So, up to this point, we have focused on the superhero and horror stories of MLJ/Archie Comics; but, what about the red-head himself?
Archie debuted in Pep Comics #22...
John Goldwater laid claim to creating the characters, based on the young people he met while travelling across the country, as a youth. However, Bob Montan was the real creative force (along with writer Vic Bloom. Montana designed the characters, based on people from his high school.
Bob Montana was the son of a Ziegfeld Girl, Roberta Pandolfini and a vaudeville banjo player, Ray Montana. He grew up on the vaudeville circuit, until the age of 13, when his father died and his mother remarried, eventually relocating the family to Haverhill, MA. Montana finished out his high school years there and based the characters on the students and faculty there, and Riverdale on the town of Haverhill. Montana learned the art of comedic timing as a child backstage and was self-taught, as a cartoonist. These talents combined to create Archie Andrews.
At the time of Pep #22, (1941), Mickey Rooney was the top box office draw (in the world...), with the Andy Hardy series of films.
John Goldwater, true to MLJ's roots of aping the success of others (especially Superman) wanted something like it. Montana and Bloom delivered Archie. Goldwater would later claim credit for the whole thing; but, many who were around said it was purely Montana who came up with the characters. Montana set the look of the strip and the character was soon outselling everything at MLJ, including the headlining hero of the Shield. Archie wouldn't get his first cover until issue #45, when MLJ decided to refocus more on Archie and the other humor strips, reducing the profile of the superheroes.
There at the start, with Archie, are Betty Cooper and Forsythe Pendleton Jones III, aka Jughead.
Betty was the girl next door and the target of Archie's affections. Betty was named for Betty Tokar Janovich, a Czech immigrant girl who briefly dated Bob Montana. Archie tries to win Betty's affections through various stunts and schemes, often ending up in trouble. Jughead is Archie's best friend and was created out of whole cloth by Montana, though his widow stated that some of his personality came from Skinny Linehan, a friend of Montana's. Jughead was noted for his S sweater, which was supposedly based on Skunk Hill, a location in Haverhill, which became Squirrell Hill in the strip. The other origin is supposed to be the athletic team the Squirrel Hill Independent Tigers (work out the initials), though that sounds apocryphal. Jughead is noted for his crown beanie...
which was a popular style with kids at the time and was a favorite of Goober Pyle...
The style was known as a "whoopee cap" and was created by taking a discarded felt fedora hat, cutting off the brim and creating scallops in the remainder, and turning it inside out.
The gang would soon be joined by the new rich girl, Veronica Lodge.
She is partially based on the prominent Boston Lodge Family (Montana had painted a mural for them) and actress Veronica Lake. Montana combined them into a spoiled rich girl with plenty of "oomph," who soon has all of the boys, especially Archie, trying to woo her. From here on, many of the Archie stories revolve around Archie juggling dates between Betty and Veronica, or the girls scheming to win over Archie (or manipulate him for some other purpose). Veronica, or Ronnie, is shown to be vain and spoiled, but does demonstrate heart. Jughead is closer to Betty and generally tries to push Archie to her direction, as Veronica usually means trouble.
Next to appear was Reggie Mantle, in Jackpot Comics #5
Reggie is Archie's rival and is from the higher social strata, as his father owns the publishing company that puts out the Riverdale Gazette. Reggie is a bully and a braggart, who also lusts after Veronica, but will use Betty to get Archie in trouble.
The other main character in this mix was dumb jock Moose Mason, who joined the strip in 1949.
Joining the teens are Mr Waldo Weatherbee, the school principal, who debuted with Reggie, in Jackpot #5. The chief teacher is Miss Geraldine Grundy, who debuted in Pep #30, but was somewhat evolved from an earlier teacher, Miss Scott...
Rounding out the cast were Pop Tate, owner of the Choklit Shop, where the gang hangs out, Archie's parents Fred and Mary, Betty's parents Hal and Alice Cooper (Feed my Frankenstein...), Veronica's father Hiram Lodge (and mother Hermione), Jugheads parents Forsythe II and Gladys, and Reggie's father Rickie (his mother was little seen, but later named Vicky).
The characters were a huge hit and any comic that featured them sold massively. By 1943, MLJ started focusing more on the characters and renamed the company Archie Comics by 1946. Archie and friends would soon be heard on the radio, starting in 1943 and lasting until 1953. Archie would be voiced by several actors, including Jack Grimes (who voiced Jimmy Olsen on the Superman radio show and did voices on Speed Racer) and Bob Hastings (Lt Carpenter on McHale's Navy and the voice of Commissioner Gordon, on Batman TAS).
An Archie newspaper strip debuted in 1947, drawn by Montana, who continued until his death in 1975. Dan DeCarlo took over from there, until about 2001. The strip ended its new material in 2011, when it began consisting solely of reprints. The strip was at its height in the 50s and 60s, alongside the peak of Archie's popularity.
As Archie grew in popularity, new characters were added, including Dilton Doiley, a proto-nerd and a few other minor characters. Things pretty much chugged along without much change until Dan DeCarlo was enticed to come over to Archie full time. DeCarlo had freelanced a bit for Archie (as early as 1951) but worked mainly for Atlas and Standard. At Atlas he drew Millie the Model (turning it into a success) and Sherry the Showgirl. He also did the syndicated My Friend Irma newspaper strip, with Stan Lee. DeCarlo had freelanced for Archie; but, he hated having to imitate Bob Montana's style. Editor Harry Shorten saw his success with Millie and also liked the work he had done for Archie and asked him to do more. He balked over the house style until Shorten told him he could draw it as he liked. DeCarlo then set about revamping and updating the look of the strip, adding more glamor to Betty and Veronica, as well as a plethora of new characters. His work exploded in the late 50s and across the 60s and into the 70s. Soon, DeCarlo was the Archie House Style. During this period we see characters like Midge Klump, Big Ethel Muggs, Chuck Clayton and his girlfriend Nancy Woods (adding African-American characters to the mix) and, later, Cheryl Blossom. He also added many family members to the gang. In 1962, in Archie's Pals and Gals, he introduced Josie McCoy, her ditzy blonde friend Melody and sensible brunette Pepper.
She got her own book, She's Josie, in 1963 and it later morphed into Josie and the Pussycats, in 1969, after the Archies were a hit and Archie Comics wanted another band. Josie was based on DeCarlo's wife Josette, nicknamed Josie, and a cat costume she wore on a cruise.
In the later version, Pepper was replaced by the African-American Valerie.
DeCarlo also created Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, in Archie's Mad House, in 1962, featuring the adventures of a new arrival to Riverdale, SabrinaSpellman, along with her two aunts Hilda and Zelda.
1956 saw the debut of Little Archie, written and drawn by Bob Bolling, which featured delightful tales of young Archie and Jughead, Betty and Veronica and Reggie. The stories are considered classics and were as popular as the main book.
By the 1960s, DeCarlo's revamped look had made Archie an even bigger hit and the series soon began spoofing pop culture in Life with Archie (such as the Man From RIVERDALE spy parodies and the Pureheart superhero strips) and were synonymous with teenagers. In 1962, a Life With Archie tv pilot was shot, with Frank Bank (Lumpy, on Leave it to Beaver) and a second was shot in 1964, with John Simpson.
Neither led to a series. In 1968, Filmation debuted The Archie Show, featuring the gang in cartoons and musical numbers, using session musicians assembled by Don Kirshner. The series was designed to emulate the Monkees and The Archies had a hit with "Sugar, Sugar." The cartoons were big hits and Filmation would continue the association with Archie until 1978, following up the original with The Archie Comedy Hour (which debuted Sabrina cartoons), Archie's Funhouse, Archie's TV Funnies (with cartoons based on comic strips, including Dick Tracy, Broom Hilda, Nancy and Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids), Everything Archie, US of Archie and the New Archie & Sabrina Hour, as well as Sabrina and the Groovie Goolies (which went their separate ways, each appearing in their own show). There was also a special, Archie and His New Pals, which aired between the Archie Show and the Archie Comedy Hour (and introduced Sabrina to tv). Soon, Hanna-Barbera would launch the Josie and the Pussycats cartoon.
The 1970s saw Archie continue to dominate the young reader comic market, providing one of the few lines that appealed to girls, as romance comics disappeared from the major publishers. Archie also partnered with the Frederick H Revell Company to distribute the Spire Christian Comics and licensed the Archie characters for use in religious themed comics. In 1976, the James Komack production company (who produced many variety shows and specials and Welcome Back Kotter, employing a writer named Mark Evanier) produced a variety special, The ABC Comedy Special: Archie, with david Caruso originally cast, but replaced by Dennis Bowen. Audrey Landers was Betty and Gordon Jump (WKRP in Cincinnati) was cast as Fred Andrews (though he thought he had been cast as Mr Weatherbee). The special was rebroadcast (re-edited, with new material) when WKRP was a hit, as the Archie Situation Comedy Musical Variety Special (try fitting that on a marquee). I remember this special and it seemed to be a test for a situation comedy, though none followed.
In the early 70s, Archie Comics went public, which brought them new capital; but, not a higher profile. They continued to do well through the middle of the decade, with money coming from licensing and publishing; but, most of that dried up by the 80s.
By the 1980s, Archie's best days were behind him. With the decline of newsstands, Archie lost outlets to reach the public, though he soldiered on far longer than DC and Marvel, who went to the direct market to reach an audience. The direct market seemed to eschew comics for kids, shutting out Archie and Harvey. Archie had dabbled in superheroes in the 60s, horror in the 70s and tried heroes again, in the 80s, via Red Circle, primarily in the direct market (though they were on the newsstand, too). By the 90s, the malaise was deepening. Archie tried revamping things a bit, giving Jughead a new sister, Forsythia "Jellybean' Jones, and by moving into licensed comics, with comics based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoons, Sonic the Hedgehog, and a few other media properties. It's fortunes were revived a bit as a Sabrina tv movie was a surprise hit, launching the tv series, which revived interest in the comic. The live action series led to a cartoon and this version of Sabrina is far better known than the original.
In the 1980s, after 10 years of being a public company, Michael Silberkleit and Richard Goldwater returned the company to private ownership. The company would pass on to their heirs, including widow Nancy Silberkleit and half-brother John Goldwater. A fight began between the two factions in 2012, with the final resolution in 2016, leaving Goldwater in control. In that time, Goldwater began pushing the line to evolve, partnering with Random House to get book collections of Archie comics into bookstores and revamping the line. Gay character Kevin Keller was introduced to much positive publicity and the character has since married. Archie became involved with Valerie, of the Pussycats, while he also met the Punisher, and the rock bands Kiss and the Ramones. Archie also launched the experiment Life with Archie, which explored two alternate futures where Archie is married to Betty or Veronica. it also launched a horror title, Afterlife with Archie, where Archie faces a zombie invasion (who hasn't, these days).
Now, we come to today, where Archie has revamped the look of the line and relaunched it, with the stories of comic superstar Mark Waid, revived its heroes as Dark Circle, and has seen the Archie characters finally come to series tv, with Riverdale. There are further Josie and Sabrina projects in development (after a previous Archie's Weird Mysteries cartoon, on cable and syndication, at the turn of the millennium); so, the future seems bright for Archie. Not bad for a 76 year-old teenager!
Meanwhile, I still want this to be a reality...