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THE
INSIDE SCOOP PART
ONE: BIRTH OF AN ICON (1941-1949)
As the 40's yielded to the 50's, the appeal of Archie only grew in strength, as did the entire genre of teenage humor comics which literally sprung up overnight. Virtually every other comic book company, seeing what was happening with Archie put out similar books, trying to capitalize on the Archie mystique, but no one did even a fraction as well as Archie did. Most of those companies either folded or returned to producing superhero books. Archie's formula for success was to remain contemporary with the times in terms of fashions, slang and the fads and pastimes of the day.
The success of Archie on television would spawn similar series from the ACP stable of properties. First was Sabrina the Teenage Witch which was also produced by Filmation and would lead to her own regular comic book late in the 60's, then there was Josie and the Pussycats which was produced by the top animation studio of the day, Hanna-Barbera and had featured Cheryl Ladd of Charlie's Angels' fame as the singing voice of ditzy Melody (Jackie Joseph performed the spoken parts). In the case of Josie, the cartoon show would go a long way in revitalizing and permanently changing the entire scope of the accompanying comic book. Before the concept of The Pussycats came along, Josie was nothing more than an Archie clone, of which several were produced by the company, going as far back as the mid 40's to duplicate the original formula. If anything, Josie, which debuted in the early 60's, was as bland and uneventful as they came. But that all changed when, in Josie #45 (December 1969), Josie and two friends, Melody who was part of the original cast, and Valerie, introduced in that issue, formed an all-girl rock and roll band.
The
people at Archie headquarters saw what was happening and capitalized
on the popularity of their characters on television and on the
record charts by putting out two new books which would be direct
tie-in's with same: Everything's Archie which, early on would
focus mostly on stories featuring The Archies band (One story
had them auditioning for Don Kirschner who produced the albums)
and Archie's TV Laugh-Out where Archie would share center stage
with Sabrina, at least until the teen witch graduated to her
own regular comic a brief time later. PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE |
The
1950's would see a tremendous expansion of the Archie empire
as new titles shot off from the three parent books, Archie,
Pep Comics and Laugh Comics. First and foremost was Archie's
Girls Betty and Veronica. Having begun as a back-up feature
in Archie, Betty and Veronica incessantly plotted, schemed and
fought over Archie, and any other boy they came across while
maintaining a humorous arm's length friendship with each other.
The girls' misadventures (some complete with hilarious catfights)
would soon become a key part of the Archie legend. The concept
of Archie's JokeBook was as unique as they came during that
particular time, showing just how innovative the people running
Archie Comics truly were. This book didn't feature any actual
stories like all the other books, instead it had Archie and
his friends barraging the readers with loads of gags and jokes:
some of them were corny as sin while others were screamingly
funny. It should also be noted here that one of the legends
of the comic book industry, artist Neal Adams, got his start
in the business drawing for Archie's JokeBook. 
Life
With Archie was yet another unique Archie title. LWA would be
the company's first, and most enduring adventure-based title
as it featured Archie and his friends engaging in exciting exploits
in and beyond the city limits of Riverdale. In the early years
of LWA's run, the stories were all book length and saw the gang
travel to such places as Washington and across country to Hollywood
(where an obsessed Betty risked life and limb to get a popular
movie star's autograph) and even across the ocean for adventures
in Paris and Italy. 
In
addition to the jumbo sized yearly editions of Archie, Jughead
and Betty and Veronica, the company's first regular giant book
was Archie's Pals 'N' Gals. Every issue of Pals 'N' Gals topped
out at a whopping 64 pages (as did the other jumbo books), easily
making it the largest comic book of its day that was published
more than yearly. Along with great stories by the company's
top talents, Pals 'N' Gals also featured, as an enticing treat
for fans, Betty and Veronica pin-ups and fashion pages, something
which would become a staple in the book well into the early
70's. 
Over
the succeeding years, the rest of the Archie cast of characters
would develop and become part of Americana: Pop Tate, the fat
and friendly proprietor of Pop's Chock'Lit Shoppe (said to be
the inspiration for Arnold's on the hit TV series "Happy
Days"), Reggie Mantle, who debuted in the 40's, became
Archie's chief rival and nemesis; Moose Mason, a lumbering but
lovably slow witted ox along with his diminutive girlfriend
Midge, Dilton Doiley, the brainy bookworm and Big Ethel, the
ugly duckling hopelessly smitten with Jughead. 
Since
most of Archie's adventures took place at Riverdale High, it
spawned a faculty that more than held their own in the humor
department: Mr. Weatherbee, the pompous, overweight windbag
of a principal for whom Archie would be his personal bane; Miss
Grundy, the tough but tender spinster of a teacher; Coach Kleats
who coached EVERY varsity sport at school; Professor Flutesnoot,
the science teacher who took his life in his hands whenever
he let trouble prone Archie mix chemicals in the lab, and Miss
Beazley, the grouchy chef of the school's cafeteria. One reason
for the popularity of Archie was how the people who ran the
company cashed in on the trends and fads of the day, and during
the 60's, they made hay on two such sensations of the day: spies
and superheroes. During the mid 60's, when the Cold War was
at it's height, one of the most popular TV series on the air
was The Man From U.N.C.L.E.. Archie tapped into this media phenomenon
with a successful parody of spy stories with Archie as the Man
From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E. as he and his fellow agents battled
the evil minions of C.R.U.S.H. 
Then,
there was Batman. When the camp driven TV show debuted on ABC
and became a smash hit, the folks at Archie wasted no time cooking
up a parody of their own. In Life With Archie #42 (October 1965),
Archie joined the cape and spandex set as Pureheart the Powerful.
These hilarious stories, with Archie as a semi-competent superhero
were so wildly received by Archie fans that the rest of the
gang eventually joined in as Jughead became the crown hatted
Captain Hero, Reggie the nefarious Evilheart and Betty the courageous
Superteen. 
Beyond
the world of comic books, Archie was making inroads in other
mainstream media. A popular radio show back in the 40's, ran
for nearly a decade. But as the 60's rolled around, Archie's
popularity would skyrocket, thanks to television. In 1968, Filmation
produced an Archie cartoon show that would go on to be one of
the most popular Saturday morning animated series of all times,
garnering, at it's zenith, an astonishing seventy-five percent
of the Neilsen audience. The show ran in several different formats
until 1976. 
However,
the real appeal of Josie, especially to male readers of the
series, occured in that very same issue, when the girls first
donned their legendary leopard print leotards, complete with
ears and tails. No doubt harkening back to those Carnaby Street
suits The Beatles wore when they first invaded America in the
early 60's, those sassy catsuits went a long way in estasblishing
the unique fashion style of Josie and the girls. Possibly, that
might even had been a prelude to the wildly bizarre outfits
that would, in the 70's, become the trademark of KISS. 
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