ARCHIE COMICS #23-25

PEP COMICS #59-61

LAUGH COMICS #20

(on newsstands September 1946 - March 1947)

In issue #23 of Archie Comics, we were treated to Bill Woggon's first Betty and Veronica story. For the last year and half, Woggon had been writing and drawing his Katy Keene character in the pages of MLJ's WILBUR COMICS (debuting in #5, June 1945).

Inspired by the wartime pin-up girls, his art reflected that 'wholesome' pin-up look, that MLJ wanted to obviously see more of in Betty and Veronica.

(from Archie Comics #23 - Nov./Dec. 1946)

With issue #20, MLJ's the BLACK HOOD would become LAUGH COMICS, and they would use it to feature even more Archie and the gang stories. To help with the increased work load, they had Irv Novick, who'd been MLJ's primary artist on many of it's superhero comics, start drawing some of the Betty and Veronica stories.

As the superhero's were becoming less successful, and Archie was becoming more successful, the companies interest started leaning that way. Thankfully, talented guys like Novick still had work available for him!

Novick would go on to a long career with DC in the 50's, 60's and 70's (including Batman), but for now he gave us some unforgettable B&V moments!

(from Laugh Comics #20 - Fall 1946)

Bill Vigoda was still drawing the rest of Archie Comics, the Archie story in Pep Comics, and now the Archie story in Laugh comics! Is it just me or does it seem unnatural that every time Archie has to dress up like a woman, Weatherbee is always fooled by it and turns into a horny wolf?

(from Pep Comics #59 - Nov./Dec. 1946)

When Vigoda had time, his art really started to look good. Looking at this I wonder if he influenced Bob Burden's work....

 (from Archie Comics #24 - Jan./Feb. 1947)

If all else fails, have Betty and Veronica wrestle in Swimsuits! Novick knew what to do!

And Weatherbee wouldn't miss a girls water polo match for the world...

(from Archie Comics #24 - Jan./Feb. 1947)

As much grief as Betty and Veronica had made for him lately, this was one time when his wolf persona really got him into trouble! Sex Maniac?

(from Archie Comics #24 - Jan./Feb. 1947)

Veronica as a pirate and Archie in a rain coat. What am I reading again?

(from Pep Comics #60 - March 1947)

The Archie line up was growing! Four Million copies per issue!

 (from Archie Comics #25 - March/Apr. 1947)

Sure there's a lot of sexuality in Archie Comics! But does anyone remember the violence?

Mr. Andrews takes it on the jaw...

 (from Archie Comics #25 - March/Apr. 1947)

I'm no tennis player, but if Betty is my instructor, I'm there for every lesson!

Vigoda shoulda worked more of this into his stories!

 (from Archie Comics #25 - March/Apr. 1947)

Find all of these stories here:

ARCHIE COMICS #19-22 (on newsstands February 1946 - August 1946)

Bill Vigoda's art was starting to look more sure of itself, and the stories were becoming more concise and starting to read like the Archie Comics we'd know and love for years. Editorially they were still decades away from avoiding THESE type of stereotypes!

(from Archie #19 March/April 1946)

Poor Mr. Weatherbee would get a slight reprieve for a number of issues from Archie's hijinks (Archie's Dad had it rough during this time), but Betty and Veronica would make up for it, as he became the target of their solo story mishaps.

(from Archie #19 March/April 1946)

Al McLean penciled a Betty and Veronica story in Archie #20 (Vigoda inks) and an Archie story at the end of the issue that, well... 

Yeah, it was a different time and place (heck it was 67 years ago!) and kids back then would go down to their local water hole, strip down butt naked and go swimming. You just... didn't expect to see it in an Archie Comic!

 (from Archie #20 May/June 1946)

Or that it'd be Archie who was butt naked! Eeek!

(from Archie #20 May/June 1946)

And what the hey, nothing like the good natured fun of your friends jumping you, tearing off all of your clothes, and tossing you in the water. I guess if Betty and Veronica were doing this I wouldn't be complaining!

(from Archie #20 May/June 1946)

Meanwhile in Pep Comics, a dashing young artist by the name of Harry Lucey got to work on Archie for the first time, inking Al McLean's pencils, quite possibly helping give Veronica a look that Bob Montana would adopt for the newspaper strip...

Of course, Harry Lucey would go on to become the regular artist on Archie Comics for many years, and one of my personal favorites!

 (from Pep Comics #57 June 1946)

Vigoda was back on schedule for the next couple of issues, handling all of the art chores, though Archie #22 would end with the first 6 page Bob Montana story since he'd left for the war. 

He'd go on to do the newspaper strip for the next 30+ years or so, which you can read about here: http://undercoverarchie.blogspot.com/2013/09/blog-post_30.html

Meanwhile, Vigoda would introduce 'Theodosius', a Dilton prototype: 

 (from Archie #22 September/October 1946)

As well as 'Muscles Maguire', an obvious 'Moose' prototype:

 (from Archie #22 September/October 1946)

Vigoda was also doing the Betty and Veronica solo features in Archie Comics, and here, Betty ends up in her underwear for no apparent reason....

 (from Archie #22 September/October 1946)

For two panels in a row!

(from Archie #22 September/October 1946)

Yes, it was a different era!

Find all of these stories here:

JANICE VALLEAU

Nov. 6, 1923 - Dec. 8, 2013

Janice Valleau (Winkleman) was born in Teaneck, NJ and had her first work published in Smash Comics at the age of 16. She went on to study at the Phoenix Art Institute (where Archie creator Bob Montana was also an alumnus). After graduation, Montana hired her for MLJ where she began inking Harry Sahle on Archie and Pep Comics stories, starting with issue #4, and #42 respectively.

She took the pen name 'Ginger' early on and signed her work that way.

(from Archie Comics #6, Jan./Feb. 1944)

By issue #7, she was doing the art herself for one of the earliest Veronica and Betty solo stories. It gave Harry Sahle a break from doing all of the art on both Archie books, it established the regular V & B solo stories that Irv Novick and Bill Woggon would make famous, and it established Janice as an artist that could handle a regular feature.

(from Archie Comics #7, March 1944)

She 'got' what it was all about as well!

(from Archie Comics #9, July 1944)

She's also famous here at Undercover Archie for THIS special panel in Archie history!

(from Archie Comics #11, Nov./Dec. 1944)

Once Bill Vigoda took over the art chores, it seems everyone left, and Janice was no exception. She went to work for the next 11 years at Quality Comics, where she worked on 'Her Highness'.

She learned a lot at MLJ and got even better at her craft!

She went to work for Busy Arnold at Quality, who gave his people a great deal of creative freedom. 

She's probably best known as the creator and artist of detective/fashion model Toni Gayle.

 She was a victim of the hysteria created by Frederick Wertham  and his book 'The Seduction of the Innocent'. The hearings that followed, and the self regulation of the 'Comics Code Authority' put thousands of writers, artists, inkers and creative people out of work for good.

One day she left work, and afraid, never went back.

In David Hajdu's exceptional book 'The Ten Cent Plague' she tells a story of how in the sixties she felt compelled to do something in art again, so she took a community college art class. On the first day of class she sketched a figure and the teacher held it up in front of the class, as an example of what not to do.

"he said it was terrible-he said it looked like a comic book," she recalled!

She took up painting and continued it throughout the rest of her life.

Her work now hangs in the homes of her children.

In addition to her daughter, Ellen of New York City, she is survived by another daughter, Dale Campbell of Orlando, Fla.; a son, Daniel Winkleman of Jacksonville Beach, Fla.; three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

The funeral will be private.

Memorial donations may be made to Community Hospice Foundation, 4266 Sunbeam Road, Jacksonville, FL 32257.

R.I.P.

From Comic Book Resources:

According to the Grand Comics Database, one of her stories was reprinted as recently as last April, in Archie Double Digest #238.

Read all about the hysteria surrounding Wertham's 'Seduction of the Innocent', the formation of the Comics Code, and the thousands of creators who never worked in comics again, in David Hajdu's 'The Ten Cent Plague' (featuring an awesome charles Burns cover!)

ARCHIE COMICS #15-18 (on newsstands May 1945 - November 1945)

Archie #15 would be the last cover for Bill Vigoda for awhile (it's a good one too! I love the facial expressions of all the characters!), as Al Fagaly would take over both Archie Comics and Pep Comics covers as the primary artist. 

We'll have a nice look at Fagaly's cover run in a future post... in the meantime, here's Vigoda's last one for a while:

Issue #15 kicks off with Veronica needing Archie's help in deciding what to wear to the Masquerade party, so naturally that puts her in a number of different outfits for him to drool over.

This whole concept of 'outfits' on female characters would become a pretty big deal in comics very quickly. Young girls also read comic books and, as you'll see later on, they'd even have a voice in WHAT some of the female characters wore!

(from Archie Comics #15, July-Aug. 1945)

There will be no shortage of Betty laying around in her underwear on the phone during the 40's. Not so much since, but...

(from Archie Comics #16, Sept.-Oct. 1945)

Never let it be said, that the artist's in Archie were afraid to have him do whatever it took to get a laugh! 

 (from Archie Comics #17, Nov. - Dec. 1945)

Back in the 40's it must have been easy to be an editor at MLJ. You'd go to work and sit down with the writer/artist and say, "Ya know Bill (Vigoda), I was thinking... You should do a story this month where Betty and Veronica are swimming... and they get in an argument over... whatever... and then they start wrestling in their swim suits!"

See. That's how you make comics.

(from Archie Comics #17, Nov. - Dec. 1945)

One of the earliest uses of the 'voice throwing' story motif that we'd see many more times over the years....

(from Archie Comics #18, Jan. - Feb. 1946)

Ok, we know that Jughead has an insatiable appetite, but sheesh!

(from Archie Comics #18, Jan. - Feb. 1946)

Some explanations are better left unsaid!

 (from Archie Comics #18, Jan. - Feb. 1946)

Vigoda's last Pep cover for awhile:

BUY THESE STORIES HERE:

The BETTY COOPER, BETTY COOPER Saga!

BETTY and ME #85-86 

(July 1977 - August 1977)

PART THREE

The final part of our look back at the 'Betty Cooper, Betty Cooper' issues, focuses on the last two (#85-86), and while probably my least favorite issues, they DID feature one of the more provocative panels in the history of Archie Comics...

And these names! Oh man... the Idol of Howja Du?

Well that's putting it nicely...

(from Betty and Me #85)

Betty really got to let it all hang out in these issues...

(from Betty and Me #85)

Sing Lo? Long Ghon? Who comes up with these names?

I know it may be a sensitive issue for some people, but I'd actually be amused to see some stereotypes of American's in other cultures media. 

Seriously, hit back as hard as you can! I'd probably laugh my head off at it all day long...

(from Betty and Me #85)

Nicely added cultural trend...

(from Betty and Me #85)

The final issue features some weird Hollywood types and Veronica falling in love with a wax dummy... yeah, it was getting a bit thin... 

Archie fancied himself a Hollywood screen writer... Here he is going through the tough part of town... how often do you see these kind of guys in an Archie Comic?

(from Betty and Me #86)

So anyway, at a certain point, Betty gets captured and CHAINED TO A WALL!

Okay, so maybe it's not such a big deal, but hey, it IS an Archie Comic. 

Hey wait, did he say a 'Whip?'

(from Betty and Me #86)

And they just leave her there...

(from Betty and Me #86)

JOSIE and the PUSSYCAT TWINKIE ADS!

Superheroes weren't the only one's selling Hostess products back in the 80's!

I'm not sure how much attention I ever paid these ads back in the day, but I find them somewhat amusing now. Except when they're kind of lame like this first one:

 Any Josie and the Pussycat story should feature Melody extensively, and having her fall and land on her bum not once, not twice, but THREE times is a bonus. Especially in a skirt!

 While many forms of art will eschew the practice of using their popularity to sell someone else's product, comics have always jumped in feet first, and many of these ads were a clever example of how to do it somewhat naturally. Yowsa indeed!

 'Banana Boogie' is an interesting phrase that could be applied to a number of different 'activities', but here it's used as the name of the story, referring to the dance the characters go to and having nothing to do with the actual product they're selling. Yep.

And here are a couple of more to enjoy!