PEP COMICS #77

(On Newsstands in November 1949)

and

LAUGH COMICS #37

(On Newsstands in December 1949)

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The last two Archie publications of the year both featured Bob Montana covers. The first on Pep Comics #77, centering around the never ending quest of Archie to ‘get closer’ to Veronica…

(from Pep Comics #77 - Nov. 1949, artwork by Bob Montana)

…the other featuring one of my favorite Montana cover females, and centering around Archie’s complete fascination (obsession?) with pretty girls he sees! (I have a really nice copy of this don’t I?))

(from Laugh Comics #37 - Dec. 1949, artwork by Bob Montana)

These are good themes to feature on the cover, because when you open up to the book inside… Archie is right on cue!

(from Pep Comics #77 - Nov. 1949, artwork by Bill Vigoda)

As timeless as many of these stories seem, every once in awhile something in the story reminds you how long ago they were written and drawn!

(from Pep Comics #77 - Nov. 1949, artwork by Bill Vigoda)

An advertisement for Jughead #1 and a puzzle page that someone did…65 years ago?

Who would've thought then, that a puzzle filled out in a comic book would be the focus of 10 cent comic book analyzed by people all over the world...

(from Pep Comics #77 - Nov. 1949, artwork by ? Looks like Bill Vigoda’s Archie…)

Suzie references Super Duck in Freddie’s dream…

(from Pep Comics #77 - Nov. 1949, artwork by uh, anyone know who did these early Suzie stories?)

Here’s a Jughead story featuring a very ethnic looking fortune teller. Seriously, have you ever seen a hooter that big on a female in an Archie comic?

(from Pep Comics #77 - Nov. 1949, artwork by most likely Samm Schwartz)

One of my favorite Archie stories from the 40’s has the awesome title ‘Oh Fudge’ and features the tried and true plot device of an Archie/Veronica misunderstanding.

Bill Vigoda works it to perfection here.

And Betty gets gum in her hair.

(from Laugh Comics #37 - Dec. 1949, artwork by Bill Vigoda)

War Surplus, sold for cheap! It was all the rage back in 1949…

(from Laugh Comics #37 - Dec. 1949, artwork by Samm Schwartz)

A Jughead story, where this time Jughead IS an athlete.

But with some of the same interests.

(from Laugh Comics #37 - Dec. 1949, artwork by Bill Vigoda)

Jughead in a suit! And not too happy about it either!

(from Laugh Comics #37 - Dec. 1949, artwork by Bill Vigoda)

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Picked this up from Jeff Shultz at Baltimore Comic Con and wanted to show it off here:

STAN GOLDBERG

(May 5th, 1932 to August 31, 2014)

Rest In Peace, Stan

On Facebook this morning, I saw that Stan Goldberg had passed away. I checked Mark Evanier's web site and saw it confirmed there. Really, really sad to hear this. Stan was a true gentleman who created so much happy work in his life... our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family.

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One of Stan's earliest notable accomplishment's in the history of comics, was his vivid coloring he did for many of the early Timely Comics, in particular, his Marvel Boy Astonishing Covers.... He was only 19 at the time!

(Astonishing #3 and #4 from 1951 - art by Bill Everett, color by Stan Goldberg!)

Stan also did the Coloring for a few of these books you might recognize:

Most people know Stan's work from his Cartoon Archie House Style look... but Stan did Millie the Model in a more regular art style for while in the mid to late 60's...

Stan worked with some of the greatest Golden Age, Silver Age, and Bronze Age artists!

He worked in the business for almost 70 years! 

An original piece of art I own from Harvey #1, one of the last books Stan did for Marvel. (Though not the VERY last...)

Marvel's humor and romance titles starting to take a drastic back seat (i.e. they got cancelled) to their superhero books, so Stan went to DC for a short time and worked on DC's version of Archie imitation. It was fun, but didn't last long...

Once at Archie, Stan was right at home with the 'House Style' and quickly established himself as a perfect fit for the company!

When you think about the number of pages and stories that have been published over the 70 years they've been around, you have to wonder... HOW do you keep it interesting?

With the exception of zombies, Archie has been doing it the same way they always have: Incorporate other genre's and fun ideas into the Archie Universe! Since Stan was working early on with 'Life with Archie' and 'Betty and Me' , he got play around with some of these ideas more than most!

All the while keeping within the framework of the 'good wholesome fun' of Archie!

From Sabrina #28, a nice little 6 page story of Stan's that I have the complete OA for...

When Atlas decided to reprint some of the Tippy Teen stories with new covers, Stan did some outside of Archie work in 1975...

Stan also is known for drawing the fan favorite 'Betty Cooper Betty Cooper' 6 part story (a 6 part Archie story? Well, sort of...), which includes two of my favorite Betty Cooper panels ever!

To see my full review of this series go to: Betty Cooper Betty Cooper!

A cool Stan Goldberg cover from the Comic Reader...

Ah yes, one last Marvel Comic from Stan... though we would get one more cover...

IDW gave Stan the Best of treatment, putting him with Harry Lucey, Dan DeCarlo, and Samm Schwartz. Salud!

A final Marvel Cover (a variant) from Stan...

And now, as a final bonus, I present the ULTRA rare, PG-13 rated, Stan Goldberg Archie-ish parody of 'Groupie-Doo', from Apple Pie Magazine #1 (a National Lampoon Rip Off) from 1975.

Enjoy!

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