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!

Or 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! 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!

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Archie's Rivals in Teen Comics

1940s-1970s

An Illustrated History

Anything BUT Archie / Wedding Bliss WENDY PARKER "Getting Married!"

For over the past half-century, when you think "teen/young adult humor" in comics...you think Archie!

But, before the early 1960s, there was a lot more to the genre, as we'll show you, beginning with this never-reprinted tale from Atlas' Wendy Parker #1 (1953)!

Wendy Parker first appeared in Atlas' Miss America #53 (1953), which already featured Patsy Walker and Hedy Wolfe (who had their own comics as well).

Wendy was a rational, logical, young woman, unlike the ditzes who tended to populate the genre.

As you've seen in this tale, it was literally everybody else in the strip who were...well...ditzes!
Wendy was immediately given her own book, which lasted only eight issues, but she continued to appear as a backup feature in other titles for another year, before finally disappearing.
And I do mean "disappearing"!
None of her stories has ever been reprinted!

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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Please Support True Love Comics Tales!

Visit Amazon and Buy...

Archie's Rivals in Teen Comics

1940s-1970s

An Illustrated History