Archie's 80th anniversary: She Was a Teen-Age Snob

[alicemacher]

Of all the regular writer/artist team-ups in the long history of Archie Comics, one of my favourites is Frank Doyle and Dan DeCarlo. Once his editors gave DeCarlo permission, circa 1959-1960, to draw in his own style rather than that modelled after Bob Montana (because he said he'd work much more quickly that way), his pencilling helped establish the house style the publisher would use for the next four decades at minimum. Doyle brought to the table his witty dialogue, eye for characterization, and a willingness to stretch and sometimes subvert the conventions of comics storytelling. Together, the two men created a number of the most memorable and frequently reprinted Archie stories.

Today's post, as this 80th anniversary series moves on to the sixties, shows how at times, Doyle and DeCarlo created stories capable of more than just making us laugh.


From Archie's Girls Betty & Veronica #53 (May 1960). Inks by Rudy Lapick.


Betty tries to get Veronica to take her slipping grades (on account of joining too many clubs) seriously. She's unsuccessful, as is Mr. Weatherbee when he asks Veronica to tell her father to drop by the school and see him.





With admirable restraint, Weatherbee simply tells Veronica again to pass on the message. (I would've sent her elitist, insubordinate ass to detention, but that's just me.) Betty calls her friend out for her snobbery, to no avail ("I am merely aware of my social position!").

Later, at home, she does tell her dad, but adds with pride that she told the principal he'd have to book an appointment and "wait his turn" to see him. Mr. Lodge, visibly shocked and displeased, tells his daughter he'll handle it.





At school the next morning, Veronica spots her dad waiting patiently, hat in hand, outside the principal's office. She tells him it's "degrading" for a "rich, busy and important man" to do this.

Comments

[tinygaylaura]

Riverdale not daring to make Veronica and Betty a couple cheated us out of a scene where Betty greets Hiram Lodge by declaring "Your daughter calls me Daddy too"

[lbd_nytetrayn]

I just died.

[janegray]

I can't tell if back then rich people were genuinely much more decent, or if this is just a romanticisation.

It should be said that back then rich people actually paid their fair share in taxes, before Reagan fucked the system up. So maybe the general attitude really was overall very different.

[alicemacher]

While big money does often go hand in hand with greed, corruption, self-centeredness and all, I think it's worth recognizing that there are wealthy people who, whatever their character flaws or misdeeds, actually do a lot of good for the less fortunate. (I'd say it doesn't even matter whether their main motive for doing so is selfless or self-interested; as long as most of the money genuinely goes to the intended recipients and not to "administrative expenses," the end result's the same.)

That said, there's no doubt Archie Comics, for most of its existence, has deliberately set out to portray an idealized world, for the sake of its younger readers (who were at one time the majority of its readership). Thus, in "classic" Archie, none of the teen characters -- not even Reggie -- ever swear, smoke, drink, do drugs, have unprotected sex (nor sex at all!), do any real damage when they get in fights, and so forth. And thus, Mr. Lodge never cheats on his taxes, engages in insider trading, pollutes the environment, crushes every small business in his wake, and so forth.

All this may be less familiar to fans who know the Archie franchise mainly from the CW Riverdale series or from those of its comics, all published within the last ten-odd years, aimed at a more mature audience and released outside of the Comics Code Authority (which ceased to exist in 2011 when Archie Comics, its sole remaining member, dropped out). In most of these there's a deliberate intent neither to sanitize nor to romanticize the world of teens or adults.

So in Life with Archie: The Married Life, Lodge is a ruthless, cutthroat CEO; in Afterlife with Archie he was unfaithful to his wife, and in Riverdale he's an out-and-out mob boss. Quite different from the mensch we see in classic-era stories like this. His only flaw is his quickness to lose his temper at Archie. Which, depending on your viewpoint, isn't even much of a flaw. If you had to constantly deal with a clumsy albeit well-meaning oaf who destroys something valuable every time he drops by your house -- and you can't permaban him because your daughter would never forgive you -- you'd find it hard to keep your temper, too.

[juniper6]

I feel like everyone was more decent back then. This is (very slightly) before my time, but I definitely can trace the decline in general civility over my lifetime.

[starwolf_oakley]

An issue of Archie back in 2012 did their own version of "Occupy Wall Street" with "Occupy Riverdale."

https://www.comicbooked.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Archie.jpg

[tripodeca113]

The most unrealistic Archie story of all...(well, really Betty and Vernonica never ditching Archie, and getting together is the most ludicrous aspect of the series, but I guess if we needed to single out a specific story)

[leahandillyana]

I find it fascinating how similar the art style is to its contemporary manga. The few pages here even contain visual shortcuts characteristic to the genre and rarely used in Western comics nowadays unless the artist has a manga inspired style.