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===Characters===
===Characters===
====The Archie gang (main characters)====
{{Main|List of Archie Comics characters}}
* '''[[Archie Andrews (comics)|Archibald "Archie" Andrews]]''',<ref name=whoswho>[http://www.archiecomics.com/whos_who.htm Who's Who?], at Archie Comics</ref> main character, a typical [[red-headed]] teenage boy with a great interest in dating. He tends to be clumsy and accident prone.
* '''[[Betty Cooper|Elizabeth "Betty" Cooper]]''',<ref name=whoswho /> the blonde [[girl next door]], who is a good student, athlete, cook, and auto mechanic. She is obsessive about her major crush, Archie.
* '''[[Veronica Lodge|Veronica "Ronnie/Ron" Lodge]]''',<ref name=whoswho /> the rich, spoiled, sometimes nice and sometimes snobbish girl. Betty's best friend and rival for Archie's affections.
* '''[[Jughead Jones|Forsythe Pendleton "Jughead" Jones III]]''',<ref name=whoswho /> Archie's best friend, Jughead is sarcastic, obsessed with eating, lazy, and apathetic towards girls; however he is also portrayed to be very clever and knowledgeable on a wide variety of subjects, being second only to Dilton Doiley.
* '''[[Reggie Mantle|Reginald "Reggie" Mantle III]]''',<ref name=whoswho /> the self-confident practical joker who can date anyone he wants. He is Archie's rival in both sports and the contest for the affections of Veronica.

====Parents (of the main characters)====
Of all the parents, it is Veronica's father and Archie and Betty's parents who appear most frequently.
* '''[[Hiram Lodge|Mr. Hiram Lodge]]''',<ref name=whoswho /> Veronica's rich father; who often dreads meeting Archie due to Archie's clumsiness and knack for causing him trouble
* '''[[Fred and Mary Andrews|Mr. Frederick "Fred" Andrews]]''',<ref name=whoswhoriverd>[http://www.archiecomics.com/whoswho/riverdale/whos-who-riverdale.htm Who's Who in Riverdale?], at Archie Comics</ref> Archie's father who is pear-shaped, old-fashioned, and balding.
* '''[[Fred and Mary Andrews|Mrs. Mary Andrews]]''',<ref name=whoswhoriverd /> Archie's typical all-American suburban mother.

The other parents appear less frequently:
* '''[[Hermione Lodge|Mrs. Hermione Lodge]]''',<ref name=whoswho /> Veronica's mother. Appears far less frequently than her husband, and rarely plays a significant role in most of the stories. She is mostly involved in charity work (also been called Julie circa 1980s).
* '''[[Hal and Alice Cooper|Mr. Hal Cooper]]''',<ref name=whoswhoriverd /> Betty's middle-class but hard-working father who works as a druggist.
* '''[[Hal and Alice Cooper|Mrs. Alice Cooper]]''',<ref name=whoswhoriverd /> Betty's caring, highly supportive mother.
* '''[[Forsythe and Gladys Jones|Mr. Forsythe Pendleton Jones Jr.]]''',<ref name=whoswhoriverd /> Jughead's father (referred to as Timothy Jones in one story), who looks just like his son, only older and balding.
* '''[[Forsythe and Gladys Jones|Mrs. Gladys Jones]]''',<ref name=whoswhoriverd /> Jughead's mother.
* '''[[Minor characters in Archie Comics#Families of Archie characters|Other parents of Archie characters]]'''.

====Other Teens/Expanded Archie Gang (supporting)====
* '''[[Moose Mason|Marmaduke "Moose"/"Big Moose" Mason]]'''<ref name=whoswho /> (earlier ''Moose McGee'' and in at least one story in the 50s, Moose gives his real name as "Merton Matowski."), a muscular star athlete who is a poor student and is possessive about his girlfriend, Midge. He also is known to be [[dyslexic]].<ref>[http://www.archiecomics.com/whoswho/riverdale/whos_who_riverdale.html Select Moose], Archie Comics</ref>
* '''[[Midge Klump]]''',<ref name=whoswho /> Moose's girlfriend, who often gets annoyed at Moose because of his over-protection towards her. (earlier "Midge Collins")
* '''[[Dilton Doiley|Dilton Donald "Dilly" Doiley]]''',<ref name=whoswho /> the very intelligent [[nerd]] and inventor.
* '''[[Big Ethel|Ethel "Big Ethel" Muggs]]''' (earlier ''Ethel Dinklehof''),<ref name=whoswho /> a tall, stringy, somewhat dorky but goodhearted teenager who always tries to win over Jughead, albeit unsuccessfully.
* '''[[Chuck Clayton|Charles "Chuck" Clayton]]''',<ref name=whoswho /> an African-American athlete and cartoonist.
* '''Kevin Keller''', an openly gay friend. Introduced to canvas in 2010.<ref>{{cite news | title = Kevin Keller debuts as first openly gay character in Archie's Veronica Comics | work = The Washington Post | date = April 23, 2010 | url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/22/AR2010042205766.html}}</ref>
* '''[[Nancy Woods]]''',<ref name=whoswho /> Chuck's girlfriend.
* '''[[Minor characters in Archie Comics#Teenaged characters|Other teenagers in Archie Comics]]'''.

====The Faculty====
* '''Mr. [[Mr. Weatherbee|Waldo Weatherbee]]''',<ref name=whoswho /> the school principal, popularly referred to as 'The Bee'. He is often a victim of Archie's clumsiness, and the latter frequently finds himself in detention.
* '''Miss [[Miss Grundy|Geraldine Grundy]]''',<ref name=whoswho /> a teacher at Riverdale High. Usually portrayed as an English teacher. She mostly teaches every subject not including gym or chemistry. Most students consider her as a "nice" or "good" teacher. She is an older lady with white colored hair.
* '''Professor Benjamin [[Flutesnoot]]''',<ref name=whoswho /> science teacher (also band teacher in [[Alternate Universes in Archie Comics#Little Archie|Little Archie]]).
* '''[[Coach Kleats]]''',<ref name=whoswho /> the head [[physical education]] teacher. He only teaches football and baseball.
* '''[[Coach Clayton|Coach Floyd Clayton]]''',[http://www.archiecomics.com/whos_who.htm] Chuck's dad, also a physical education teacher. He is the basketball coach.
* '''[[Miss Beazley|Miss Bernice Beazley]]''',<ref name=whoswho /> the somewhat grouchy school cafeteria cook. No one likes her food besides Jughead. No one likes her but herself.
* '''[[Mr. Svenson]]''',<ref name=whoswho /> Swedish school custodian. He often stays at school when it is closed and cleans. A lot of the students like him and try to help him if he has problems. He also has a girlfriend named Olga.
* '''[[Minor characters in Archie Comics#Faculty members|Other faculty members]]'''.

====Other characters====
* '''[[Pop Tate|Terry "Pop" Tate]]''', (earlier Leo Tate)<ref name=whoswho /> owner of the Chocklit Shoppe (in older comics, Pop's Malt Shop) where Archie and the gang frequently hang out.
* '''[[Jellybean (comics)|Jellybean]]''',<ref name=whoswhoriverd /> Jughead's little sister. Her real name is Forsythia.
* '''[[Jughead Jones#Hot Dog|Hot Dog]]''',<ref name=whoswho /> Jughead's faithful pet dog.
* '''[[Minor characters in Archie Comics]]'''


==Superheroes==
==Superheroes==

Revision as of 04:34, 2 June 2010

Archie Comics
Company typePrivate
IndustryPublishing
Founded1939
FounderMaurice Coyne
Louis Silberkleit
John L. Goldwater
Headquarters
Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York
,
United States
ProductsComics
Websitehttp://www.archiecomics.com

Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York,[1][2] known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Forsythe "Jughead" Jones. The characters were created by publisher/editor John L. Goldwater, written by Vic Bloom and drawn by Bob Montana. They were based in part on people met by Goldwater "in the midwest", during his travels throughout the United States while looking for jobs and places to stay.

Archie's first appearance in Pep Comics #22 on December 22, 1941 was drawn by Montana and written by Vic Bloom. With the creation of Archie, publisher Goldwater hoped to appeal to fans of the Andy Hardy movies starring Mickey Rooney.[3]

Archie Comics is also the title of the company's longest running publication, the first issue appearing with a cover date of Winter 1942. Starting with issue #114 the title was shortened to simply Archie.

History

Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit and John Goldwater formed MLJ Magazines and started publishing in November 1939. The company name was derived from the initials of the partners' first names.

Maurice Coyne (September 15, 1901 – May 1971). Maurice Coyne had worked with Louis Silberkleit in several publishing ventures starting with employment from Hugo Gernsback. Maurice Coyne and Louis Silberkleit were partners in Columbia Publishing. Maurice Coyne also served as MLJ’s bookkeeper and Chief Financial Officer.

Louis Horace Silberkleit (November 17, 1900 - February 21, 1986). Louis Silberkleit had a college degree from St. John’s University, was a licensed registered pharmacist, he also had a law degree from New York Law School. Louis Silberkleit was regarded as having an uncanny knack as a circulator and was known for setting very tight distributions and being an extremely tough negotiator with printers, distributors and separators. Louis Silberkleit worked for the pulp chain in the late 1920’s. In the early 1930’s Louis Silberkleit, Martin Goodman, and Maurice Coyne started Columbia Publications. Martin Goodman soon left that company and it was owned solely by Louis Silberkleit and Maurice Coyne. Columbia was one of the last pulp companies, putting out its last pulp in the late 50’s (only Pines' Ranch Romance ran longer). Silberkleit served as co-publisher of MLJ with Goldwater. Silberkleit efforts were focused on the business, printing, separating, distribution and the financial end of the company.

John L. Goldwater (February 14, 1906 - February 26, 1999). John Goldwater grew up as an orphan in Harlem, New York, as a teen-ager he traveled the country working odd jobs. Eventually returning to New York, he began working loading magazines at the docks, before starting at Independent News. Goldwater served as editor in chief and co-publishers for MLJ. Goldwater was focused primarily on the editorial end of the business. Goldwater was one of the founders of the Comics Magazine Association of America, and served as its president for 25 years. The Comics Magazine Association of America is best know to comic fans for its Comics Code Authority. He was also a national commissioner of the Anti-Defamation League.

All of them, Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit and John Goldwater, had met when they worked at Independent News, for Paul Sampliner. Paul Sampliner, Jack Liebowitz and Harry Donnenfeld, of DC comics founded Independent News, which was in turn the distribution company of DC comics. Louis Silberkleit worked on some publishing ventures with his friend Martin Goodman who was a founder of Timely/Marvel Comics.

Martin Goodman and Louis Silberkleit, along with Maurice Coyne, were one of the earliest publishers of pulp magazines, with their company, Columbia Publications. Columbia published westerns, science fiction, detective, and romance, pulp magazines. Many of their writers who went on to become famous got their start working for Louis Silberkleit at Columbia Publications. Among these were Harold Robbins, Isaac Asimov, and Harry Sinclair Drago, to name a few.

John Goldwater started his own company; Periodicals for Export, Inc., and he started buying unsold periodicals, mainly pulp magazines, from publisher Louis Silberkleit and exporting them for sale abroad. Observing the success of the Superman character in the infant comic book industry in 1939, John Goldwater joined Louis Silberkleit and Maurice Coyne in launching a magazine publishing company.

Their first comic was Blue Ribbon Comics published November 1939; the first issue was half color with the remaining pages red and white tints. In December 1941 Top Notch Comics was introduced. Then in January 1940, Pep Comics debuted featuring the Shield, Americas first patriotic comic book hero, by writer Harry Shorten, also the companies Managing Editor, and artist Irv Novick. The Shield was the cover feature for Pep Comics until, March 1944 when Archie became the dominant feature; the Shield continued in Pep Comics until January 1948. Also of note is the fact that the Shield predates Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's Captain America by 15 months, and his sidekick Dusty, from Pep Comics #11, January 1941, predates Bucky by 3 months.

John Goldwater inspired by the popular "Andy Hardy" movies starring Mickey Rooney; wanted to create a comic about a normal person to whom readers could relate. He created "America's newest boyfriend", Archibald "Chick" Andrews. In Pep Comics #22, December 1941 writer Vic Bloom and artist Bob Montana, published Archie Andrews first adventure. Gloria Goldwater, John’s wife said "He loved Superman and he wanted to create a kind of opposite to Superman," "Archie was based partly on a red-headed friend of his named Archie," Mrs. Goldwater said. "He also created Betty and Veronica. Then he decided Archie needed a real good friend. That was Jughead. It just grew and grew."

John Goldwater created the idea of Archie. However, John Goldwater was not an artist, so he went to the bullpen and asked the various artists to come up with a likeness. At age 21, Robert William Montana (Bob Montana) created the likeness of Archie and continued to draw Archie for 34 years, until his death on January 4, 1975.

As Archie’s popularity grew MLJ Magazines changed its name to Archie Comics Publications. In the mid fifties the advent of television caused a the pulp magazine industry to suffer as television became a dominate form of entertainment. With slumping sales Louis Silberkleit and Maurice Coyne decided to discontinue Columbia Publications. Maurice Coyne stayed on at Archie as Chief Financial Officer until he retired in the 1970’s. Louis Silberkleit and John Goldwater shared the same office, and ate lunch together for their entire business career.

In the early 1970’s, Archie Enterprises Inc. went public and just over ten years later Louis Silberkleit’s son Michael and John Goldwater’s son Richard took Archie Comic Publications private. The company is solely owned by Michael Silberkleit, Chairman and Co-Publisher and Richard Goldwater, President and Co-Publisher.

John L. Goldwater served as Honorary Chairman, a post he held until he died of a heart attack at his home in Manhattan, February 26, 1999.

Lawsuits

  • The February 1962 issue of Harvey Kurtzman's Help! magazine featured his parody of the Archie characters in its Goodman Beaver story, Goodman Goes Playboy, which was illustrated by frequent collaborator, Will Elder. A parody of the sybaritic Playboy lifestyle, the article featured various characters drinking, living out of wedlock, stealing cars, becoming pregnant, attending an orgy, and selling their soul to Satan. Shortly after the magazine hit newsstands in December 1961, attorneys for Archie Comics filed suit for copyright infringement. An agreement was reached in March 1964, with $1000 in damages paid, and an apology was issued. Kurtzman and Elder later tried altering the names and artwork to minimize similarities to Archie characters and trademarks so that it could be reprinted, but they were again threatened with legal action by Archie Comics. According to a May 2008 posting on The Comics Journal's website, the second effort "resulted in waves of lawyers raining upon the strip’s creators, ultimately leading to Kurtzman and Elder handing the copyright to the story over to Archie and signing an agreement promising never to reproduce it again." In 2004, Comics Journal publisher Gary Groth discovered that Archie had neglected to renew the copyright to the strip, and that it had fallen into the public domain." As a result, Goodman Goes Playboy can now be reprinted by anyone, anywhere, at anytime, since it is no longer copyrighted by anyone. Despite the above legal wrangling, Archie Comics never took any action against Kurtzman or Elder for their 1954 Mad Magazine story Starchie, presumably because publisher William Gaines was known for defending lawsuits with vigor, and had greater financial resources than Kurtzman or Help! Magazine. The Mad parody has been reprinted numerous times over the decades. Parody and satire are specifically protected under the 'fair use' doctrine of U.S. law.
  • Archie Comics sued music duo The Veronicas for trademark infringement in 2005 over the band's name, which was taken from the comic book character. Archie Comics and Sire Records (The Veronicas' record company) finally resolved their problems through a co-promotion deal.[4]
  • Fanfiction.Net received a cease and desist order from Archie Comics to remove any Archie comic based fan fiction from its site, as they are derived from their copyrighted and trademarked properties and were stated to damage Archie's public image. It included public statements by Archie Comics, who have stated that they do not allow (even family-oriented) fan fiction based on Archie comics works. [citation needed] (It should be noted, however, that story contests are frequently run through the official Archie website, allowing fans to create their own stories in accordance with site's rules).
  • On April 4, 2003, Dad's Garage Theatre Company in Atlanta was scheduled to debut a new play, Archie's Weird Fantasy, which depicted Riverdale's most famous resident coming out of the closet and moving to New York. The day before the play was scheduled to open, Archie Comics issued a cease and desist order, threatening litigation if the play proceeded as written. Dad's Garage artistic director Sean Daniels said, "The play was to depict Archie and his pals from Riverdale growing up, coming out and facing censorship. Archie Comics thought if Archie was portrayed as being gay, that would dilute and tarnish his image." [5]

The Archie universe

Archie is set in the small town of Riverdale. The state, or even the general location of the town, is unclear. It is known, however, that John L. Goldwater attended Horace Mann School, which is located in the Riverdale section of the Bronx in New York City. In the early years of Archie, Riverdale was located in Massachusetts, with Mr. Lodge being a senator for that state, but this is no longer considered canon. Drawings of Riverdale High School appeared to follow the general design of the original high school, now City Hall, in Haverhill, Mass. One newspaper that carries the Archie comic strip, the Haverhill edition of the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, calls the strip "Haverhill's Archie". It was said that characters in the strip were based on people in Haverhill especially at the high school, which was attended by Bob Montana.

For the comics' 60th anniversary in 2002, several geographical and historical hints to the location of Riverdale were printed in every digest issue. At the end of the year, it was revealed that the hints point to Riverdale being located in the "Missouri area," but that officially Riverdale has no location. It is essentially located wherever the reader wants it to be. Indeed, the geography of Riverdale is far too inconsistent for it to be any one specific location (see below).

Titles

Main article: List of Archie Comics publications
See also: List of Archie Comics imprint publications

Dynamic "New Look" Series

In 2007, Archie Comics started making four part "new look" series where the first part of four issues is a different story and the characters are drawn in an updated, less cartoony style. At Comic-Con 2009 the writer revealed that the series is ending after the current Reggie storyline. Here are the titles for the issues:

Title Comic Release No. of Issues First Issue's Release Date Last Issue's Release Date
Bad Boy Trouble Betty & Veronica Double Digest 151-154 May 20, 2007 September 4, 2007
The Matchmakers Jughead's Double Digest 139-142 April 19, 2008 August 4, 2008
Breakup Blues Archie's Pals n' Gals Double Digest 125-128 October 13, 2008 February 2, 2009
My Father's Betrayal Betty & Veronica Double Digest 170-173 May 4, 2009 August 18, 2009
Goodbye Forever Archie Double Digest 200-203 July 21, 2009 November 11, 2009
A Funny Kind of Love Archie's Pals n' Gals Double Digest 135-138 September 23, 2009 TBA 2010
No Baseball for Betty Betty & Veronica Double Digest 180-183 TBA 2010 TBA 2011

Currently published titles

Defunct titles

Characters

Main article: List of Archie Comics characters

Superheroes

At various points, Archie Comics has experimented with publishing various superhero titles. Beginning with Blue Ribbon Comics #1 (Nov. 1939), and continuing throughout the 1940s with titles such as Zip Comics, Jackpot Comics, Hangman Comics, Shield-Wizard Comics and Pep Comics.[6] This last title was, "before Archie came along in issue #22... home to the first ever patriotic superhero, The Shield."[6]

During "Archie's Silver Age (late 1950s through the 1960s)," the Shield led other characters in the Joe Simon/Jack Kirby title The Double Life of Private Strong, while Simon & Kirby soon added another title - The Adventures of the Fly - which in turn was later joined by The Jaguar.[6] "By the mid-'60s, the superheroes were back in full force" with Mighty Comics Presents and The Mighty Crusaders featuring "all of Archie's superhero characters teaming up for epic adventures."[6] The Mighty Crusaders comprised The Fly, The Shield, Jaguar, Steel Sterling, Captain Flag, The Comet, Fly Girl, Firefly and The Fox.[6]

Many of these characters have subsequently in several instances been licensed to DC.[7].[8] Writer J. Michael Straczynski is overseeing the current effort which carry the logo of Red Circle Comics.

Mighty Comics

Main article: Mighty Comics

Red Circle Comics

Main article: Red Circle Comics

In October 1973, Archie's new "Red Circle Comics" imprint debuted with Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #3 (formerly Chilling Adventures in Sorcery as told by Sabrina), later morphing into Red Circle Sorcery with issue #6, running for a further six issues, until issue #11 (Feb, 1975). A small handful of other short-lived, non-Archie, titles were published by Red Circle Comics before - in 1978/79 - two digests were published collecting some of the Archie Superhero comics from the previous decade. These were Archie's Super Hero Special and Archie's Super Hero Comic Digest Magazine - the latter notable for printing a previously-unpublished revamp of the Black Hood by Gray Morrow and Neal Adams.

In the 1980s, Archie's superheros returned. Initially published by JC Comics in JCP Features #1, (Dec 1981), in March 1983, the first issue of Mighty Crusaders appeared, leading to a procession of new titles under the Red Circle Comics banner, soon to be rebranded (in February 1984) the "Archie Adventure Series," before cancellation in September, 1985.

Impact

Main article: Impact Comics

Archie's super-heroes were later leased to DC Comics for use in its short-lived Impact Comics line, "and while many of their titles received critical acclaim, there were already too many superhero comics flooding the market."[6]

Notes

  1. ^ "Mamaroneck town, Westchester county, New York." U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on August 29, 2009.
  2. ^ "Management." Archie Comics. Retrieved on August 29, 2009.
  3. ^ "Publisher Profile: Archie Comics" By Rik Offenberger, from Borderline #19 (March 1, 2003). Accessed July 8, 2008
  4. ^ Archie Comics sues The Veronicas, Comics Bulletin, August 16, 2005
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ a b c d e f Ask the Archivist - "Didn't you guys used to publish superhero characters?". Accessed July 1, 2008
  7. ^ "SDCC '08 JMS Talks DC's Brave & the Bold... and Archie???". Newsarama. 2008-07-26. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
  8. ^ ARCHIE TO MARRY VERONICA - coming September 2009 Retrieved on 2009-06-01

References

Template:Archie comics

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