Dan DeCarlo defined the look of teen humor comics for half a century...
...which is an appropriate point to make as we re-present a series from the 1950s that looks at teen life in the early 2000s!
Written and penciled by Dan DeCarlo and inked by Fred Eng, this story from Standard's Jetta of the 21st Century #7 (1953) has the "feel", both in writing and art, of an Archie tale!
At this point, Dan was freelancing, working for Standard, Atlas (later Marvel) and Archie!
Archie co-creator Bob Montana's version still set the visual standard for the company's flagship character, but DeCarlo was given leeway to adapt the characters to his art style, which would become the defining "look" for the entire line by the late 1950s, and remain so until the mid-1990s, when they stared to experiment with more realistic, and even anime-inspired art!
Ironically, Archie Comics published a series about Archie and his gang set in the far future...
...from 1989 to 1991, which combined then-current fashions with the same retro-tech look as Jetta!
Though based on DeCarlo's design concepts, Dan didn't do any covers or art for the 16-issue series!
