Lone Ranger
Archie: The First Fifty Years
November 18, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
(This entry is an abridged version of an article featuring Archie. For the expanded article, click here.)
He doesn’t have superpowers resulting from a yellow sun like Superman or a radioactive spider bite like Spiderman.
He’s not a quasi-vigilante hero avenging the death of loved ones like Batman or the Lone Ranger.
And he never saved the universe like Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers.
In fact, his extraordinary characteristics appear to be his uncanny ability to get in trouble and his immense inability to choose between two extremely attractive girls.
Who is this mere mortal?
Archie Andrews, of course. The All-American Teenager and Riverdale’s favorite son.
As the United States entered World War II in December of 1941, Archie debuted in Pep #22 as a supporting feature. This initial Archie story also features Jughead and Betty.
MLJ Comics published Pep, the arena for its contribution to the superhero genre -- The Shield. Three publishing colleagues formed MLJ. They named the company after their initials -- Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit, and John Goldwater complemented each other with their experience as an accountant, publisher, and reporter/editor respectively.
Artist Bob Montana gave the Archie universe its center. He drew upon his own experiences growing up in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Bob Montana drew. Vic Bloom wrote. Harry Shorten edited.
Truth be told, though, Montana gave the Archie stories their heart, soul, and ultimate appeal.
In the retrospective book Archie: The First 50 Years, Charles Phillips credits Montana.
A rootless child who loved his high school years, Montana gave more than the statue of The Thinker, the hometown soda shop, and a number of his teenage pals to Riverdale. He gave the strip the emotional strength of his own nostalgia to create an idealized picture of teenage life that we all recognize but none of us quite lived.
Montana and the creative team behind Archie added new characters in the adventures of Riverdale’s red-headed Romeo. Waldo Weatherbee -- Riverdale High School’s beloved, bald, benign principal -- first appeared in Jackpot #5 (Spring 1942). The story contains the mainstay Archie elements of slapstick, Weatherbee’s rotund shape, and Archie’s penchant for getting in hot water with “the Bee.”
Jackpot #5 also introduces, albeit briefly, Reggie Mantle.
Pep #26 (April 1942) introduces rich girl Veronica Lodge and compares her to Egypt’s Cleopatra and Hollywood’s Hedy Lamarr. Although Pep #26 showcases Veronica’s first appearance, Archie #1 (Winter 1942) revisits the origin of Veronica in the story Prom Pranks.
Prom Pranks sets the foundation for a well-known Archie hallmark -- the Archie-Veronica-Betty love triangle.
Where familiar themes provide reliability, stability, and continuity, signs of the times reflect an ever-changing society. They continually challenge Archie writers to pace fads, norms, and popular culture.
In the 1950’s, Archie stories frequently paralleled benchmarks of the rock and roll decade -- hula hoops, sock hops, beatniks.
Celebrities, fictional and real, also enjoy depictions in Archie stories -- Elvis Presley, Fonzie, Tom Cruise.
Social conscience features prominently in one story from the 1970’s -- A Matter of Prejudice. The story sends a powerful message about the dangers of prejudging the views of others. When Veronica explains that some of Archie’s friends are not welcome at her party because they simply don’t fit in, Archie immediately thinks the reference points to Chuck Clayton, a black student at Riverdale High.
In fact, Veronica likes Chuck. She declares, He’s welcome at my house any time he pleases to come.
Jughead, on the other hand, needs to change his slovenly ways for the party. Chuck and Archie tell him that Veronica is prejudiced...against slobs!
Expanding into other media was inevitable for the Archieverse. It occurred almost from the beginning. Archie and the gang found success on a radio program in the 1940’s.
In the late 1960’s and throughout the 1970’s, Archie characters found success in Saturday morning animation.
In 1978, two live-action music and comedy specials on ABC featured the characters. Dennis Bowen plays Archie.
Riverdale High’s 15-year reunion served as the basis for the 1990 NBC tv-movie To Riverdale and Back. Archie returned to Riverdale, reunited with friends, and reignited passions for Betty and Veronica. This time, he’s in Riverdale to stay. But the choice between Veronica and Betty remains undecided.
Some things never change.
The best things never do.
(For an expanded article on Archie, click here.)
david@davidkrell.com
(This entry is an abridged version of an article featuring Archie. For the expanded article, click here.)
He doesn’t have superpowers resulting from a yellow sun like Superman or a radioactive spider bite like Spiderman.
He’s not a quasi-vigilante hero avenging the death of loved ones like Batman or the Lone Ranger.
And he never saved the universe like Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers.
In fact, his extraordinary characteristics appear to be his uncanny ability to get in trouble and his immense inability to choose between two extremely attractive girls.
Who is this mere mortal?
Archie Andrews, of course. The All-American Teenager and Riverdale’s favorite son.
As the United States entered World War II in December of 1941, Archie debuted in Pep #22 as a supporting feature. This initial Archie story also features Jughead and Betty.
MLJ Comics published Pep, the arena for its contribution to the superhero genre -- The Shield. Three publishing colleagues formed MLJ. They named the company after their initials -- Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit, and John Goldwater complemented each other with their experience as an accountant, publisher, and reporter/editor respectively.
Artist Bob Montana gave the Archie universe its center. He drew upon his own experiences growing up in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Bob Montana drew. Vic Bloom wrote. Harry Shorten edited.
Truth be told, though, Montana gave the Archie stories their heart, soul, and ultimate appeal.
In the retrospective book Archie: The First 50 Years, Charles Phillips credits Montana.
A rootless child who loved his high school years, Montana gave more than the statue of The Thinker, the hometown soda shop, and a number of his teenage pals to Riverdale. He gave the strip the emotional strength of his own nostalgia to create an idealized picture of teenage life that we all recognize but none of us quite lived.
Montana and the creative team behind Archie added new characters in the adventures of Riverdale’s red-headed Romeo. Waldo Weatherbee -- Riverdale High School’s beloved, bald, benign principal -- first appeared in Jackpot #5 (Spring 1942). The story contains the mainstay Archie elements of slapstick, Weatherbee’s rotund shape, and Archie’s penchant for getting in hot water with “the Bee.”
Jackpot #5 also introduces, albeit briefly, Reggie Mantle.
Pep #26 (April 1942) introduces rich girl Veronica Lodge and compares her to Egypt’s Cleopatra and Hollywood’s Hedy Lamarr. Although Pep #26 showcases Veronica’s first appearance, Archie #1 (Winter 1942) revisits the origin of Veronica in the story Prom Pranks.
Prom Pranks sets the foundation for a well-known Archie hallmark -- the Archie-Veronica-Betty love triangle.
Where familiar themes provide reliability, stability, and continuity, signs of the times reflect an ever-changing society. They continually challenge Archie writers to pace fads, norms, and popular culture.
In the 1950’s, Archie stories frequently paralleled benchmarks of the rock and roll decade -- hula hoops, sock hops, beatniks.
Celebrities, fictional and real, also enjoy depictions in Archie stories -- Elvis Presley, Fonzie, Tom Cruise.
Social conscience features prominently in one story from the 1970’s -- A Matter of Prejudice. The story sends a powerful message about the dangers of prejudging the views of others. When Veronica explains that some of Archie’s friends are not welcome at her party because they simply don’t fit in, Archie immediately thinks the reference points to Chuck Clayton, a black student at Riverdale High.
In fact, Veronica likes Chuck. She declares, He’s welcome at my house any time he pleases to come.
Jughead, on the other hand, needs to change his slovenly ways for the party. Chuck and Archie tell him that Veronica is prejudiced...against slobs!
Expanding into other media was inevitable for the Archieverse. It occurred almost from the beginning. Archie and the gang found success on a radio program in the 1940’s.
In the late 1960’s and throughout the 1970’s, Archie characters found success in Saturday morning animation.
In 1978, two live-action music and comedy specials on ABC featured the characters. Dennis Bowen plays Archie.
Riverdale High’s 15-year reunion served as the basis for the 1990 NBC tv-movie To Riverdale and Back. Archie returned to Riverdale, reunited with friends, and reignited passions for Betty and Veronica. This time, he’s in Riverdale to stay. But the choice between Veronica and Betty remains undecided.
Some things never change.
The best things never do.
(For an expanded article on Archie, click here.)
American Heritage
May 01, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
American Heritage is the subject of an eloquent speech in a June 1948 episode of The Lone Ranger radio program. The Lone Ranger's nephew, Dan Reid, Jr. asks the famous cowboy crime fighter about American Heritage. The Lone Ranger responds.
Our forefathers were men among whom uncommon valor was a common virtue. Those men have handed down a great heritage which you, and others like you, must protect and preserve. It is the heritage of every American. The Right to live as free people in a land where there is true equality of opportunity.
It is your duty to be eternally vigilant -- prepared at all times to fight those who dare to challenge our way of life. And you must build. It is your duty to make of this a greater nation -- to build homes and farms and villages -- mills, factories and great cities.
Property is the fruit of labor. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is encouragement to industry and enterprise. Abraham Lincoln said: Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another. But let him labor diligently and build one for himself. Thus, by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.
You have for your own a great nation -- together with the will -- the heart -- the courage to make it even greater. This is your heritage. This is the heritage of every American.
david@davidkrell.com
American Heritage is the subject of an eloquent speech in a June 1948 episode of The Lone Ranger radio program. The Lone Ranger's nephew, Dan Reid, Jr. asks the famous cowboy crime fighter about American Heritage. The Lone Ranger responds.
Our forefathers were men among whom uncommon valor was a common virtue. Those men have handed down a great heritage which you, and others like you, must protect and preserve. It is the heritage of every American. The Right to live as free people in a land where there is true equality of opportunity.
It is your duty to be eternally vigilant -- prepared at all times to fight those who dare to challenge our way of life. And you must build. It is your duty to make of this a greater nation -- to build homes and farms and villages -- mills, factories and great cities.
Property is the fruit of labor. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is encouragement to industry and enterprise. Abraham Lincoln said: Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another. But let him labor diligently and build one for himself. Thus, by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.
You have for your own a great nation -- together with the will -- the heart -- the courage to make it even greater. This is your heritage. This is the heritage of every American.
Batman & Green Hornet
April 12, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
In the superhero multiverse, Batman and the Green Hornet parallel each other.
First, they’re not really superheroes. As mortals, they rely on cunning, logic, and detective work to solve crimes.
With a little help from younger sidekicks of course. Robin and Kato.
Second, their alter egos of Bruce Wayne and Britt Reid enjoy extreme wealth thanks to family fortune. The Reid fortune is based on a silver mine once owned by Britt Reid’s great-uncle, also known as the Lone Ranger!
The Wayne portfolio grew from the success of Bruce Wayne’s parents. Dr. and Mrs. Wayne.
Wealth allows Britt and Bruce to buy or invent high-tech gadgets, weapons, and cars. The Black Beauty for Mr. Reid. And the Batmobile for Mr. Wayne.
Third, Batman and the Green Hornet had 1960s television series built around their characters.
Batman had several elements unique to it.
Visual. Batman had a pop art look and reinforced the character’s visual roots in the comic book medium.
Cameos. Batman had a different celebrity open a window while the Dynamic Duo scaled a building. Dick Clark, Sammy Davis, Jr
Story structure. Batman used a formula in its two-part stories. The first part would end with a cliffhanger and the narrator teasing the audience to tune in tomorrow…same bat-time, same bat-channel.
Ed Robertson examined the formula in a two-part article for the Batman Television Series Fan Club Newsletter. Holy Simulacrum, Batman, Part One appeared in Volume 2, Number 3 in 1990 and Part Two appeared in Volume 3, Number 1 in 1991.
The Green Hornet, however, functioned primarily as a straightforward detective show.
Updated for the 1960’s, Britt Reid owned a television station, DSTV, in addition to The Daily Sentinel newspaper.
Reid’s wealth, status, and power allowed him to investigate crimes without arousing suspicion, later busting criminals as the Green Hornet.
After Batman debuted to great success in January of 1966, William Dozier capitalized on the Caped Crusader’s popularity by also producing The Green Hornet. The show debuted on Friday, September 9, 1966 at 7:30pm on ABC.
The scheduling was logical because Batman occupied the same time slot on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Because it was straight rather than camp, The Green Hornet lacked the quirkiness, novelty, and appeal of Batman. No accident, this creative decision.
Van Williams played Britt Reid and he wanted to play a character, not a caricature.
On the public access show Welcome To Hal-Land in the early 1990s, Van Williams paid tribute to the Green Hornet’s beginnings on radio in the 1930’s.
He said, I told Dozier before I ever did the show, it was going to be straight. It wasn’t going to be the whip-wham-bam-zam that they did with the other thing. The Green Hornet was a successful radio show. We really had to follow that format.
Like its radio version, The Green Hornet villains were based in political corruption, graft, and business.
No outrageous costumed villains like the Riddler, the Joker, or the Penguin.
No seductresses like Catwoman or Siren.
No funny names like Louie the Lilac or Bookworm.
Just good, old-fashioned hero vs. bad guys stuff.
The detective genre utilized in The Green Hornet was familiar, whereas Batman offered something different, to say the least.
In addition, Batman used current pop culture elements. Hard to imagine the Green Hornet surfing or parodying the latest dance craze.
Perhaps the Batman / Green Hornet crossover best illustrates the difference between the two programs. In the Batman episodes A Piece of the Action and Batman’s Satisfaction, the Green Hornet and Kato visit Gotham City to apprehend Colonel Gumm, a goal shared by Batman and Robin.
For story purposes, the character crossover seemed plausible as the Green Hornet and Kato added a touch of ‘urban realism’ to the quaint metropolis Gotham City. If the reverse happened, would Batman and Robin have seemed plausible in the Green Hornet’s domain, a tough metropolis, or just plain silly?
Of course, Bruce Lee played Kato just a few years before he skyrocketed to worldwide fame as a martial arts master.
Legend dictates that Bruce Lee ordered a fight scene between Kato and Robin be rewritten. Apparently, he didn’t agree with the original outcome: Bruce Wayne’s ward defeating Britt Reid’s valet.
Ultimately, the writers negotiated a fight ending in a draw. And therein lies a telling tale about the difference between Batman and The Green Hornet.
Only in the surreal world of Batman, could one entertain the possibility, the mere fleeting thought, that Bruce Lee would encounter any difficulty in defeating the Boy Wonder.
david@davidkrell.com
In the superhero multiverse, Batman and the Green Hornet parallel each other.
First, they’re not really superheroes. As mortals, they rely on cunning, logic, and detective work to solve crimes.
With a little help from younger sidekicks of course. Robin and Kato.
Second, their alter egos of Bruce Wayne and Britt Reid enjoy extreme wealth thanks to family fortune. The Reid fortune is based on a silver mine once owned by Britt Reid’s great-uncle, also known as the Lone Ranger!
The Wayne portfolio grew from the success of Bruce Wayne’s parents. Dr. and Mrs. Wayne.
Wealth allows Britt and Bruce to buy or invent high-tech gadgets, weapons, and cars. The Black Beauty for Mr. Reid. And the Batmobile for Mr. Wayne.
Third, Batman and the Green Hornet had 1960s television series built around their characters.
Batman had several elements unique to it.
Visual. Batman had a pop art look and reinforced the character’s visual roots in the comic book medium.
Cameos. Batman had a different celebrity open a window while the Dynamic Duo scaled a building. Dick Clark, Sammy Davis, Jr
Story structure. Batman used a formula in its two-part stories. The first part would end with a cliffhanger and the narrator teasing the audience to tune in tomorrow…same bat-time, same bat-channel.
Ed Robertson examined the formula in a two-part article for the Batman Television Series Fan Club Newsletter. Holy Simulacrum, Batman, Part One appeared in Volume 2, Number 3 in 1990 and Part Two appeared in Volume 3, Number 1 in 1991.
The Green Hornet, however, functioned primarily as a straightforward detective show.
Updated for the 1960’s, Britt Reid owned a television station, DSTV, in addition to The Daily Sentinel newspaper.
Reid’s wealth, status, and power allowed him to investigate crimes without arousing suspicion, later busting criminals as the Green Hornet.
After Batman debuted to great success in January of 1966, William Dozier capitalized on the Caped Crusader’s popularity by also producing The Green Hornet. The show debuted on Friday, September 9, 1966 at 7:30pm on ABC.
The scheduling was logical because Batman occupied the same time slot on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Because it was straight rather than camp, The Green Hornet lacked the quirkiness, novelty, and appeal of Batman. No accident, this creative decision.
Van Williams played Britt Reid and he wanted to play a character, not a caricature.
On the public access show Welcome To Hal-Land in the early 1990s, Van Williams paid tribute to the Green Hornet’s beginnings on radio in the 1930’s.
He said, I told Dozier before I ever did the show, it was going to be straight. It wasn’t going to be the whip-wham-bam-zam that they did with the other thing. The Green Hornet was a successful radio show. We really had to follow that format.
Like its radio version, The Green Hornet villains were based in political corruption, graft, and business.
No outrageous costumed villains like the Riddler, the Joker, or the Penguin.
No seductresses like Catwoman or Siren.
No funny names like Louie the Lilac or Bookworm.
Just good, old-fashioned hero vs. bad guys stuff.
The detective genre utilized in The Green Hornet was familiar, whereas Batman offered something different, to say the least.
In addition, Batman used current pop culture elements. Hard to imagine the Green Hornet surfing or parodying the latest dance craze.
Perhaps the Batman / Green Hornet crossover best illustrates the difference between the two programs. In the Batman episodes A Piece of the Action and Batman’s Satisfaction, the Green Hornet and Kato visit Gotham City to apprehend Colonel Gumm, a goal shared by Batman and Robin.
For story purposes, the character crossover seemed plausible as the Green Hornet and Kato added a touch of ‘urban realism’ to the quaint metropolis Gotham City. If the reverse happened, would Batman and Robin have seemed plausible in the Green Hornet’s domain, a tough metropolis, or just plain silly?
Of course, Bruce Lee played Kato just a few years before he skyrocketed to worldwide fame as a martial arts master.
Legend dictates that Bruce Lee ordered a fight scene between Kato and Robin be rewritten. Apparently, he didn’t agree with the original outcome: Bruce Wayne’s ward defeating Britt Reid’s valet.
Ultimately, the writers negotiated a fight ending in a draw. And therein lies a telling tale about the difference between Batman and The Green Hornet.
Only in the surreal world of Batman, could one entertain the possibility, the mere fleeting thought, that Bruce Lee would encounter any difficulty in defeating the Boy Wonder.