago they were probably the bee’s knees. (Actually, they were probably groaners then, too.)

But we grinned. And the cartooning is terrific.  

(White credit confirmed by my friend, the late, great, Victor Gorelick, Archie’s EIC, who passed away earlier this year. Damn you, 2020.)

Dan Parent — Battle Of The Century, Revisited

Original Art and The Artists

Betty vs. Veronica, Commission, 2015

Wrapping up our multi-part tribute to The Human Torch and Sub-Mariner, in honor of the late summer weather at the California coast.

From time to time, an offbeat Archie mash-up idea burrows its way into my consciousness, and Dan Parent always delivers.  In fact, this homage to the original battle scene by the legendary Bill Everett is one of my favorites among the many terrific ones Dan’s produced.

Dan is easily among the top tier of all-time Archie stand-out talents, joining a terrific group of cartoonists that includes Bob Montana, Dan DeCarlo and Harry Lucey, to name a few.

Incidentally, we matched the characters by overall appearance (Veronica/Namor, brunette and Betty/Torch, blonde) and, to some extent, personality. After all, Veronica is definitely the worse-tempered of the two, and Betty… does indeed carry a “torch” for Archie.

Ouch.