Undercover Archie

ARCHIE COMICS - FALL 1948

The State of the Publishing Line

PART THREE

SUZIE

UPDATED 08/06/15

I have some great readers, who are kind enough to correct some of my errors!

Kracalactaka!July 28, 2015 at 6:54 AM

Suzie Actually Debuted in Top Notch Laugh Comics in July of 1942. http://www.comicvine.com/suzie/4005-120585/ 

Full issue has been scanned here: http://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=22293 

Whoops! So.....

Suzi first debuted in Top Notch Laugh Comics #28 in June of 1942 (on the newsstands April 1942), featuring a fun Bob Montana cover with most of the characters inside, but of interest to us: Suzie!

(from Top Notch Laugh Comics #28 on sale April 1942 - art by Bob Montana)

And from the very beginning, she is definitely Suzie....

(from Top Notch Laugh Comics #28 on sale April 1942 - art by ?)

In more ways than one!

(from Top Notch Laugh Comics #28 on sale April 1942 - art by ?)

Yep, right from the beginning, Suzie was getting herself into some embarrassing situations....

(from Top Notch Laugh Comics #28 on sale April 1942 - art by ?)

...though right there from the beginning, all those who crossed her path got put into some of those embarrassing situations!

(from Top Notch Laugh Comics #28 on sale April 1942 - art by ?)

For some reason I thought Suzie debuted in Pep Comics #52 (March 1945), (see above!) first drawn by Harry Sahle with inking and embellishments from Janice 'Ginger' Valleau. 

(from Pep Comics #52 March 1945 - art by Bill Vigoda)

The premise was pretty straight forward in that Suzie, an attractive young woman who is either in some form of incomplete dress (nightgown, underwear, swimsuit) is alway looking for a job, but based on her ditzy demeanor (and clumsiness), never holds on to said job.

(from Pep Comics #52 March 1945 - art by Harry Sahle)

Suzie had more of the GGA flavor than probably any of the other MLJ females, which is a nice way of saying they really pulled out some risqué stuff for this character! Bill Woggon quickly took over the art after Sahle's departure and he helped ramp up the fun immediately.

(from Pep Comics #56 March 1946 - art by Bill Woggon)

This looks like the same guy that Betty and Veronica once had to deal with!

Ham Sanavich?

(from Pep Comics #56 March 1946 - art by Bill Woggon)

Except... I don't remember there being a scene quite like this one!

(from Pep Comics #56 March 1946 - art by Bill Woggon)

Ahem! As I said... Katy Keene was no slouch to whatever ideas Woggon had to showcase, but he seemed to really go all out on some of these early Suzie stories....

(from Pep Comics #57 May 1946 - art by Bill Woggon)

Out of context, this sequence is... funny!

(from Pep Comics #58 Oct 1946 - art by Bill Woggon)

Some of Suzie's job's not only ended up this way, but began this way as well!

(from Pep Comics #59 Dec 1946 - art by ?)

Suzie had her own book almost as soon as she appeared! (Pep #52 hit the stands in January of 1945, Suzie #49 in April of 1945). Suzie #49 took over the numbering from Laugh Comix #48 (from Top-Notch Laugh Comics #45,  from Top-Notch Comics #27, a series that was the second MLJ book!), and would feature Al Fagaly's covers for a long run!

(from Suzie #49 March 1945 - art by Al Fagaly)

(from Suzie #51 July 1945 - art by Al Fagaly)

(from Suzie #56 January 1946 - art by Al Fagaly)

(from Suzie #58 July 1946 - art by Al Fagaly) 

(from Suzie #62 April 1948 - art by Al Fagaly) 

As the Archie line grew (and parents became more concerned about what their kids were reading), Suzie's subject matter toned down considerably. 

(from Suzie #99 June 1954 - art by Samm Schwartz) 

Besides the subject matter, it's also interesting to watch Samm Schwartz's art evolve from some of those earliest issues, to his almost complete take over of the book.

(from Suzie #99 June 1954 - art by Samm Schwartz) 

Suzie would end with issue #100 in August of 1954.

(And P.S. No I didn't forget Ginger! She's going to get a complete blog entry all to herself very soon!)