SUGAR BOWL COMICS "Ginny in 'I Hate Men!' "

Why can't hating men be fun?

This never-reprinted entry in the teen humor genre from Eastern Color's Sugar Bowl Comics #2 (1948) answers the question!

Ginny Lambert was the comic's lead character, and disappeared when the book was cancelled after only five issues!
None of the title's stories have ever been reprinted, and we intend to correct that oversight in the future.
Illustrated by Gerald "Jerry" Fasano, who worked in the business from 1949 to 1959, then disappeared.

Whether he passed away or simply switched to another profession is unknown, as is the scripter of this tale.

Next Week:

Our Final "I Hated Men" Tale is Fatal for One of the Characters!

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

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Archie's Rivals in Teen Comics

1940s-1970s

An Illustrated History

Laugh at Love on Valentine's Day MARGIE COMICS "Elusive Valentine!"

Here's a never-reprinted Valentine's Day treat...

...from almost 80 years ago years ago, featuring a teen humor character from the company that later became Marvel Comics!

Until the mid 1970s when Archie Comics became the sole "teen humor" publisher, every company had several titles with wacky teenage protagonists.
Margie, created/written/illustrated by Morris Weiss was typical of the genre...

• Irresponsible, impulsive teen (of either gender)!
• Usually-clueless object of affection!
• Constantly-irritated parents!
• An annoying younger sibling (usually of the opposite gender to the protagonist)!
• Various eccentric friends!

Initially a backup strip that floated to whatever humor comic needed a 5-6 page filler, she finally got her own title by taking over Timely's Comedy Comics in 1946 as of #35 and holding on to it until #50 in 1950, when the book became Reno Browne: Hollywood's Greatest Cowgirl.
Margie went back to being a floating backup strip for another year before disappearing completely, never to be seen again!
This particular tale (one of the few comic tales I could find with "Valentine's Day" in the title that didn't deal with the famous gang-war massacre!) is from Timely's Margie Comics #37 (1946).

Happy Valentine's Day!

She's NOT Barbie! She's BUNNY!

 Harvey's female teen character, Bunny, was a doll...literally!

1n 1966, a toy company wanted to launch a line of Barbie-type dolls, with the added kick of a comic book tie-in to boost public awareness!
Much like the way the 1980s GI Joe comic series was co-conceived by Hasbro and Marvel, Harvey's writers and artists worked with the toy company's staff on character development and storylines for the comic and toys.
Like most Harvey characters, Bunny had an ongoing obsession--in this case with teen fads and trends...clothing, dances, hairstyles, etc!
Presumably, this was to encourage doll buyers to pick up the newest clothing and accessories the manufacturer could produce after seeing them in the comic!
The proposed Bunny line also had what would have been the first African-American fashion doll character, her best friend Marcy, beating out Barbie's "Colored" Francie by a year!
Marcy was a major part of the comic series, including performing in an all-Black band called SOULar System which had it's own backup strip!
However, before a single doll could roll out of the factory, the toy company collapsed!
The Harvey family, deciding not to let the already-written and drawn pages go to waste, decided to publish the comic anyway.
It sold well enough to keep going for twenty 68-page issues from 1966 to 1971 and produce a one-shot spin-off, Harvey Pop Hits: Rock Happening, featuring the various musical groups introduced in the series!

Here's Bunny's never-reprinted "origin" tale from Harvey's Bunny #1 (1966).

Written by Warren Harvey (yes, one of the Harvey family who owned Harvey Comics), illustrated by Hy Eisman.

We previously ran a later Bunny story HERE, which, with its' thinly-masked drug references, was obviously not one of the original batch of pages done to tie-in with the proposed doll!

Next Month

We're going to spend August Having

FUN!

FUN!

FUN!

But not quite the way you think!

Be Here Next Week to Find Out!

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Archie's Rivals in Teen Comics

1940s-1970s

An Illustrated History

Anything BUT Archie (sort of) A DATE WITH JUDY "Beach Fun with Cousin Roger" / SWING WITH SCOOTER "Cousin Roger's Hang-Up!"

This is the tale of a story that started out as "Anything BUT Archie"...

...but turned into...well..Archie when it was (sorta) reprinted!

Confused?

Don't worry, it'll all be made clear...

A Date with Judy began as a long-running (1941-1950) radio series with a female protagonist which became a TV series from 1951 to 1953.
During that period, it spun-off both a b-movie in 1948 and a DC teen humor comic book beginning in 1947 that this story was taken from.
This particular tale, illustrated by Bob Oksner, was from the final issue (#79) in 1960.
(Yes, the comic outlasted its' source by over half a decade!)
In 1969, DC's teen humor line was struggling, and, instead of doing new material for an oversized summer special, they took old, licensed material that would otherwise never be reprinted because they no longer owned the rights, and redrew the characters' heads, making them into the current crop of DC-owned characters!
So the earlier story starring Judy with her cousin and her boyfriend Oogie became a Scooter story with his girlfriend Cookie and her cousin, also named Roger!

You'll note neither Roger nor the cop were re-drawn by Henry Scarpelli for this re-worked story from DC's Swing with Scooter #20 (1969).

Next Week:

A New Month Brings a New Theme!
What is It?
You'll Have to Be Here to Find Out!

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Archie's Rivals in Teen Comics

1940s-1970s

An Illustrated History

Anything BUT Archie! HENRY BREWSTER "Cat's Meeow!"

This never-reprinted, short-lived Silver Age series from a short-lived publisher...
...could well be considered the "anti-Archie" teen humor book!

Written and illustrated by Bob Powell, this story from MF Enterprise's Henry Brewster #3 (1967) takes the classic cliche that girls love cats, but boys can't handle felines, to an extreme!

You'll note the art deliberately doesn't resemble the work of Dan DeCarlo, whose renderings of the Archie characters had become the "house style" for that publisher and the de facto look of almost all teen humor books by this point in time!
Writer/artist Bob Powell was one of the most prolific writer/artists in the business from the 1940s through the 1960s.
And, he was a major contributor to the romance genre, as we've shown over the years!
MF Enterprises lasted only a year and a half, and Henry Brewster was its' longest-running book, lasting seven issues.
The parent company, CountryWide did a diverse assortment of magazines dedicated to many other topics including music, pop culture, wrestling, astrology, and UFOs.
As the color comics line ended, the publisher launched a b/w horror comics magazine imprint, Eerie Publications, which published reprints, and newly-re-illustrated versions of old comics tales from 1967 through 1981!
We've run several of them HERE, HERE, and HERE during our Halloween marathons!

Next Week:

A Final Tale...which Didn't Look Like Archie...Until It Did!

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

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Archie's Rivals in Teen Comics

1940s-1970s

An Illustrated History

Anything BUT Archie! THIRTEEN GOING ON EIGHTEEN "Beginner's Luck..."

Meet 13-year old Val and 17-year old Evie...

...in their premiere tale which provides convenient expositional dialogue to help with the series' concept!

As you can see from this tale from Dell's Thirteen Going on Eighteen #1 (1962), it was closer in style to TV sitcoms like Loves of Dobie Gillis, Leave it to Beaver, or Gidget than to Archie comics.
It's possible creator/writer/illustrator John Stanley believed the series could be adapted to live action, and so never got outlandishly-silly with the situations!

Next Week:

Another Example of Humor That Doesn't Look Like Archie!

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

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Thirteen Going on Eighteen

by John Stanley

Anything BUT Archie CLUB 16 COMICS "Heavens to Betsy! Wheel of Betsy's Zodiac"

Here's a never-reprinted story from Eastern Color's Club 16 Comics #1 (1948)...

...starring the character who was cover-featured on three of the four issues of the comic!

Presumably, the "Indian Sign" he's referring to is something like this...

...since Native American iconography was popular in advertising/branding until the 1970s!

Artist Jimmy Thompson was both prolific and versatile, working on everything including Westerns, crime, war, romance, humor, and superheroes for almost every publisher including Eastern Color, McKay, DC, Timely, Fawcett, Avon, and Street & Smith.

Next Week:

Another Example of Humor That Doesn't Look Like Archie!

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

And now a word from out sponsor..

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Archie's Rivals in Teen Comics

1940s-1970s

An Illustrated History