By various (Archie Comics)
ISBN: 1-879794-01-2
Adapting seamlessly to every trend and fad of youth culture, the creators who’ve crafted Archie Comics over the decades have made the “everyteens†of Riverdale a touchstone of American childhood and a visual barometer of growing up.
After initially jumping on the superhero/mystery-man bandwagon in 1939, Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit and John Goldwater (MLJ) were quick to spot a gap in their blossoming market. In December 1941 the costumed heroes and two-fisted adventure strips were supplemented by a wholesome ordinary hero, an “average teen†who would have ordinary adventures like the readers, but with the laughs and slapstick emphasised.
Pep Comics #22 introduced ‘Archie’ a gap-toothed, freckle-faced red-headed goof showing off to pretty blonde Betty next door. Taking his lead from the popular “Andy Hardy†movies starring Mickey Rooney, Goldwater developed the concept, tasking writer Vic Bloom and artist Bob Montana with the job of making it work.
The strip was an instant hit. By the winter of 1942 Archie had his own title, the company’s first non-anthology magazine and with it began the transformation of the entire company. When rich, black-haired Veronica Lodge arrived all the pieces were in play for the industry’s second Phenomenon (Superman being the first). By May 1946 the kids had taken over, so the company renamed itself ‘Archie Comics’, retiring its heroic characters years before the end of the Golden Age and becoming to all intents and purposes a publisher of family comedies. Its success, like the Man of Steel’s, changed the content of every other publisher’s titles, and led to a multi-media industry including TV, movies, pop-songs and even a chain of restaurants.
Archie is a well-meaning boy who lacks common sense. Betty is the pretty, sensible girl next door, with all that entails. She loves Archie. Veronica is rich, exotic and glamorous; she only settles for our boy if there’s nobody better around. She might actually love him though. Archie can’t decide who he wants…
Archie’s unconventional best friend Jughead Jones is Mercutio to Archie’s Romeo, providing rationality and a reader’s voice, as well as being a powerful catalyst of events in his own right. The wholesome eternal triangle (+ one) has been the basis of more than sixty-five years of charming, raucous, gentle, frenetic, chiding and even heart-rending comedy ranging from surreal wit to frantic slapstick, as the kids and an increasing cast of friends grew into an American institution. So pervasive is the imagery that it’s a part of Americana itself. When you watch Happy Days, that’s the 1950s Riverdale crowd you’re tuning in to, and that’s never more apparent than in this second volume containing some of the best stories of that iconic decade.
According to many fans and purists it’s also the absolute zenith of quality material. That mythical America of Drive-Ins, Bobbysocks, Big Cars with Fins, Men in Hats and Malt-Shops was the ideal environment to perfect the strip and blend innocence, innuendo and ingenuity (all fine teen-ager qualities) with raucous knockabout comedy that ranked with the best that Hollywood and the new medium of Television could offer.
In this volume the kids of Riverdale deal with everything from the threat of Atomic War, to Hula Hoops, fads and fashions and the timeless struggles of Boy Vs Girl, Boy Vs Rival Boy, Boy Vs Alarm-Clock, Boy Vs Girl’s Father and every permutation in between.
With such writers as Frank Doyle, George Gladir, Sy Reit, Tom Moore and artists like Bob Montana, Bob Bolling, Dan DeCarlo, Joe Edwards, Samm Schwartz, Bill Vigoda and the legendary Harry Lucey (who famously only drew clothes on the first page of his stories – leaving production assistant Terry Szenics to cover up those hormone-crazed teens) these tales are timeless masterpieces of their type, and still capable of splitting sides and charming the pants off most readers today.
© 1953-1959, 1992, 2007 Archie Publications Inc. All Rights Reserved.
