Undercover Archie

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

ARCHIE'S PALS N GALS #1

(On Newsstands in August 1952)

Archie Comics was on a roll, so... why not another title! It was the height of the Archie hey day!

(from Archie's Pals n Galsl #1 - August 1952, artwork by Bill Vigoda)

Archie Comics seemed liked it was starting to roll back on the sexuality a bit, so that could only mean one thing...more violence! And Weatherbee sure gets his share of it...

(from Archie's Pals n Galsl #1 - August 1952, artwork by Bill Vigoda)

...including straight on punches to the face!

(from Archie's Pals n Galsl #1 - August 1952, artwork by Bill Vigoda)

Remember the time Veronica whooped Moose's butt in a fight? We didn't either! But here it is?

(from Archie's Pals n Galsl #1 - August 1952, artwork by Bill Vigoda)

Thats creepy...

(from Archie's Pals n Galsl #1 - August 1952, artwork by Bill Vigoda)

Here's the 'alternative' cover used on the Archie Unlimited app.... DID YOU KNOW, you can get hundreds of Archie Comics back issues to read for only $7.99 a month! It's a great deal and there's even an app to read them on your smart phone.

Worth checking out, and NO, Archie Comics did not ask me to tell you this.

I have it myself!

(from Archie's Pals n Galsl #1 - August 1952, artwork by Bill Vigoda)

Been awhile since we got one of those 'random photos being mistakenly developed' stories, and this one was pretty good!

(from Archie's Pals n Galsl #1 - August 1952, artwork by Bill Vigoda)

Though SOME people didn't think so!

(from Archie's Pals n Galsl #1 - August 1952, artwork by Bill Vigoda)

Monday, March 20, 2017

TOP NOTCH COMICS #9

(On Newsstands in August 1940)

Try as they might, the Wizard just never caught on quite the way the Shield had, and costumed superheroes were becoming all the rage, so in Top Notch Comics #9, MLJ introduced the BLACK HOOD!

You think maybe they were going all out on this one? They gave the Black Hood’s name a bigger font and placement than the title of the book! Not my favorite first appearance covers, but...

(from Top Notch Comics #9 - on newsstands August 1940, artwork by Edd Ashe?)

What a splash page!!! Al Camy’s art and the Abner Sundell (as Cliff Campbell) story, look suspiciously like a Batman comic. The Caped Crusader was all the rage in Detective Comics (and the recently released #2 of his own book), and thus was born MLJ’s slightly cooler version of masked vigilante!

Yes, I said it! Slightly cooler!

(from Top Notch Comics #9 - on newsstands August 1940, artwork by Al Camy)

Ummm…. and the Skull looked suspiciously like Batman’s new nemesis the Joker (appearing in Batman #1 back in April).

The Skull though… is MUCH cooler!

(from Top Notch Comics #9 - on newsstands August 1940, artwork by Al Camy)

So… the Skull frames popular good guy Policeman Kip Burland, and when Kip tries to clear his name, the Skull has his henchmen pump 8 slugs into him and dump him in the forest. An old man nurses him back to health and teaches him all he knows about science and knowledge, so that he can become the greatest crime fighter the world has ever known!

(from Top Notch Comics #9 - on newsstands August 1940, artwork by Al Camy)

More gruesome Golden Age death… courtesy of the Skull!

(from Top Notch Comics #9 - on newsstands August 1940, artwork by Al Camy)

Meanwhile, over in Harry Shorten and Bob Wood’s ‘The Firefly’, our hero gets caught ‘hanging around!'

(from Top Notch Comics #9 - on newsstands August 1940, artwork by Bob Wood)

Meanwhile, the Wizard gets bumped to the 5th spot in the book, and Roy, the Wonder Boy is taking a bigger part of the story up. Though here a couple of gangsters teach him about playing with fire!

(from Top Notch Comics #9 - on newsstands August 1940, artwork by Edd Ashe)

Over in Bob Phantom, it’s about time someone got an axe to the head!

(from Top Notch Comics #9 - on newsstands August 1940, artwork by Bernard Klein)

And my favorite Bob Phantom villainess, Ah Ku has returned!

(from Top Notch Comics #9 - on newsstands August 1940, artwork by Bernard Klein)

BLUE RIBBON COMICS #7

(On Newsstands in August 1940)

Over in Blue Ribbon Comics #7, it would be hard pressed to follow up that issue of Top Notch, but we DID get the Fox on the cover! Along with the blurb: Extra! War!!!

(from Blue Ribbon Comics #7 - on newsstands August 1940, artwork by Ed Smalle)

Though the level of excitement in the Fox didn't quite match up with the cover!

(from Blue Ribbon Comics #7 - on newsstands August 1940, artwork by Irwin Hasen)

But Corporeal Collins DID bring us war, in what is maybe one of the earliest Nazi symbols in comics!

(from Blue Ribbon Comics #7 - on newsstands August 1940, artwork by Charles Biro)

And over in Loop Logan we see it again! The war in Europe is heating up, and comics can no longer hold back!

(from Blue Ribbon Comics #7 - on newsstands August 1940, artwork by Frank Volp)

Saturday, March 18, 2017

FAST WILLIE JACKSON

on newsstands August of 1976?

Special Saturday Special!

Fitzgerald Publications' Fast Willie Jackson was an attempt to tap into the Archie Comics market, and if you've never seen these before... they are a must own for fans of the genre.

Yeah, the stories are... not what you'd expect, and probably... well, WOULDN'T be published in most Archie Comics of the day, but, the art is great. Drawn by someone named Gus Lemoine, there's long been a rumor that it was actually humor artist Henry Scarpelli.

Lasting only 7 issues, it's worth checking out! See these highlights and a short story from it below!

Friday, March 17, 2017

PEP COMICS #8

(On Newsstands in July 1940)

For a second month, Irv Novick delivers a Pep Comics cover that's just a bit different than what had come before - darker, a little more sexual, a little more human tension - this cover run by Novick deserves more praise!

(from Pep Comics #8 - July 1940, artwork by Irv Novick)

The bad guy opts to shoot himself in the head, as opposed to being taken alive! Joe Higgins (The Shield) says, "He saved the state the expense of executing him!"

It was a different time for comics!

(from Pep Comics #8 - July 1940, artwork by Irv Novick)

Not sure who drew the Comet story this month, but it sure isn't Jack Cole... some pretty cool, bizarre layouts, faces and ideas though...

(from Pep Comics #8 - July 1940, artwork by Irv Novick)

Last month Kayo Ward gave a lady a good spanking (courtesy of Bob Wood), and this month Sgt. Boyle finds that method works for him as well!

(from Pep Comics #8 - July 1940, artwork by Charles Biro)

Can you imagine... seeing this ad for the first time? The Black Hood and the Skull make their first preview appearance!

(from Pep Comics #8 - July 1940, artwork by Edd Ashe? for the cover, most likely Al Camy for the Skull)

They couldn't know it at the time, but imagine a situation early in the career of your publishing company, where Irv Novick and Charles Biro are competing every month to outdo each other.

Yep, just like his contemporary over on Pep, Biro had now gone to a darker tone, a higher tension and a subtle sexuality to make a run of covers we'll forever love from this period!

(from Zip Comics #8 - July 1940, artwork by Charles Biro)

Comics from the Golden Age will always be linked to the sensationalized low brow gruesomeness they capitalized on... looking at it from today's perspective, they were ahead of their time!

(from Zip Comics #8 - July 1940, artwork by Irv Novick)

Tania, Queen of the Pirates, shows that not all women got spanked during the Golden Age! Fun on the high seas in Captain Valor!

(from Zip Comics #8 - July 1940, artwork by Mort Meskin)

Blue Ribbon gets in on the act with a Rang-A-Tang cover that's a bit darker, a bit more tense, a bit more... well ok, it's not a Novick or a Biro, but Ed Smalle contributed a couple of interesting covers here!

And of course, we get the introduction of Richy the Amazing Boy, to help commercialize…eh…make Rang-A-Tang even more exciting!

(from Blue Ribbon Comics #6 - July 1940, artwork by Ed Smalle)

Sam Cooper would go on to do some noteworthy art in the Golden Age, but here in his early days (Doc Strong) you could see some amazing detail in his work already!

(from Blue Ribbon Comics #6 - July 1940, artwork by Sam Cooper)

Thursday, March 16, 2017

ARCHIE ANNUAL #4

(On Newsstands in June 1952)

As we speak of famous covers throughout the history of this series, here's one that, in a mostly wholesome way sums up the book... the three of them sharing a soda as Betty looks at Archie, Archie looks at Veronica, and Veronica has her eyes closed enjoying the soda!

You'd see variations of this on the later covers of Life With Archie #2, Betty and Veronica Spectacular #51, Veronica Double Digest #216, Archie #647, Jughead #215, and more!

(from Archie Annual #4 - June 1952, artwork by Bob Montana)

In the summer of 1952, Archie Comics was hitting it's peak... with the Annual and the 1st issue of Archie's Pals N Gals, it would print 16 different titles!

(from Archie Annual #4 - June 1952, artwork by Bill Vigoda?)

Back in the 50's, peeling off your clothes and swimming in the local water hole was no big deal... but beware having a 'friend' like Reggie along...

(from Archie Annual #4 - June 1952, artwork by Bill Vigoda?)

It could lead to some embarrassing encounters...!

(from Archie Annual #4 - June 1952, artwork by Bill Vigoda?)

One of the dumbest gags ever in the book, but for some reason I laughed out loud at this...

(from Archie Annual #4 - June 1952, artwork by ?)

Archie gets more than he bargained for when he agrees to teach the girls how to play baseball...

(from Archie Annual #4 - June 1952, artwork by ?)

Of course, they already KNOW more about what they're doing than Archie thinks...

(from Archie Annual #4 - June 1952, artwork by ?)

And our boy takes a beating for it....!

(from Archie Annual #4 - June 1952, artwork by ?)

In fact, let's face it. Sometimes Archie needs a wake up call!

(from Archie Annual #4 - June 1952, artwork by ?)

The evolution of the Betty Cooper craziness!

(from Archie Annual #4 - June 1952, artwork by ?)

Here's a rare appearances of Jughead's eyes! He needs them to hypnotize!

(from Archie Annual #4 - June 1952, artwork by ?)

Don't know why this is one of my favorite opening panels... everyone's body position, the subtle violence, the look on Jughead's face... the look on POP'S face!

(from Archie Annual #4 - June 1952, artwork by ?)