In
1941 writer Victor Bloom and artist Bob Montana uncorked a genie from
a bottle in the pages of MLJ’s PEP COMICS issue 22. At the behest
of publisher John Goldwater the pair created a comicbook strip that
tapped into the audience of the popular “Andy Hardy” series of
movies. Those films detailed the trials and tribulations of American
teenage life and the cartoonists came up with their variation on that
theme; Archie Andrews. Archie would become the company’s most
valuable property as it became the basis of innumerous comics
starring the redhead and his pals. It also made it into America’s
heart via a newspaper strip and as well as a radio program.
Eventually MLJ changed it’s name to Archie Comics, honoring the
characters popularity and importance. 72 years later the company and
it’s star are still going strong.
That
part of the story is well known and oft told. But rarely do I see
mention of the strips massive impact on comics publishing itself. It
founded the “teen humor” genre of comics and it wasn’t long
before the industry embraced the idea. Nearly every publisher came
out with their own variation of this type. Even MLJ pirated itself
producing series in the ilk which were not based in the ‘Riverdale
Universe’. My ‘Adolescent Behavior’ series of posts will
explore the many variant renderings of the Archie formula.
To
begin lets go to the disreputable publishing outfit of Victor Fox.
The self proclaimed ‘king of the comics’ was noted for his
megalomania and cheapness, but on the positive side was also known
for giving several giant’s their start in the industry. That list
includes Joe Simon, Jack Kirby and Wally Wood. This pedigree also
extended to EC’s noted writer/editor/artist; Al Feldstein. At Fox,
Al did several of these Riverdale counterfeits like Sunny, Corliss
Archer and Junior.
In
the pages of JUNIOR COMICS Al wrote, penciled and inked under the nom
de plume “Bill Brown”. The title character is Junior Hancock, a
high school boy that correlates directly to Archie. In fact the strip
has virtual parallels to much of Riverdale cast. You have Reggie
reimagined as Tuffy, a faux Jughead in Goofy and romantic rivals for
Junior’s attention in Deena and Gwenny. I’ll be focusing on the
ladies here as I give you “The Run Around”.
This
story concept could easily have been used as an Archie tale. That’s
not quite the case for the next yarn, “A Model Story”.
Here
Feldstein seems to fuse the strip with Bill Ward’s cheesecake
series “Torchy”, with the gals posing in a variety of sexy
outfits that include undies and negligees. Maybe it’s just me but
doesn’t it seem to be a tad perverse to have teenaged schoolgirls
parading around in this manner? The GCD does not cite Al as the
author for this particular story and we do see a new credit of Tom
Howe beside the logo in the splash. But glance down to bottom of the
curtains to find Al’s initials.
The
last example will refrain from the jailbait fetish elements. Here is
“Gwenny Pulls The Wool Over Deena’s Eyes”.
Pat
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