Today in Comics History, October 31, Halloween: "Archie Comics Are Fun Comics!"

from Afterlife with Archie #1 (Archie, September 2013); script by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa; pencils, inks, and colors by Francesco Francavilla, letters by Jack Morelli

Today in Comics History, November 15: Darn, I wish I was your lover

Hey, today is Sadie Hawkins Day! By tradition, a day when women ask men out for dates, dining, dancing, and a little bit o' dis 'n' dat, instead of the other way round. Seriously, these days you can do this any time, kind ladies, and I hope you do. (Waiting by my telephone.)

Sadie Hawkins Day was created and popularized by extraordinary cartoonist and terrible person Al Capp in the classic comic strip Li'l Abner.


L'il Abner (November 14, 1935), by Al Capp

Today in Comics History, October 15: Happy birthday, Samm Schwartz!

Born on this day in 1920: comics artist Samm Schwartz, whose extensive work for Archie brought Jughead up from supporting character to the popular position of Archie Comics' Mr. Spock within the pages of Archie's Pal Jughead and the reluanch simply titled Judgead. Samm's the creator of "Big" Ethel Muggs and he co-created Tippy Teen for Tower Comics (later reprinted as Vicky by Atlas Seaboard)! After the closure of Tower, he worked on similar stories for DC's Date with Debbi and Debbi's Dates, which were astonishingly two concurrent different comics!


from Archie (2015 series) #8 (Archie, July 2016), essay by Mark Waid

Today in Comics History, June 15, 1215: Nothing smarter! Kings, watch how you rule!

Hey, can you identify this important event in history? No, it's not my birthday.


from "Real Heroes' Quiz" in Real Heroes #14 (Parents' Magazine Press, May 1946), creators uncredited and unknown
Give up? It's the Magna Carta, the foundation of English rights and law and the refuge of crackpot conspiracists in the twenty-first century!

from Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact v.12 #15 (Pflaum, March 1957), script by John Randolph, pencils and inks by Frank Borth
(Click picture to Runnymede-size)
How important is the Magna Carta? Well, the Magna Carta debuted in DC Comics several months ahead of Superman, making it the flagship character of the DC Universe! Next month it teams up with Lobo.



from "The Magic Crystal of History" in More Fun Comics #28 (DC, January 1938), pencils and inks by Homer Fleming
Now that you know all that, Mr. Mason, please answer this simple question for the class...d'oh!


from "Time Will Tell" in Jughead (1965 series) #345 (Archie, April 1986); script, pencils, inks, and letters by Samm Schwartz; colors by Barry Grossman

Today in Comics History, Friday the 13th: The only weird thing that's happening here is Jughead asking a girl out on a date

from "The Hex with It" in Archie's Pal Jughead #43 (Archie, August 1957), creators uncredited and unknown

Comics Do Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, Act 5: Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Riverdale, where we lay our scene

from "Shakespeare, Anyone?" in Archie's Pal Jughead Comics #52 (Archie, January 1994), script by Bill Golliher, pencils by Stan Goldberg, inks by Mike Esposito, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida


from "Just Imagine!" in Archie (1959 series) #409 (Archie, March 1993), script by Frank Doyle, pencils by Stan Goldberg, inks by Henry Scarpelli, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida

Today in Comics History, April 18, 1906: Shake, rattle, and roll

This is an expanded and updated version of a post originally titled "San Francisco Earthquake mysteriously causes city-wide hamburger shortage" and published April 18, 2015.

San Francisco Earthquake mysteriously causes city-wide hamburger shortage!


Panels from "Unstuck in Time!" in Archie Giant Series Magazine #602 [The World of Jughead] (October 1989), script by Rich Margopoulos, pencils by Doug Crane, inks by Tom Moore, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida (credited)
Is it pedantic of me to point out that in 1906, April 18 was a Wednesday, and not a Saturday, as the calendar in the first panel shows? Yeah, probably is.


Anyway, continuing our examination this disaster that Jughead has been to, it's hardly weird to find giant flaming hands exacting their revenge on San Francisco!


from "The Quake That Split a City" in Real Fact Comics #16 (DC, September 1948); script by Jack Schiff, Mort Weisinger, and/or Bernie Breslauer
Also, as you know, one of the Teen Titans was there.


from Raven" Daughter of Darkness #3 (DC, May 2018), script by Marv Wolfman, pencils and inks by Pop Mhan, colors by Lovern Kindzierski, letters by Saida Temofonte
Also, The Sandman.

Yes, this deadly earthquake is terrible, but don't throw away tin cans, ya fascist sympathizer!


from "[The Man Who Relived His Life, Chapter 2]" in All-Star Comics #21 (DC, Summer 1944), script by Gardner Fox, pencils and inks by Joe Gallagher
The Salvation Army saves everybody from the San Francisco Earthquake, except gay and trans people.


from "The Story of Evangeline Booth" in Wonder Woman (1942 series) #15 (DC, Winter 1945), script by Alice Marble, pencils and inks by Alfonso Greene
And G-Force saves everybody from the San Francisco Earthquake...even if it isn't as destructive as the original one!


from "The Earthquake Menace" in Battle of the Planets #4 (Western/Whitman, December 1979), script by Gary Poole, pencils and inks by Win Mortimer
So if you've learned anything at all about the 1906 Earthquake, never forget this: it was caused by the Mole Men.



from "While the City Slumbers!" in Mystic #56 (Marvel/Atlas, February 1957), script by Carl Wessler, pencils by Paul Reinman
Remember, when you read it in a comic: It Really Happened!


from "James H. 'Jimmy' Hare" It Really Happened #8 (Pines, April 1947), pencils and inks by Fred Guardineer

Fun with Comics: Jughead has his priorities straight

Archie comic strip (Creators Syndicate, October 24, 2016), by Henry Scarpelli and Craig Boldman

Today in Comics History, April 15, 1912: Jughead joins the sixty-two other time travellers on board the Titanic

from "Unstuck in Time!" in Archie Giant Series Magazine #602 [The World of Jughead] (Archie, October 1989), script by Rich Margopoulos, pencils by Doug Crane, inks by Tom Moore, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida
"There's no Mr. Jones on our passenger list."

Today in Comics History, December 24, 1776: George Washington invents the triple-decker cheeseburger

from "Unstuck in Time!" in Archie Giant Series Magazine #602 [The World of Jughead] (Archie, October 1989), script by Rich Margopoulos, pencils by Doug Crane, inks by Tom Moore, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida

Archie's Generic Celebrities Month, Day 23: Not Actually Any of These Companies Which Probably Have Pretty Good Copyright Lawyers

Panel from "Spellbound" in World of Archie Double Digest #36 (March 2014), script by George Gladir, pencils by Tim Kennedy, inks by Ken Selig, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida





Panel from "Mystery of the Ages" in B&V Friends Double Digest #229 (November 2012), script by Mike Pellowski, pencils by Jeff Shultz, inks by Al Milgrom, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida





Archie Sunday comic (original date unknown), reprinted in Betty and Veronica Double Digest #201 (July 2012), script by Craig Boldman, pencils and inks by Henry Scarpelli





Panel from "My Dad...the Supermodel!" in Betty & Veronica Double Digest #204 (October 2012), script and pencils by Dan Parent, inks by Jim Amash, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida





Panel from a Betty and Veronica story that I forgot to label my scans with the name





Panel from "Online & Out of Line" in Betty and Veronica Spectacular #45 (January 2001), script and pencils by Dan Parent, inks by Jon D'Agostino, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida





Panels from "Online & Out of Line" in Betty and Veronica Spectacular #45 (January 2001), script and pencils by Dan Parent, inks by Jon D'Agostino, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida





Panel from "The Great All-American Pembrooke-Riverdale Food Eating Contest! Munchie Mania! Part 1" in Archie at Riverdale High #97 (June 1984), script by Rich Margopoulos, pencils by Stan Goldberg





Panel from the Josie and the Pussycats story "A Singular Idea" in Tales from Riverdale Digest #26 (March 2008), script by Bill Golliher, pencils by Rex Lindsey, inks by Rich Koslowski, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida

So remember, shop at all these famous generic Riverdale businesses! Don't forget to bring your MustardCard or your American Excess!

Archie's Generic Celebrities Month, Day 9: Not Actually Ring Dings, Little Debbie, or Ho-Hos

Panel from "A Star is Diapered" in Jughead's Double Digest #200 (April 2014), script by Bill Golliher, pencils by Stan Goldberg, inks by Rudy Lapick, colors by Barry Grossman, letters by Bill Yoshida
I know that technically snack foods aren't celebrities, but as far as Jughead is concerned, they're absolutely stars.

Archie's Generic Celebrities Month, Day 8: Not Actually Judy Garland

Panel from "Theme Dream" in Archie Double Digest #230 (August 2012), script by George Gladir, pencils and inks by Rex Lindsey