Archie Comics, Part 2

Betty and Veronica Double Digest from 2006, with the infamous “new look.”

Despite the sameness of Archie and his friends, they have reacted to the times, albeit gently. The latest dances are always featured, Betty and Veronica are always on fashion’s cutting edge, and even modest excursions into movements like beatniks, hippies, and punks were taken.

But despite that, Archie fans knew that nobody was going to die, a la Captain America, or no quantum leaps in character depictions would ever be taken.

Until December of 2006, that is.

An edition of Betty and Veronica Double Digest came out that month with the girls redrawn to look more human. It was an “experiment” by the publishers to gauge reader reaction.

It was about as popular as passed gas in an elevator.

Betty and Veronica were perfect 10’s long before Bo Derek. They were drawn simply, but their beauty was manifested immaculately in that simplicity. Seeing them drawn in detail was simply horrifying to long-time fans.

They quickly got enough reader reaction to make a statement shortly after that the new look would NOT be tried again.

Indeed, a standardized look to the characters was established in the late 1940’s. The original Archie bore more of a resemblance to Little Archie than his present-day self. He even had Alfred E. Neumanesque buck teeth.

In 1947, when Bob Montana began producing the newspaper strip, his look stabilized. It was cemented in place in 1957 by artist Dan DeCarlo. Except for the aforementioned deliberate attempt otherwise, the characters are instantly recognizable over six decades of publication. And that’s how we fans like it.

Archie’s Gang

The relationships among the characters are consistent as well. Archie prefers Betty’s down-to-earth personality, but he finds it difficult to ignore Veronica’s beauty and bucks. Moose’s girl is Midge, and anyone who thinks otherwise is in BIG trouble. Big Ethel has the hots for Jughead, who occasionally gives in to her advances. Reggie is the thorn in Archie’s side, occasionally proving to be a friend, but most often a snake in the grass. Mr. Weatherbee is the stereotypical clueless figure in charge, perhaps the one who originated all of his imitators in every high school movie. Dilton Doily is the brilliant nerd. He scores straight A’s in Mr. Flutesnoot’s class.

Archie has long sought to escape the comic book pages. There was an Archie radio show on from 1943-1953. A 1990 TV movie was made, showing real actors playing older versions of the gang. It sank out of sight quietly. However, a cartoon series that ran from 1968-1978 was a much larger success. It even spawned Top Forty songs! The Archies were a group of studio musicians that paradoxically scored hits as cartoon characters. Weird, interesting stuff.

But even though all of those series are gone, now, Archie and the gang continue to live their everyday lives on the pages of comic books. The vast wealth of material from over the years means a never-ending supply of reprintable stories, along with new ones turned out every month.

And we Boomers like finding something from our childhoods that still exists today in essentially the same form that we remember.

Archie Comics, Part 1

The Very First Archie Comic, 1942

I had two older brothers growing up. We bonded in different ways. My oldest brother and myself shared a love for science, as can be exemplified by our mutual love for the Mr. Wizard show. My middle brother and myself shared love for things like fireworks, Flipper, and Archie comics.

I was very fortunate to have been taught to read by a progressive-minded kindergarten teacher who was a firm believer in phonics. That meant I could enjoy Archie comics storylines at the tender age of five! And enjoy them I did.

Bill would obtain the comics for twelve cents, and I would get to read them for free! Not a bad deal at all.

The comics that my middle brother and I held in such high esteem got their start back in 1939. MLJ Comics, named after the first initials of its three founders: Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit, and John L. Goldwater, began in that year. Two years later, in an issue of Pep comics, a character named Archie Andrews appeared.

His character was based, among others, on Mickey Rooney’s Andy Hardy character. But instead of Judy Garland, he got to run around with gorgeous girl-next-door type Betty and equally gorgeous rich girl Veronica.

Man, those gals gave me an appreciation for the female body at an early age.

But a recurring theme of Archie comics, which continues to this day, is an inherent innocence and wholesomeness, enforced by fierce brand name protection for any who might use trademarked characters without permission and approval.

The comics grew in popularity, and more and more characters were added, many of whom rated their own series of comic books. Thus, we got Reggie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica, Archie’s Pals and Gals, Li’l Jinx, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Josie and the Pussycats, and even Little Archie, the youthful version.

Life With Archie

Life with Archie was an example of thinking outside the box. This series would look at things more seriously. It featured Archie and pals as super heroes fighting crime, of as tortured teens suffering from angst or temptations. There were even some Christian stories. According to Don Markstein’s Toonopedia, this particular series is one of the most sought after by collectors today.

But by and large, Archie comics were nice, lightweight entertainment. The fact that they continue to sell in the millions over sixty years after their inception proves the value of picking a simple premise and sticking with it.

After all, it’s impossible to picture Archie and his friends protesting the Vietnam war, or introducing a gay character, or taking a stand on abortion. Feminists have vilified the comics for making Betty and Veronica stereotypical beautiful ineffective bimbos, but they are missing the point. Archie is all about the fantasy world of Riverdale. They don’t suffer from mundane problems like AIDS, destruction of the ozone layer, abuse of the helpless, or things like that. No, the biggest hitches that are faced are what to wear to the dance, or who to ask without making the other angry, or facing a pop test in Mr. Flutesnoot’s class.

In other words, it’s ESCAPISM, and we need it badly from time to time. I salute Archie’s creators for staying with the ship’s course. Its continuing popularity makes it clear that it’s a good way to go

Andy Warhol Pop Art

Andy Warhol

One of the best things my parents ever did for me was to subscribe to Life, Look, and Post. The big, lavishly illustrated magazines gave me an appreciation for all sorts of things that I might have otherwise missed out on living in a small town.

For instance, Miami, Oklahoma didn’t have an art gallery. But Life and their ilk allowed me to develop an appreciation for art nonetheless.

An artist whose work appealed to a child like me was Andy Warhol.

Warhol was one of the most famous “pop art” artists. Pop art got it start in the mid 50’s. The unconventional style involved techniques like assembling collages of photographs, or painstakingly creating blown up reproductions of comic book scenes, accurate down to the individual color dots. Warhol’s style, at least in the early part of his career, used silk screens, photograph-like paintings of everyday objects like Coke bottles, and bright, unnatural colors.

A kid would love it. That’s why many art critics spurned Warhol’s art and dismissed it as juvenile and amateurish.

Warhol’s Famous Marilyn

Warhol was born to his Slovak immigrant parents in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1928. A construction worker, his father died in an accident when he was thirteen years old.

The young Andy had an artistic knack, After graduating high school, he studied art at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in his hometown. Graduating in 1949, he got a job as a commercial artist in the advertising business. His work also appeared in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and other New York publications.

Warhol began exhibiting his works beginning in 1952. He was basically removing the line between commercial and traditional art. He once stated “When you think about it, department stores are kind of like museums.”

While many critics sneered, the public loved it. Eventually, he dropped out of the commercial business and opened his own studio appropriately called The Factory in 1962.

The factory cranked out lots of art. Warhol would produce prints and silkscreens that could be replicated by his employees. He also designed shoes which they would assemble. Additionally, the gifted but eccentric artist produced many films there. They were pretty strange. For instance, Sleep, his first, was a six-hour film of a man sleeping.

In 1964, an art show called The American Supermarket was put on by Warhol and five other pop artists. In it, he debuted his famous Campbell’s Soup concept. The illustrated painting was available for $1500. He also sold autographed cans of soup for $6.00 each. Either purchase would have been a seriously good investment.

Andy Warhol’s Soup Can Painting

Warhol’s art appeared everywhere throughout the 60’s (including Life magazine and her sisters). But then, in 1968, everything changed with a gunshot.

I’m not talking about Bobby or Martin Luther King. Warhol himself was shot at The Factory by a nutty woman who had founded a group called SCUM (Society Cutting Up Men). Warhol was seriously injured, but survived.

However, his commercial-themed art days were done. When he got back to work, his specialty was portraits of the rich and famous. He eventually opened a nightclub and launched a magazine called Interview.

Warhol died in 1989. His legacy includes many great works of art, both “pop” and more traditional. But if you remember JFK, you likely also remember Campbell’s Soup cans, Coke bottles, or possibly purple Marilyn Monroes hanging on the walls of some of the places you visited, or perhaps illustrated in Life magazine.