FAST WILLIE JACKSON "Failing Sailing"

It's nearly the end of summer, so let's take a cruse with a bunch of comic book teenagers and young adults!

What could go wrong?

Was the story supposed to run one or two pages longer?

It seems odd to end it at this point without seeing what's in the chest...

Illustrated by Gus Lemoine, the script for this tale from Fitzgerald's Fast Wilie Jackson #6 (1977) was either by him or publisher/editor Bertam Fitzgerald.

Previously, Gus pencilled shorts and a couple of covers at Archie Comics from 1967 to the mid-1970s.

The Fast Willie books were his final credited work.

(There is a theory that Gus was really Henry Scarpelli, a versatile humor artist who did work for Archie as well as Archie-clone books for both Marvel and DC.

The period when "Gus" was active at Archie was before Scarpelli's credited work appeared there, so...it's like "Gee, Clark, we never see you when Superman's around! Why's that?"

Lois Lane couldn't prove it, either.)

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?)

And now a word from out sponsor...

Visit the

Fast Willie Jackson
Comic Collectibles Store

featuring the cover art from the HTF premiere issue
on kool kollectibles!

PEP COMICS "Enter: Veronica!"

Though Betty Cooper had a four-issue head start on Veronica Lodge...

Note: Hedy Lamarr was THE blonde movie bombshell of the era.

...when Ronnie hit town in MLJ's Pep Comics #26, the battle was on!

Note: A "sub-deb" (sub-debutante) was a rich or well-bred young woman who had not yet come out into high society.

Note: Comedian Jack Benny was famous for being incredibly cheap.

The gang seems to have aged several years to 16-17 from their 12-14 year old versions only four issues earlier.

If so, did Betty have Archie all to herself for a couple of years instead of a couple of issues?

Either way, the romantic triangle between Archie, Betty, and Veronica would become perhaps the longest ongoing three-way in popular culture.

Even though the Life with Archie comic offered simultaneous alternate future universe plotlines featuring Archie married to both Betty and Ronnie, the current story featuring his demise seems to take place in a merged reality where we don't know who his final words are spoken to...

Who do you think it is?

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?)

And now a word from out sponsor...

Check out the

True Love Comics Tales™

Comics Collectibles Shop

PEP COMICS "Archie: the Way It Began"

With the death* of comics icon Archie Andrews making headlines...

...we're going to look back at how it all began 75 years ago, with the very first appearance of Archie, Jughead, and Betty...

Did writer Vic Bloom and artist Bob Montana know that their creation would not only take over the comic it premiered in (Pep Comics), but eventually the entire comic company which began as MLJ Magazines in 1939 and was renamed Archie Comics in 1946?
Note the gang are presented as being around 12-14 years old instead of the 16-18 range we're familiar with.

And, with Betty shown as moving into Riverdale in this story from Pep Comics #22, you may ask "Where's Veronica?"

Next week:
 
Enter: Veronica!

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

*The Life with Archie series is actually a "What If?" or "Imaginary Story" series about what happens when Archie marries the various girls he's been involved with, and how their adult lives evolve.

So the "real" Archie is still very much alive and appearing in Archie Comics!

And now a word from out sponsor...

Visit our

True Love Comics Tales™

Comics Collectibles Shop

FAST WILLIE JACKSON "Happy Birthday, Frankie"

Here's an example of love gone wrong...

...in this never-reprinted story from the very hard-to-find Fast Willie Jackson #1 (1976).

Illustrated by Gus Lemoine, the script was either by him or publisher/editor Bertam Fitzgerald.

Previously, Gus pencilled shorts and a couple of covers at Archie Comics from 1967 to the mid-1970s.

The Fast Willie books were his final credited work.

(There is a theory that Gus was really Henry Scarpelli, a versatile humor artist who did work for Archie as well as Archie-clone books for both Marvel and DC.

The period when "Gus" was active at Archie was before Scarpelli's credited work appeared there, so...it's like "Gee, Clark, we never see you when Superman's around! Why's that?"

Lois Lane couldn't prove it, either.)

Bertram Fitzgerald was the publisher/editor/writer of Fitzgerald Publications, doing a Black historical comic anthology, Golden Legacy, sold to schools and bookstores.

He conceived Fast Willie as a way to break into the teen comic market on the newsstands.

Two ironic notes:

1) Fitzgerald finally broke even on the series as of it's final issue, #7.

(It has been "in the red" up to that point.)

2) He failed to capitalize on the late 1970s creation of the Direct Market and comic book stores, which could've enabled him to continue publishing the title without the costs and hassle of returnable books.

Though the series has never been reprinted, it has not been forgotten....

...though not an "official" appearance, this brief interlude in Image's Savage Dragon #170 (2011) by Erik Larsen would seem to be a "Where Are They Now?" tip of the hat to the MoCity crew.

As it turns out, Willie is a distant uncle of the comic's title character...

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?)

And now a word from out sponsor...

Visit the

Fast Willie Jackson
Comic Collectibles Store

featuring the cover art from all four HTF issues
on kool kollectibles!

HARVEY "Harvey and Duke"

How close can you come to doing an Archie "imitator" without being sued?

...ask comics legend Stan Lee, who tried it...twice...and failed both times!

Stan "the Man" Lee will forever be enshrined in comics history as the co-creator of an astounding number of popular, long-running characters.
But Harvey wasn't one of them.
Despite taking all the established Archie tropes, reworking them slightly by making Harvey the "new kid in town", and adding Stan Goldberg's extremely Dan DeCarlo-esque art, Harvey was gone after only six issues from 1970-72!
At least it lasted longer than Stan's previous Archie clone, Homer Hooper, which went bye-bye after only four issues.

Next week:

The return of Tiffany Sinn: the "CIA Sweetheart" in a titanic tale of triumph and tragedy!

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

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

TIPPY TEEN "Fashions from Our Readers" & "Mad Fads"

Besides stories, comics run features...

...like this page featuring contributions from the readers (redrawn by the comic's artists), and the two-pager below, that I'm not sure was legit, or just the middle-aged male editor's idea of what teen girls were thinking...

All three pages from Tower's Tippy Teen #15 (196x).

The art looks like Doug Crane.

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?)

And now a word from out sponsor...

Visit our

Tippy's Teen-In™

Comics Collectibles Shop

JETTA OF THE 21st CENTURY: Zoomer "Time Out for Trouble"

Like Archie's crowd, Jetta's supporting cast got occasional solo stories...

...like Zoomer and Atomica, a pair of "typical" teen-agers who would've fit in nicely in Riverdale, though 20th Century tech will give them problems, as you'll see...

This 60-year old tale of time and two teens from Standard's Jetta of the 21st Century #6 (1953) was written and penciled by the legendary Dan DeCarlo, and inked by Fred Eng.

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!

(I know we say that every week...but it's [sob] true!)

And now a word from out sponsor...

Check out the

Jetta of the 21st Century™

Comics Collectibles Shop

HOMER HOOPER "Twelve-Dollar Conundrum"

How close can you come to doing an Archie "imitator" without being sued?

Atlas Comics gave it a shot with this series!

This typical tale from Homer Hooper #3 (1953) was scripted by Stan Lee and illustrated by Hy Rosen.

Besides the blonde (who was well-off but not rich), the red-headed lead and the nasty frenemy, the series also featured a brunette, Homer's skinny best friend with a big nose, an athlete, brainy nerd, annoyed teachers and principal, etc.

Hy Rosen, who did a credible job as a Dan DeCarlo clone was one of the few artists working in the style who didn't end up at Archie Comics.

In the mid-1940s he added newspaper editorial cartooning to his already-busy schedule.

When comics almost died in the mid-1950s, Hy took on advertising storyboard work to take up the slack, creating the "White Tornado" ad campaign for Ajax Cleanser!

Hy's last work was for Harvey Comics in the early 1990s...on New Kids on the Block and Saved by the Bell comics!

Interestingly, his eulogy at his "home" newspaper, The Albany Times-Union, makes no mention of his comic book work!

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?)