Tales Twice-Told TIPPY TEEN / VICKI "3rd Finger, Right Hand"

She's supposedly two different girls, almost a decade apart...

...even though both of them have the same boyfriend!

When this story from Tower's Tippy Teen #3 (1966) was reprinted in Atlas/Seaboard's Vicki #1 (1975), more than just the fashions and hairstyles were altered*.

Tippi became "Vicki", though her boyfriend remained "Tommy Trippit" in both versions!
Trivia: this was one of the most-reprinted Tippi Teen stories of all!
Besides the reprint in Vicki, it had previously-been reprinted (without hair/fashion alterations) in the final issue of Tippy Teen in 1969!

Why did Seaboard change the character's name from Tippy to Vicki?

Nobody's certain.

But, since Vicki was cancelled after only four issues, the question is now moot.

*With sales falling on most non-superhero genres in the late 1960s (including Western and war as well as romance and teen humor [except for the Archie titles]), "updated reprinting" became a common practice on teen humor and romance comics until the genres all-but died out in the late 1970s.

Editors felt that:

a) the plots were relatively timeless.

b) updating the art was cheaper than totally-redrawing the story. 

c) the artists were better-utilized doing stuff that sold better (like superheroes).
d) the audience for teen humor and romance comics, unlike superhero comics, totally-changed every 5-6 years anyway, and wouldn't notice the "old" plots.

Next week:

We haven't decided yet what it'll be, but we can guarantee that...

You'll Cry Your Eyes Out if You Miss It!

(Oh, you've heard that, eh?)

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1940s-1970s

An Illustrated History

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Amourous Education CANDY "Try-Out for Love!"

Remember this story about students crushing on a faculty member?

It's actually a reworking of an earlier tale by the same writer!

Jack Mendelsohn, the scripter of this never-reprinted tale from Quality's Candy #37 (1953) reused almost all of the plot in Tower's Tippy Teen #2 (1966)!
(Even the one-shot gym teacher's name is the same in both stories!)

Next Week:

We're Doing Another
Hallmark Channel Christmas Movie-Type Tale That'll Run through December...

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1940s-1970s

An Illustrated History

Amorous Education TIPPY TEEN "Volley Folly"

We've talked about students having crushes on teachers...

...but sometimes it can get waaaaay out of hand!

BTW, note how the colorist didn't follow the description of the gym teacher's hair...

The script from this never-reprinted tale from Tower's Tippy Teen #2 (1966) is a re-use of a previous script for Quality's Candy #37 (1953) by the same writer, Jack Mendelsohn!
(Even the one-shot gym teacher's name is the same in both stories!)

Next Week:

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1940s-1970s

An Illustrated History

Amourous Education GINGER "Smellbound"

We presented two later versions of this tale HERE and HERE...

...Now here's the story that started it all!

(Note: all three tales are by the same writer!)

The biggest difference is that the teacher isn't a science instructor, but a history teacher, but many of the elements (including the perfume store, and of course, the punchline) are the same!

Freelance writers like Mendelsohn were dependent on producing volumes of work to pay the bills, since comics (and pulp magazines) weren't high-paying gigs back then.
It was strictly "work for hire", a one-time payment only!
They didn't get reprint fees, nor payment (not even a credit/acknowledgement) if their stories were re-used on radio/tv/movie versions of the characters, which they ofter were!
So it's not that unusual for writers to reuse storylines for stories for different publishers!
(We presented a kool example of this during our last year's annual Halloween blogathon starting with THIS TALE, and continuing through the links...)
Illustrated by George Frese, Mendelson's story from Archie's Ginger #1 (1951) was a continuation of the character's strip which premiered in Zip Comics in 1943, continued in the back of Suzie Comics, and finally got it's own title in 1951!

Ironically, the mid-1950s "Seduction of the Innocent" scandal involving horror and crime comics that caused numerous publishers to close and the surviving companies to reduce their output, doomed the wholesome character's book to end at #10 in 1954 when Archie cut back their line!
She disappeared until the early 2000s, when Archie began reprinting her stories in their numerous digest-sized titles, introducing her to a new audience who weren't even alive when she first appeared!

Happy April Fool's Day!

Be Back Next Wednesday for More Amorous Education!

Amorous Education CANDY "Chemical Formula"

The Amorous Education story we presented last week...

...was the final version of a plot used three times by writer Jack Mendelsohn.

This is the second version of the tale!

This never-reprinted story from Quality's Candy #42 (1953) has some differences from the later Tippy Teen tale, but the similarities are unmistakable.

Be here on April Fool's Day, when we present the original version of the story!

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Amorous Education TIPPY TEEN "Chemical Warfare"

Archie wasn't the only "teen humor" strip set in high school...

...as this tale from one of the many Silver Age competitors' comics, Tower's Tippy Teen #1 (1965) demonstrates!

Tower's character, Tippy Teen, was not an Archie clone.

She didn't have two boys fighting over her, as Betty and Veronica did over Archie, but a number of her supporting characters seemed like close relatives to some of Archie's pals and gals.

It's not surprising, since a number of Archie Comics writers and artists were also doing work for Tower, including Dan DeCarlo, Sam Schwartz, Harry Lucey (who penciled this story) and Bob White!

Tippy also had several spin-off comics including Tippy's Friends Go-Go & Animal and Teen-In, which serves as the basis of our Tippy line of kool kollectibles!

Trivia: The story is reputed to be a reworking of a story from Ginger #1, a short-lived title published by Archie Comics that reversed sexes for the lead characters.

(The lead was a red-headed girl pursued by blond and brunette boys.)

Since I don't have the issue, I can't verify it.

But the cover sorta speaks for itself...

Art by Geo Feese (signed)

Next week:

We haven't decided yet what it'll be, but we can guarantee that...

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