ARCHIE COMICS #26-28
(on newsstands May 1947 - July 1947)
In Archie Comics #26 (May 1947) we get our first look at a 'Big Ethel' prototype who zero's in on Archie for the 'Patch Hop'. Apparently, a 'Patch Hop' is a dance where the girl chases down a boy and uses a needle and thread to sew a patch on to him (usually on the butt) to claim him as her date to the dance.
Archie is not amused by it.
(from Archie Comics #26 May-June 1947)
For those keeping score, Jughead actually gets snagged pretty early by Gabby for the dance!
Jughead has a date!
(from Archie Comics #26 May-June 1947)
Even though we'd get an occasional Woggon story of Betty and Veronica, for the most part, Irv Novick would handle the pair, putting them into an array of sexy situations (with corresponding outfits of course!).
Novick's layouts and anatomy (and settings, and... outfits), really began to define the characters in more adult humor stories (more on that later), that almost didn't seem to fit in the regular Archie Comic.
The skiing story in Archie Comics #26, is pretty straightforward in it's slap stick humor, not really relying on the sexuality of the characters. But it would soon seem like the exception...
(from Archie Comics #26 May-June 1947)
Bill Vigoda was still the regular artist on the book, and his stories (it's unknown, but assumed he wrote many of these) were fun and entertaining.
He does, I imagine, hold the record for most career panels containing a naked Archie Andrews.
(from Archie Comics #27 July-August 1947)
A puzzle page from Archie Comics #27. An interesting ad for Pep Comics there!
(from Archie Comics #27 July-August 1947)
Mr. Weatherbee trying to peek into the dressing room as the TEENAGE girls get ready for the ballet and then his eyes popping out of his head as they run from the room half dressed...
(from Archie Comics #27 July-August 1947)
When Veronica agrees to pose for Archie to try and win a 'Prettiest Girl in Riverdale' contest, he's pleasantly surprised in how she shows up...
(from Archie Comics #27 July-August 1947)
Of course, when Jughead brings his dog along, who has a habit of trying to jump into the pictures...
(Yeah, we've seen a variation on this concept before - in Pep Comics #48!)
(from Archie Comics #27 July-August 1947)
Maybe one of the most famous Golden Age Betty and Veronica pages, done NOT by Bob Montana or Bill Vigoda, but by Irv Novick...
He was good at what he did!
(from Archie Comics #27 July-August 1947)
Vigoda wasn't Irv Novick when it came to drawing females, but the guy was no slouch!
(from Archie Comics #28 September-October 1947)
Novick just had a way of incorporating the slap stick AND the sexuality...
(from Archie Comics #28 September-October 1947)
Here's something you'd never see in this day and age in an Archie Comic. The whole sequence is pretty funny, but this panel in particular just makes me chuckle. Golden Age slapstick humor.
(from Archie Comics #28 September-October 1947)
Every once in a while we'd get an Archie panel that would just flat out sum up the entire thing.
It's a pretty easy guess which panel I'll use to advertise this blog post!
(from Archie Comics #28 September-October 1947)
Sometimes when Archie gets stuck in those 'has to dress up in drag, like the house maid', he uses it to a good cause. Here he over hears Mr. Lodge planning to rip off his dad (!!!).
(from Archie Comics #28 September-October 1947)
Find all of these stories right here:
I had never heard of Irv Novick until this post. Good work, Irv! Did he work on Archie for long? It doesn't seem like I've seen his stuff in collections unless it was uncredited. Of course, since I didn't know him, I didn't know to look and I haven't seen all THAT much of the early stuff. I'm sure he did other comics. Also, the more you post, the more I love Bill Vigoda. He just had a style that kind of took Montana and sleazed it up a bit. I'm not usually into sleaze but late 40s sleaze is pretty tame! Ha ha. Good post as always. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYeah, Novick had a pretty brief time on Archie, though he did a lot of work on the early MLJ Superhero stuff before it. Silver Age Batman fans are very familiar with his work, as he went on (with the much more famous Neal Adams and Jim Aparo) to do some great work on that title during the 60's, as well as some great covers of other DC books.
ReplyDeleteHe spent most of the 50's in advertising and it shows in his layout and design when he came back to comics. I might have to do a feature on him!