Undercover Archie: May 2015

PEP COMICS #83

(On Newsstands in November 1950)

SUBSCRIBE to Undercover Archie and get an e-mail reminder every time there's a new post!

Man, my copy of this is beat up, but hey, how many Pep #83’s you see laying around? This ‘secret note in the classroom’ motif would become a regular in gag in Archie Comics for decades. Not sure who the artist is, but my guess would be George Frese.

(from Pep Comics #83 - November 1950, artwork by George Frese?)

See, now Betty’s always willing to help Archie, but she’s smart enough NOT to gather the better looking girls from school. A Gabby appearance!

And really? Someone has the name ‘Blimpe?'

(from Pep Comics #83 - November 1950, artwork by Bill Vigoda?)

I wouldn’t be surprised if a young Robert Crumb saw this panel, and got an early sprinkle of imagination from it… it’s certainly not something you’d see in a mainstream Archie Comic today as here they drew those women big and ugly to throw Archie around like a rag doll!

(from Pep Comics #83 - November 1950, artwork by Bill Vigoda?)

Now if this panel doesn’t make you curious to go read some of these old Archie stories I don’t know what will.

(from Pep Comics #83 - November 1950, artwork by ?)

DARLING ROMANCE #7

(On Newsstands in November 1950)

This was Darling Romance’s last issue, and with it, they finally went with an artist drawn cover instead of a picture cover, and they sure didn’t hold back on the intensity of the scene! As cheap as they could, they simply copied and re-edited this drawing from the splash page of the first story inside!

(from Darling Romance #7 - November 1950, artwork by ?)

Here’s what they had been doing… were magazine buyer’s confused and tricked into buying comics?

(from Darling Romance #5 - Spring 1950, photograph by ?)

I wish we had more information on who some of these artists were (and writer’s) as I find this genre so entertaining. The innuendo, the creative freedom… if they could’ve just added a bit more pizzaz to the endings, like something from EC Comics, this work could’ve been classic. As is, the endings are usually pretty predictable…

My full review on this series is here: Darling Romance Review

(from Darling Romance #7 - November 1950, artwork by ?)

...though there ARE times when some of the stories almost LOOK like they’re out of an EC Comic…. which is weird for Archie Comics...

(from Darling Romance #7 - November 1950, artwork by ?)

DARLING LOVE #7

(On Newsstands in November 1950)

Darling Love would go on for a few more issues, sporadically strung out over the next year and half… I guess somehow sales were better for this as it switched over to the artist drawn covers with this issue.

Here’s review of the full series: Darling Love Review

(from Darling Love #7 - November 1950, artwork by ?)

I wanted to include this story for a number of reasons…1. Because it’s pre-Archie Harry Lucey art, which is very cool, and #2 because it’s a STUNNING example of what UNDERCOVER ARCHIE is looking for!

‘Too Fat for Love?’ I’m even offended by the title lettering of the story!

Classic 50’s stuff - this was just reprinted in Weird Love #2, a reprint series from IDW that came out last year!

(from Darling Love #7 - November 1950, artwork by Harry Lucey)

Wow… just wow. Poor Mona! That Tommy is a jerk!

(from Darling Love #7 - November 1950, artwork by Harry Lucey)

Motherly advice... what's also interesting is that first/second generation immigrant relationship, which today seems completely alien to us, but back then was very much a part of America....

(from Darling Love #7 - November 1950, artwork by Harry Lucey)

Sadly enough, the story doesn’t even end with any real justice. Mona is continually cursed in love, (while ignoring the one guy who WILL date her as is, maybe there’s some truth THERE) until, broken hearted, she gets ill and bed ridden, and sheds all of her weight, to come out looking like the woman below…

Oh! That’s all there is to it!

(from Darling Love #7 - November 1950, artwork by Harry Lucey)

Books published by Archie Comics and on the stands in November of 1950

ARCHIE COMICS #48

BETTY and VERONICA #2

DARLING LOVE #7

DARLING ROMANCE #7

FAUNTLEROY COMICS #1

PEP COMICS #83

ARCHIE COMICS #48

(On Newsstands in November 1950)

The new scanner works great and it's just in time for one of the more famous Bob Montana covers. This is some pretty forward sexual innuendo between two teenagers in 1950, even for an Archie comic.

(from Archie Comics #48 - November. 1950, artwork by Bob Montana)

Mr. Andrews looks a little more nervous than he should as Betty struts around in her 'revealing' swim suit.

Adults in Archie Comics always seemed to sweat and get big eyed around sexually charged situations...

(from Archie Comics #48 - November. 1950, artwork by Samm Schwartz?)

You'd have to have been there....

(from Archie Comics #48 - November. 1950, artwork by Samm Schwartz?)

The language and phrases of the day were different in 1950...

(from Archie Comics #48 - November. 1950, artwork by Bill Vigoda)

ARCHIE's GIRLS BETTY and VERONICA #2

(On Newsstands in November1950)

This was George Frese's book and he helped give it his own 'House Style' look. I can spot his art almost as fast as anyone...

(from Betty and Veronica #2 - November. 1950, artwork by George Frese)

The books of Betty and Veronica mirrored much of what Woggon would do with his Katy Keene book, in trying to get to know them by name and make them feel a part of a special club.

(from Betty and Veronica #2 - November. 1950, artwork by George Frese)

I never get tired of these stories where Betty and Veronica try and cook, especially when Jughead acts as melodramatic as this...

(from Archie’s Girls Betty and Veronica #2 - November 1950, artwork by George Frese)

and ESPECIALLY when they include some tasty Undercover Archie moments of 1950’s cultural stereotypes!

(from Archie’s Girls Betty and Veronica #2 - November 1950, artwork by George Frese)

Georege's splash pages were always nicely laid out in a traditional Archie style, yet he had a special feel to them all his own. Such an underrated, tragically short, history as an Archie artist...

(from Betty and Veronica #2 - November. 1950, artwork by George Frese)