Friday Fun HOLY CREAM-FILLED PASTRY!

When Hostess Baking ceased operation in 2012, a chapter of comics history ended...

This wonderfully-looney series of ads featuring all the major comics characters from Archie to Spider-Man to Casper the Friendly Ghost to Wonder Woman appeared in comics for almost a decade, featuring some of the best artists in the business including Neal Adams (above with Dick Giordano), Gil Kane, John Romita Sr, Curt Swan, Jim Starlin, and Frank Miller doing the rendering!

Note: You can see a complete set of the Marvel and DC ones HERE!

Bonus: the original art for this ad...

BTW, Hostess' nigh-indestructible pastries have since returned to supermarket shelves...but the comic advertising never did!

Friday Fun TALES CALCULATED TO DRIVE YOU BATS "Hip Van Wrinkle"

There is nothing more frightening to a beatnik, hippie, or hipster...

...than to be considered "establishment" or "uncool"!

This tale from Archies's Tales Calculated to Drive You Bats #5 (1962) demonstrates that "kool" is all a matter of perspective!

Best-known as the creator of Li'l Jinx, writer-artist Joe Edwards masterfully-adapted to the Dan DeCarlo-esque "house" style of Archie Comics to become one of their (almost-always anonymous) mainstays for decades, from the Golden Age (1940s) through the Modern Age (1980s).
Consider that when he wrote and illustrated this tale, he was already in his 40s (as were almot all comic creatives at that time), not a young adult and "with it", as they said back then!
Does it still read as "legit"?
Think about it...

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Best of Archie's Mad House!

Friday Fun ARCHIE'S MAD HOUSE "Why Is It?"

Archie Comics tried twice to do a kinder, gentler (Comics Code-approved) MAD-style comic!

This series, Archie's Mad House, using the Archie cast as "hosts" to introduce the features, was the first attempt!

Joe Edwards, the writer/artist behind this never-reprinted story from Archie's Mad House #16 (1962) was one of the most prolific creators of the Archie Comics creative crew, producing several thousand (yes, you read that correctly) stories including standalones like this one, one and two-page shorts, tales of the Archie gang, and an ongoing strip featuring his own creation, L'il Jinx!
The book went through numerous reboots/reincarnations as Archie's MadHouse / Archie's Mad House / Mad House / Mad House Ma-ad Jokes / Ma-ad House Freak-Out / Mad House Glads / Mad House an anthology horror comic for three issues...then reverted to humor as Mad House Comics for a total run of 130 issues between 1961 and 1982, a pretty good run by any standard!
The book was revived as a Halloween reprint annual from 2017 to 2019, and will doubtless rise again at some point!

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Best of Archie's Mad House!

Double Your Summer Fun with Double The Shadows!

What's better than an adventure of The Shadow unseen for half a century?

How about TWO adventures?

First, the guy with the gadgets and blue/green spandex faces off against the evil descendants of both Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun on Monday at

HERO HISTORIES

...then, the "classic" 1940s pulp/radio version faces off against a bootlegger mob led by an an acrobatic, athletic mastermind in a fight to the death over Niagara Falls on Thursday in

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

The heat is on for crime this summer!

The RetroBlog Summer Blogathon Continues with TWICE the Shadows in ONE Week!

First, the campy costumed crusader from the Swinging Sixties..

...takes on a glowing goniff (that's Yidddish for "criminal") Monday thru Wednesday at

HERO HISTORIES!

Then, on Thursday and Friday...

...the cloaked crimebuster from the Film Noir Forties take on a family of homicidal lunatics at

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT!

Dare you miss such unbridled excitement???

The RetroBlog Summer Blogathon Begins with Tales of TWO Shadows!

When You Think of The Shadow...

...this is how you envision him, right?

Well, in the 1960s, Jerry (Superman) Siegel re-envisioned him for Archie Comics!

Oddly enough, this was a year before the campy Batman TV series debuted, so it wasn't done in response to the ensuing "Bat-Mania", as many today believe!

And, for heavens sake, who came up with the blue/purple and green color scheme?

Note: the first two issues of the comic...

...written by Robert Bernstein and illustrated by John Rosenberger, hewed much closer to the then-new Shadow paperback novels put out by Belmont Books which the guys who owned Archie Comics also owned (talk about "corporate synergy")...

...and put him squarely in the world of secret agents/spies popularized by James Bond books and movies!
But the book took an abrupt turnabout with the third issue, as Jerry Siegel and artist Paul Reinman took over the title for the remainder of the run!
Note: Siegel and Reinman also assumed creative duties on the entire Archie superhero line which included Adventures of the Fly/Fly-Man/Mighty Comics and Mighty Crusaders!
Join us tomorrow at...

Hero Histories

...as we begin our weekly re-presentation of these never-reprinted comic (and comical) curiosities!

But wait!

There's more!
Each week, the day after the conclusion of the 1960s Shadow story, go to...
Crime and Punishment
...to see never-reprinted tales from The Shadow's 1970s DC run!

Compare and contrast, True Believer!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ADVENTURES OF THE DOVER BOYS Chapter 6 "Treasure Trove"

We Have Already Seen...

Don't wait!

Here it is!

The Big Finale!

(One codicil: may be NSFW due to racial stereotypes common to the era [1950].)

Apparently very few people sent postcards because the Dover Boys never reappeared anywhere else.

And I do mean NEVER!

In 2011, Archie and Friends #137-138 and #150 featured a storyline involving almost all the "forgotten" characters from MLJ/Archie's long publishing history from Suzie to Sam Hill: Detective to Super Duck crossing dimensions to Riverdale to encounter Archie and the gang...except the Dover Boys!

Sad, ain't it?

Next Wednesday...

Join Us as We Journey to a New World of Wonder!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ADVENTURES OF THE DOVER BOYS Chapter 5 "Power of the Evil Eye!"

When Last We Left Our Heroes...

Before I present the synopsis, note that the material that follows may be NSFW due to politically-incorrect racial stereotypes common to fiction of the era (1950).

No need to hold your breath, just dive right in...

Suzie was a combination of the teen-age antics of Archie's crew and the bubble-headed blonde stereotype common to movies/tv/radio shows/comic books of the era.

The character first appeared in 1942, the same year as Archie, and kept going until 1954, ending her own book with #100.

Next Wednesday:
THE BIG FINALE!

Don't miss it!

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ADVENTURES OF THE DOVER BOYS Chapter 4 "Molten Death"

You May Recall...

Now that you've been updated, read on...with one caveat:

May be NSFW due to politically-incorrect stereotypes common to the period (1950).

Super Duck was a duck, but was not "super"...at this point (1950).

He did start out in 1943 as an anthropromorphic superhero in red and blue, but lost both the costume and powers within six issues, becoming Archie's answer to those other ducks, Donald and Daffy.

It obviously worked since he kept going until 1960, and has been reprinted occasionally since then.

Be here

NEXT WEDNESDAY

when we will continue our re-presentation of this never-reprinted story and you'll see "the most thrilling scenes you have ever witnessed!"
(Hey, they said it above!)

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ADVENTURES OF THE DOVER BOYS Chapter 3 "Lost in the Jungle"

When Last We Left Our Heroes...

Is your spine tingling?

Then let's continue, boys and girls...with one caveat:

May be NSFW due to politically-incorrect ethnic/racial stereotypes common to the period (1950).

As you might have guessed from the ad at the end of this chapter, Archie Comics was not above doing their own imitation of their most successful character!

Be here...
NEXT WEDNESDAY
...to see if The Dover Boys can avoid a "certain and horrible death!"

Wednesday Worlds of Wonder ADVENTURES OF THE DOVER BOYS "Chapter 2: Wings of Doom"

We Have Already Seen...

Now that you're caught up, let's continue...

Note the ad for the lead title from this publisher, which began as MLJ Magazines, but changed it's name to Archie Comics when it became clear that the red-headed teen outsold everything else they published.

At this point (1950), Archie was slowly phasing-out their non-humor strips in existing books like Pep Comics and Laugh Comics, but were still willing to try non-teen humor material in standalone titles like this one, Sam Hill: Private Eye and Darling Love, none of which lasted more than eight issues.
Be here next Wednesday as we continue this never-reprinted tale!