Betty in "Rumor Has It"

(SPOILERS)

Betty Cooper's personality has been displayed in many different ways.  Sometimes she's intelligent, other times she's tomboyish, she can be the wholesome girl next door, a jealous schemer, an honest and trustworthy person, etc.  In this particular story, she's displayed as being very dizzy and flighty, which makes for great comedy when interacting with Big Moose.


The story begins with a very simple premise.  Reggie is running in fear because Big Moose is looking for him and he assumes that Moose wants to clobber him.  Betty jumps to the same conclusion, but after Reggie runs away, Big Moose comes along and explains to Betty that he needs Reggie to tell him a football play.  Betty laughs at the misunderstanding and tells Moose, "I thought it was something about HIM and MIDGE!"  But, the very mention of Reggie and Midge together makes Moose suspicious and he goes into a rage.  Moose is ready to kill Reggie now, but Betty assures Moose that it's not true and she only barely convinces him of this.  Moose walks away, but a girl asks Betty what was going on and tactful Betty says, "Oh, I opened my big mouth to Big Moose about Reggie and Midge!"  The girl gets very excited about this piece of gossip and Betty's attempts to convince her that it's not true are futile.  Soon, all of the girls are talking and laughing about Reggie dating Midge while Big Moose listens in horror.  So now of course, it's up to our heroine Betty to dispel with these nasty rumors.  She explains each and every rumor to Moose, assures him that none of them are true, while inadvertently making Reggie look more guilty with every word.  We then see Reggie waiting at the Bus Stop with two suitcases.  Betty tells Reggie not to worry because she "explained it all to Big Moose!"  "I HEARD!  The word is out!" replies a resigned Reggie.  As he gets on the bus to leave town, Betty runs after him, trying to reassure him that she has "fixed everything."  Even in his hour of despair, Reggie realizes that Betty had no malicious intent and says, "She's a good egg!  Slightly cracked, but a good egg!"

This is one of the many funny stories from vintage Archie Comics.  It has a comedic mix-up theme similar to Three's Company and Betty can sure remind you of Chrissy Snow in this one.  It's also one of the few times that Reggie is simply a victim of circumstance (or Betty's blunders) instead of his own meanness.  Good stuff.


Also, could anyone tell me who the artist is in this story?  It looks a little similar to Al Hartley, but I don't believe that's who it is.

Betty could be such a bimbo sometimes.

very early Al Hartley. Moose's head withthe small hat, the explosions around the head and Betty's awkward body language are all Hartley traits. Good guess!

Yes he always had those weird explosions around the head, easily my least favorite artist of the time.

Ah, early Al Hartley work...That would explain why it looks different from some of his better known work.  I knew that Al put those "explosions" above characters' heads (instead of exclamation points or question marks), but I didn't know if he was the only one to do it. 

I really like Al Hartley's work and he is one of my favorite artists and writers.  While I will admit that the Christian Spire comics really did not suite the Archie gang, I think Hartley's large contribution to mainstream Archie often gets overshadowed by that limited run of Evangelical stories.  I also have to question the belief that almost all of his mainstream Archie stories had Christian overtones.  There were certainly some that did, but there were many Al Hartley stories where I think anyone would be hard pressed to find a religious theme in it (This story being one of them if this is his work).  On the other hand, I don't know if Al Hartley wrote all of the Archie stories that he drew. 

In any case, there are quite a few mainstream stories with Al Hartley's art that stand out for me.  I also love his style with the attention to details and emotions.  While there are many Archie artists whose art I could praise as being well done and finely crafted, Al Hartley's may be the only style that I could describe as being beautiful.  His art was one of my earliest memories of Archie Comics when I was little and it has always stayed with me.  Agree with all of his beliefs or not, the man was an artistic genius.     

Me, I just remember as a kid looking at Hartley's work and going "Hey, it's that guy who draws every girl with Pamela Anderson's physique and lips!" I was un-bothered by this, being 13 and all. Seriously, though, it's always weird to think that HE was the Evangelical Christian considering the amount of bustiness and over sexuality he gave the girls- the man almost dwarfed DeCarlo on that front.

I personally loved the story. I thought that was a cute story. This story is why Reggie and Betty really should interact more . They get a story going even when itercating just as friends.

lol, indeed they do

lol, love the story.

Although the Spire Christian Comics haven't been published in digest format...at least not to my knowledge.  Though some of the stories certainly LOOK like they might have...

How so?