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JOSIE reprint collections - Contents Listings and Comparison

Started by DeCarlo Rules, September 02, 2017, 11:00:50 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

DeCarlo Rules

#15
Yeah, now that I started thinking about all the stuff that was happening at Archie (and in the comics industry at large) from the beginning of the 1990s to when Stan Goldberg died, and the factors around him that may have had an impact on him somehow, it all seems to make more sense.

When did his work begin to look noticeably not as inspired any more? Seems to me it's right around the time when Jack Kirby died without getting any satisfaction from Marvel (1994), and coincidentally or not, that also happens to coincide with about the time that the next generation of Archie artists, recruited by the company in the late 1980s and early 1990s, began to assert their skills with confidence. Rex Lindsey was the first one to begin getting the more high-profile, better-paying assignments, like covers, pin-up posters in the 48-Page Giants, and merchandising artwork. Dan Parent was beginning to emerge from the shadow of his mentor, Dan DeCarlo, and he and Jeff Schultz became to the go-to guys for B&V covers and stories when Dan DeCarlo couldn't do it all. At first when these guys started, they just tended to be learning their craft and working at blending in with the house style, but as the mid-1990s were approaching, now they were beginning to step up as the new top talents.

Frank Doyle died around 1996, so maybe some of the feeling wasn't there for Stan in the scripts of the younger writers, as well. Then in 1997 Samm Schwartz died too. Guess who took up the slack of those pages he used to fill? Goldberg had to be feeling his mortality at his age, too. Then by 2000 there was that mess of DeCarlo vs. Archie Comic Publications, and you can't blame Dan for wanting to leave something for his kids and grandkids, but the reality of the outcome of that had to be a real joykiller for Goldberg too, and once again, who took up the slack of those pages that DeCarlo used to fill? I mean, that's about when it really seems like for Goldberg it became a question of... The countdown clock is ticking, so how much juice can I squeeze out of this lemon before it's completely dry? Like it was some kind of race against time for him to get his financial affairs squared away before work was no longer going to be available to him someday, and like he felt that was really his only salable commodity as a freelancer, to be able to fill all those pages by deadline, and be known as the guy who was a reliable workhorse. In a way, it's a lucky thing (it sounds awful to say it) that Stan died before the whole 2015 reboot thing happened, and I think he was probably aware that he wasn't going to merit any more special consideration for his "lifetime achievement" than Fernando Ruiz got for his 25 years of service.   :'(

SAGG

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on September 04, 2017, 12:53:35 AM
Yeah, now that I started thinking about all the stuff that was happening at Archie (and in the comics industry at large) from the beginning of the 1990s to when Stan Goldberg died, and the factors around him that may have had an impact on him somehow, it all seems to make more sense.

When did his work begin to look noticeably not as inspired any more? Seems to me it's right around the time when Jack Kirby died without getting any satisfaction from Marvel (1994), and coincidentally or not, that also happens to coincide with about the time that the next generation of Archie artists, recruited by the company in the late 1980s and early 1990s, began to assert their skills with confidence. Rex Lindsey was the first one to begin getting the more high-profile, better-paying assignments, like covers, pin-up posters in the 48-Page Giants, and merchandising artwork. Dan Parent was beginning to emerge from the shadow of his mentor, Dan DeCarlo, and he and Jeff Schultz became to the go-to guys for B&V covers and stories when Dan DeCarlo couldn't do it all. At first when these guys started, they just tended to be learning their craft and working at blending in with the house style, but as the mid-1990s were approaching, now they were beginning to step up as the new top talents.

Frank Doyle died around 1996, so maybe some of the feeling wasn't there for Stan in the scripts of the younger writers, as well. Then in 1997 Samm Schwartz died too. Guess who took up the slack of those pages he used to fill? Goldberg had to be feeling his mortality at his age, too. Then by 2000 there was that mess of DeCarlo vs. Archie Comic Publications, and you can't blame Dan for wanting to leave something for his kids and grandkids, but the reality of the outcome of that had to be a real joykiller for Goldberg too, and once again, who took up the slack of those pages that DeCarlo used to fill? I mean, that's about when it really seems like for Goldberg it became a question of... The countdown clock is ticking, so how much juice can I squeeze out of this lemon before it's completely dry? Like it was some kind of race against time for him to get his financial affairs squared away before work was no longer going to be available to him someday, and like he felt that was really his only salable commodity as a freelancer, to be able to fill all those pages by deadline, and be known as the guy who was a reliable workhorse. In a way, it's a lucky thing (it sounds awful to say it) that Stan died before the whole 2015 reboot thing happened, and I think he was probably aware that he wasn't going to merit any more special consideration for his "lifetime achievement" than Fernando Ruiz got for his 25 years of service.   :'(
Interesting points, DR. DeCarlo was the only one who "fought" ACP, and paid a price for it. Goldberg and Schwartz "got in line". Bolling? I suppose he did as well...

DeCarlo Rules

#17
Quote from: SAGG on September 04, 2017, 04:20:33 AM
Interesting points, DR. DeCarlo was the only one who "fought" ACP, and paid a price for it. Goldberg and Schwartz "got in line". Bolling? I suppose he did as well...

And when you think about it, it was probably something he'd thought about ever since the whole Kirby vs. Marvel thing became common knowledge in the industry, and even just a few years earlier, when Sabrina became a hugely successful live action TV series, it must have started gnawing at him. He was the only one at ACP who could have done it, because he was the only one left alive who could claim to have actually created something of value. Well, him and George Gladir, who co-created Sabrina with Dan. Who knows if Dan ever had a conversation with Frank Doyle about Josie while Frank was still alive -- but even then, Dan could still claim primacy of creation in that instance, because HE brought the idea for Josie to Archie Comics, and he had documented proof (sample newspaper strips he'd done prior to 1963) of having a prototype version of Josie before ACP (and Doyle) was ever involved. With Sabrina, it was just a script he got from Gladir, so if the two of them didn't agree to go up against ACP together, then there was no way one of them could have fought that battle alone -- so maybe Gladir didn't want to risk his one source of work in the industry. It was a risky thing for Dan to go up against Archie Comics as the creator of Josie, because if he won, then where else could he have taken the property? Marvel and DC weren't publishing anything like that in 2000. I think he was just looking to establish his authorship of the characters, and to ensure his family would have a continuing source of income from a percentage of profits from Josie. Schwartz didn't create Jughead, as valuable as he was to the company for that character, and Bolling... well, even if there HAD ever been any merchandising or licensing profits from Little Archie, what could Bolling have claimed to have created? A little kid version of a previously-existing character owned by the company? That was never going to fly in a courtroom.

The funny thing about the Kirby vs. Marvel thing is that it did not start out as Jack Kirby trying to reclaim some share of ownership or profits of the many major characters he created or co-created while working at Marvel. He just wanted his pages of original artwork back. In the 1980s, Marvel had a huge warehouse full of original artwork filed away going back decades, and they decided they didn't need the expense of maintaining that warehouse. Once the artwork had been photographed and turned into transparencies, it took up much less space and was easier to file -- that's where they created all their reprints from. So they just decided to empty this huge warehouse, and give the artists back all of their original artwork (which by that time, had become a valuable source of income for the artists themselves when sold to collectors). So Marvel started sending all the artists packages containing pages and pages of their work. And Jack got a package, containing some few hundred pages. A few hundred? Kirby had drawn thousands of pages for Marvel, and he wanted that back, so his family could benefit from selling it. And when Kirby pursued it, all of a sudden he was being sent all sorts of crazy documents to sign off on from Marvel's lawyers, before they would release those art pages to him... stuff basically signing away all claims of ever having created anything, stuff which would have been a legal document that he couldn't contest, saying that the company was the actual creator/author of the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, the Silver Surfer, Iron Man, Ant-Man, the Inhumans, the Avengers, etc. etc. etc. and Kirby and his heirs hereby renounced all future claims of any stake in ownership in any of those characters. Basically Marvel was withholding his original artwork as a lever to blackmail him, so THEY were the ones who turned it into a battle over who created what.

Ronny G

After reading the behind the scenes stuff, I now have more sympathy for Mr. Goldberg, and will cut him some slack the next time I read one of his latter stories where I feel the art is sub-par.


I surprised that Mr. Goldberg also drew for Chili. I am familiar with the comic book but I always felt it was a poor imitation of Betty and Veronica. I knew it was DC trying to copy the Archie style, but I didn't know it was one of Archie's own artists working for the competition.

DeCarlo Rules

Quote from: Ronny G on September 04, 2017, 06:19:19 PM
After reading the behind the scenes stuff, I now have more sympathy for Mr. Goldberg, and will cut him some slack the next time I read one of his latter stories where I feel the art is sub-par.


I surprised that Mr. Goldberg also drew for Chili. I am familiar with the comic book but I always felt it was a poor imitation of Betty and Veronica. I knew it was DC trying to copy the Archie style, but I didn't know it was one of Archie's own artists working for the competition.

I guess you could look at it that way, with 20/20 hindsight. But the reality is, Goldberg was just doing the same thing he'd been doing for the last 20 years... working in the production department at Marvel during the day as a full-time employee and the company's main colorist, while working on freelance art assignments at night (at that particular time, Millie the Model and Millie's Rival Chili for Marvel, Scooter and Binky's Buddies for DC, and various titles for Archie Comics). Since Stan G was capable of drawing both "straight" and humor style comics, I don't think there was ever a month that went by in those entire 20 years that his artwork didn't appear in some Atlas/Marvel comic book.

And yes, publishers paid attention to what was selling well for the competition, so the high sales and expanding number of titles published at Archie Comics coincident with the arrival of Filmation's The Archie Show and Sabrina the Teenage Witch cartoons on Saturday morning television did not go unnoticed by DC and Marvel, and led to them trying to get a piece of that market with a few titles done in the teen humor house style of Archie Comics. DC resurrected one of their old teen humor characters dormant since 1961, Binky, and converted another title, Swing With Scooter, to that style. Marvel converted Millie the Model back from soap-opera dramatics to its original humor style, and added a spinoff comic for Chili. Let's not forget that the "teen humor house style of Archie Comics" was synonymous with Dan DeCarlo's style, and this was exactly the time when Richard Goldwater determined that DeCarlo should become responsible for drawing ALL of Archie Comics humor title covers. The same Dan DeCarlo who'd been responsible for great sales in the 1950s on Atlas girl humor comics like My Friend Irma (about a ditzy blonde) and Millie the Model.

Which does beg the "What if... ?" question of what Archie Comics would have been like (or whether they'd have even survived this long) had former Marvel artists like DeCarlo, Goldberg, and Hartley not chosen Archie Comics as their major employer after 1958.

DeCarlo Rules

#20
Quote from: Ronny G on September 04, 2017, 06:19:19 PM
I surprised that Mr. Goldberg also drew for Chili. I am familiar with the comic book but I always felt it was a poor imitation of Betty and Veronica.

Millie and Chili weren't particularly imitative of Betty & Veronica. Millicent Collins and Chili Storm (whose first appearance was in Millie the Model #5 in 1947) were both professional models who worked for the Hanover Modeling Agency, and as such, they naturally competed for work assignments and attention (especially with their handsome boss, Mr. Hanover). Chili often displayed jealousy of Millie (a small-town girl only recently arrived at the agency) and was vain and egotistical (what -- a professional model vain and egotistical!? How unrealistic...!). In terms of her personality, how she related to the star of the series, and how her character functioned within the plots of the stories, her closest analog at Archie Comics would probably be Alexandra Cabot.

Marvel didn't really have a book in which the two characters were both equals, and also best friends who had an ongoing rivalry, but the closest comparison would probably be with the title Patsy and Hedy. Both characters were high school girls, with Patsy the red-headed and virtuous "girl next door" type, and Hedy her dark-haired jealous rival, scheming to steal attention (and dates) away from Patsy, but Patsy was always the obvious hero and good-girl character, and Hedy the 'villain', who nearly always gets her comeuppance at the end of the story.

There was at least one title that Marvel did, that could be charged as a "clone" of Archie Comics, and that was KATHY "The Teen-Age Tornado!". It ran for 27 issues, from 1959-1964, and came uncomfortably close to B&V, as drawn by Stan Goldberg in a style as close as possible to Dan DeCarlo's (but once again, Kathy was the star, and her brunette frenemy Liz, merely a supporting character -- ironically, before BETTY ever got her own title at Archie Comics). Marvel was perhaps stinging from the then very recent loss of DeCarlo during Goodman's moratorium on purchasing new stories while he scrambled to cut his former line of 50+ titles down to a mere 16 bi-monthlies, and once Archie Comics had gotten their hooks into him, it seemed unlikely they were ever going to let DeCarlo NOT have enough art assignments to keep him busy. (Still, he managed to sneak in those gag pin-ups for Goodman's mens' magazines for the next 4 years, but the money involved must have been too good to pass up.)


Ronny G

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on September 05, 2017, 07:27:15 PM
Millie and Chili weren't particularly imitative of Betty & Veronica.



Right. What I really meant to say (but had trouble articulating), was it looked like Marvel was copying the look of B&V. I knew the character's were different, but their facial features were similar. They just changed the hairstyle. Their noses and eyes were the same as B&V. The nose in particular, I always associate with B&V. They could've done a crossover appearance, and they would've fit right in.  :)

DeCarlo Rules

#22
Quote from: Ronny G on September 05, 2017, 10:05:21 PM
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on September 05, 2017, 07:27:15 PM
Millie and Chili weren't particularly imitative of Betty & Veronica.



Right. What I really meant to say (but had trouble articulating), was it looked like Marvel was copying the look of B&V. I knew the character's were different, but their facial features were similar. They just changed the hairstyle. Their noses and eyes were the same as B&V. The nose in particular, I always associate with B&V. They could've done a crossover appearance, and they would've fit right in.  :)

If it SEEMS like Archie Comics invented something, a genre or a style... that's just an illusion, caused by an ignorance of history. Really all that the company can be credited with is a publishing decision to commit their lot (beginning in 1943), for better or worse, to a single genre -- comedy. 1943 is the year they made that decision, and the company had converted all of its books (and most of its features) to that genre by 1946, at which point they changed their name to Archie Comic Publications.

As far as how their Archie Comics "house style" of artwork evolved, the only thing the company can be credited with is keeping Dan DeCarlo employed. HIS style became the Archie Comics style, but his style was never derived from, or influenced by, Archie Comics artists who came before him -- in fact, when asked to draw B&V in Bob Montana's style, he balked at the idea as extra work he'd rather not bother with (and eventually John Goldwater relented). All they really had to do was instruct the other artists to draw it like Dan's style as much as possible... and that's certainly something that isn't protectable by copyright, so it was just as easy for another publisher to issue the same instructions.

In fact, if you were ignorant of the artists' names, you could have looked at a Betty & Veronica comic book in 1960, and said "Hey, did you notice they're now copying the old Millie the Model style?"

DeCarlo Rules

#23
But getting back now to the listings of contents of the various JOSIE collections, the next one to be released (in Dec. 2014) was the largest so far at 308 pages: BEST OF JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS: GREATEST HITS! In many ways this is sort of a prototype for the BEST OF print collection just released in August 2017, but there would be many changes in contents between the 2014 digital exclusive collection and the 2017 trade paperback collection. This digital exclusive collection would also be re-released later with an altered cover design, as PEP DIGITAL #123.



   BEST OF JOSIE & THE PUSSYCATS: GREATEST HITS      (308 pages)      source of 1st publication      Dec. 2014      writer      penciller      inker      
   Decisions, Decisions      6 pages      JOSIE #45      Dec. 1969      Dick Malmgren      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   Pussy Footing      11 pages      JOSIE #45      Dec. 1969      Dick Malmgren      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   Off to a Good Start      5 pages      JOSIE #45      Dec. 1969      Frank Doyle      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   A Moment of Truth      7 pages      JOSIE #55      June 1971      Dick Malmgren      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   A New View      5 pages      ARCHIE'S TV LAUGH-OUT #84      Feb. 1982      George Gladir      Stan Goldberg            
   Head Count      6 pages      ARCHIE'S TV LAUGH-OUT #95      June 1984      Frank Doyle      Dan DeCarlo      Jim DeCarlo      
   Oh Solo Mio      11 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #52      Dec. 2001      Dan Parent      Holly Golightly      John Costanza      
   Dog Daze      6 pages      JOSIE #82      June 1975      Frank Doyle      Dan DeCarlo      Jim DeCarlo      
   Bad News Boys      11 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #53      Jan. 2002      Holly Golightly      Holly Golightly      John Costanza      
   Stage Fright      11 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #55      Apr. 2002      Holly Golightly      Holly Golightly      John Costanza      
   The Driving Force      6 pages      JOSIE #77      Aug. 1974      Dick Malmgren      Stan Goldberg      Jon D'Agostino      
   Litter by Litter      6 pages      JOSIE #51      Oct. 1970      Frank Doyle      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   Photo Oops!      6 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #68      May 2003      Angelo DeCesare      Rex W. Lindsey      Rich Koslowski      
   Say Cheese!      1 page      ARCHIE'S PALS 'N' GALS #194      Jan. 1988      George Gladir      Stan Goldberg      Rod Ollerenshaw      
   Pussycats on the Runway!            ARCHIE & FRIENDS #85      Nov. 2004      Abby Denson      Fernando Ruiz      Rich Koslowski      
   Sounds Silly to Me...      5 pages      JOSIE #47      Apr. 1970      Dick Malmgren      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   The Swingers      6 pages      ARCHIE'S TV LAUGH-OUT #97      Oct. 1984      Frank Doyle      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   What Price Failure      6 pages      ARCHIE'S TV LAUGH-OUT #96      Aug. 1984      George Gladir      Dan DeCarlo      Jim DeCarlo      
   Safe & Sound!      6 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #73      Oct. 2003      Angelo DeCesare      Rex W. Lindsey      Rich Koslowski      
   Club Crisis      6 pages      JOSIE #93      Dec. 1976      Frank Doyle      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   Ice Princess of the Lost Civilization      11 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #54      Mar. 2002      Holly Golightly      Holly Golightly      John Costanza      
   Gig Gala!      5 pages      LAUGH #4      Dec. 1987      George Gladir      Stan Goldberg      Hy Eisman      
   Fame Blame      6 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #70      July 2003      Angelo DeCesare      Al Bigley      Al Milgrom      
   The Brad-to-Be!      5 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #79      Mar. 2004      Angelo DeCesare      Dan Parent      Jon D'Agostino      
   Take Me to Your Leader      10 pages      JOSIE #51      Oct. 1970      Frank Doyle      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   A Singular Idea      6 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #63      Dec. 2002      Holly Golightly      Holly Golightly      John Costanza      
   Alexandra's Liberation      8 pages      JOSIE #53      Feb. 1971      Dick Malmgren      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   Gimmick Happy      6 pages      LAUGH #1      June 1987      Bill Webb      Stan Goldberg      Jon D'Agostino      
   Melody Malady      6 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #80      Apr. 2004      Angelo DeCesare      Dan Parent      Jon D'Agostino      
   Think Jinx      6 pages      JOSIE #56      Aug. 1971      Dick Malmgren      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   Costume Capers      5 pages      LAUGH #16      Aug. 1989      George Gladir      Stan Goldberg      Mike Esposito      
   Go Figure!      6 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #69      June 2003      Angelo DeCesare      Al Bigley      Al Milgrom      
   Show Offs!      6 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #76      Dec. 2003      Angelo DeCesare      Rex W. Lindsey      Rich Koslowski      
   Backstage Pass      11 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #56      June 2002      Holly Golightly      Holly Golightly      John Costanza      
   Using His Head      11 pages      JOSIE #48      June 1970      Dick Malmgren      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   Music for the Masses, Chapter 1      6 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #48      July 2001      Dan Parent      Rex W. Lindsey      Rich Koslowski      
   Music for the Masses, Chapter 2      6 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #48      July 2001      Dan Parent      Rex W. Lindsey      Bob Smith      
   Music for the Masses, Chapter 3      6 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #49      Aug. 2001      Dan Parent      Rex W. Lindsey      Rich Koslowski      
   Music for the Masses, Chapter 4      6 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #49      Aug. 2001      Dan Parent      Rex W. Lindsey      Rich Koslowski      
   Isle be Your Dream Date!      6 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #83      Aug. 2004      Angelo DeCesare      Dan Parent      Jim Amash      
   The Image      5 pages      ARCHIE'S TV LAUGH-OUT #98      Dec. 1984      George Gladir      Stan Goldberg      Rudy Lapick      
   It Starts with a Kiss!      22 pages      ARCHIE #608      June 2010      Dan Parent      Bill Galvan      Rich Koslowski      

Stories listed above in RED don't appear in any other collections. Apart from stories which appear in both this collection and the Aug. 2017 BEST OF JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS trade paperback collection, this collection has fewer stories repeated from the remainder of the collections. The main negative point of this collection compared to the 2017 BEST OF collection would be that the stories in this collection aren't presented in chronological order of their original publication. Bottom line: If you're buying digital, get this collection rather than the digital version of the 2017 BEST OF collection. It has fewer pages, but more stories that are unique to this collection. If you're a print comics only person, then this digital exclusive collection isn't even an option for you.

SAGG

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on September 04, 2017, 12:53:35 AM
Yeah, now that I started thinking about all the stuff that was happening at Archie (and in the comics industry at large) from the beginning of the 1990s to when Stan Goldberg died, and the factors around him that may have had an impact on him somehow, it all seems to make more sense.

When did his work begin to look noticeably not as inspired any more? Seems to me it's right around the time when Jack Kirby died without getting any satisfaction from Marvel (1994), and coincidentally or not, that also happens to coincide with about the time that the next generation of Archie artists, recruited by the company in the late 1980s and early 1990s, began to assert their skills with confidence. Rex Lindsey was the first one to begin getting the more high-profile, better-paying assignments, like covers, pin-up posters in the 48-Page Giants, and merchandising artwork. Dan Parent was beginning to emerge from the shadow of his mentor, Dan DeCarlo, and he and Jeff Schultz became to the go-to guys for B&V covers and stories when Dan DeCarlo couldn't do it all. At first when these guys started, they just tended to be learning their craft and working at blending in with the house style, but as the mid-1990s were approaching, now they were beginning to step up as the new top talents.

Frank Doyle died around 1996, so maybe some of the feeling wasn't there for Stan in the scripts of the younger writers, as well. Then in 1997 Samm Schwartz died too. Guess who took up the slack of those pages he used to fill? Goldberg had to be feeling his mortality at his age, too. Then by 2000 there was that mess of DeCarlo vs. Archie Comic Publications, and you can't blame Dan for wanting to leave something for his kids and grandkids, but the reality of the outcome of that had to be a real joykiller for Goldberg too, and once again, who took up the slack of those pages that DeCarlo used to fill? I mean, that's about when it really seems like for Goldberg it became a question of... The countdown clock is ticking, so how much juice can I squeeze out of this lemon before it's completely dry? Like it was some kind of race against time for him to get his financial affairs squared away before work was no longer going to be available to him someday, and like he felt that was really his only salable commodity as a freelancer, to be able to fill all those pages by deadline, and be known as the guy who was a reliable workhorse. In a way, it's a lucky thing (it sounds awful to say it) that Stan died before the whole 2015 reboot thing happened, and I think he was probably aware that he wasn't going to merit any more special consideration for his "lifetime achievement" than Fernando Ruiz got for his 25 years of service.   :'(
Schultz to me never left the house style. Parent evolved form DeCarlo's....

DeCarlo Rules

#25
Quote from: SAGG on September 06, 2017, 11:24:22 PM
Schultz to me never left the house style. Parent evolved form DeCarlo's...

Dan Parent was largely mentored early in his employment at ACP by Dan DeCarlo, and you can find many stories from the early days of Dan P's career that are co-credited to the two Dans. The "traditional Archie Comics style" was Dan DeCarlo's style, and every artist who was employed by ACP after Dan started working there was encouraged to study his work, and adhere to that style as closely as possible. That didn't apply to artists who started working for ACP before DeCarlo came on board full-time in 1958, like Harry Lucey and Samm Schwartz, but to everyone else, yes. Even the younger generation of artists who started at the company in the late 1980s/early 1990s stuck very close to the house style until the 21st century, when they were at last allowed to express their individuality a little more distinctly.

Jeff Schultz always seemed like the one who was earliest able to master the DeCarlo style, and he never seemed to vary from that right up to the present. I can detect very little difference between his earlier work and his most recent work, and I must admit it took me some time at first to even be able to distinguish Jeff's work from DeCarlo's on uncredited stories from the 1990s. Nor is Jeff's uncanny ability to closely mimic another artist's style limited to Dan DeCarlo's, as anyone whose seen his work on Boom Studios' PEANUTS comic book can attest. Jeff is a fantastic artist, and I can't wait to see those new issues of his and Darin Henry's SUPER 'SUCKERS!

SAGG

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on September 07, 2017, 12:08:53 AM
Quote from: SAGG on September 06, 2017, 11:24:22 PM
Schultz to me never left the house style. Parent evolved form DeCarlo's...

Dan Parent was largely mentored early in his employment at ACP by Dan DeCarlo, and you can find many stories from the early days of Dan P's career that are co-credited to the two Dans. The "traditional Archie Comics style" was Dan DeCarlo's style, and every artist who was employed by ACP after Dan started working there was encouraged to study his work, and adhere to that style as closely as possible. That didn't apply to artists who started working for ACP before DeCarlo came on board full-time in 1958, like Harry Lucey and Samm Schwartz, but to everyone else, yes. Even the younger generation of artists who started at the company in the late 1980s/early 1990s stuck very close to the house style until the 21st century, when they were at last allowed to express their individuality a little more distinctly.

Jeff Schultz always seemed like the one who was earliest able to master the DeCarlo style, and he never seemed to vary from that right up to the present. I can detect very little difference between his earlier work and his most recent work, and I must admit it took me some time at first to even be able to distinguish Jeff's work from DeCarlo's on uncredited stories from the 1990s. Nor is Jeff's uncanny ability to closely mimic another artist's style limited to Dan DeCarlo's, as anyone whose seen his work on Boom Studios' PEANUTS comic book can attest. Jeff is a fantastic artist, and I can't wait to see those new issues of his and Darin Henry's SUPER 'SUCKERS!
Is there a link where I can see Schultz's work on Peanuts, DR? Thanks in advance....

DeCarlo Rules

Quote from: SAGG on September 07, 2017, 04:19:43 AM
Is there a link where I can see Schultz's work on Peanuts, DR? Thanks in advance....

Nothing specific that I could find. Jeff Schultz doesn't seem to have much of a presence on the internet. No facebook or twitter page, blog or website of his own that I could find. In trying to search for images, I found that Boom Studios' PEANUTS series has since been discontinued, and there's a possibility that the estate of Charles Schulz did not want new Peanuts comics to be created by other writers and artists (there were some hints that Schulz' will specified as such), and that Boom Studios was creatively interpreting that directive to mean no new comic STRIPS (in newspapers) but not including comic BOOKS. I don't know if the previously-released Boom Studios' PEANUTS comics are still available in digital format, but that's your best bet, besides finding back issues or trade paperbacks.

DeCarlo Rules

#28
Moving on with the next digital exclusive JOSIE collection, JOSIE AND THE SCAREDY CATS was released in Oct. 2015.  It was later re-released with altered cover image as PEP DIGITAL No. 166.




   Josie and the Scaredy Cats      (96 pages)      source of 1st publication      Oct. 2015      writer      penciller      inker      
   The Ghost of Dark Valley Manor      16 pages      JOSIE #57      Sept. 1971      Dick Malmgren      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   What Kind of Ghoul Am I      14 pages      JOSIE #64      Sept. 1972      Dick Malmgren      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   My Brother's Keeper      8 pages      JOSIE #65      Oct. 1972      Frank Doyle      Stan Goldberg      Mario Acquaviva      
   Follow the Leader      6 pages      JOSIE #66      Dec. 1972      Frank Doyle      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   The Swamp Mist Monster!      8 pages      JOSIE #67      Feb. 1973      Frank Doyle      Stan Goldberg      Mario Acquaviva      
   Breath of Evil      8 pages      JOSIE #67      Feb. 1973      Frank Doyle      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   The Falcon's Claw      8 pages      JOSIE #68      Apr. 1973      Frank Doyle      Dan DeCarlo      Jim DeCarlo      
   Terror in the Park      6 pages      JOSIE #69      June 1973      Frank Doyle      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   Fraidy Cat Friday      5 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #82      July 2004      Hal Smith      Stan Goldberg      Jon D'Agostino      
   Return to Nightmare Nursery      11 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #58      Aug. 2002      Holly Golightly      Holly Golightly      John Costanza      
   Studio Scare      6 pages      ARCHIE & FRIENDS #84      Oct. 2004      Abby Denson      Rex W. Lindsey      Rich Koslowski      


The stories "The Ghost of Dark Valley Manor", "What Kind of Ghoul Am I", "My Brother's Keeper" and "The Swamp Mist Monster!" also appeared later in the Aug. 2017 BEST OF JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS trade paperback collection, but the rest of the stories (listed here in RED) haven't appeared in any other JOSIE collections. Another reason to get this collection and the previous GREATEST HITS digital exclusive if you're buying digital, and skip the digital version of the 2017 BEST OF collection. We also get another excellent story from Holly Golightly's run on ARCHIE & FRIENDS, "Return to Nightmare Nursery" -- this one's a sequel to the Frank Doyle/Bob Bolling classic story from LIFE WITH ARCHIE #125 (Sept. 1972), which was not a Josie story!





DeCarlo Rules

#29
Moving on to Mar. 2016, another digital exclusive Josie collection was released as part of the ARCHIE 75 SERIES. This was the 12th in that series to be released.



   ARCHIE 75 SERIES (#12)  - JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS      (83 pages)      source of 1st publication      Mar. 2016      writer      penciller      inker      
   A Gym Dandy      8 pages      JOSIE #1      Feb. 1963      Frank Doyle      Dan DeCarlo      Vince DeCarlo      
   Neat Workers      6 pages      JOSIE #1      Feb. 1963      Frank Doyle      Dan DeCarlo      Vince DeCarlo      
   Muscle Hustle      5 pages      JOSIE #1      Feb. 1963      Frank Doyle      Dan DeCarlo      Vince DeCarlo      
   Track Down      6 pages      JOSIE #1      Feb. 1963      Frank Doyle      Dan DeCarlo      Vince DeCarlo      
   Beach Fashions (pin-up)      1 page      JOSIE #17      Dec. 1965            Dan DeCarlo      Vince DeCarlo      
   Rebellion      8 pages      JOSIE #20      June 1966      Frank Doyle      Dan DeCarlo      Vince DeCarlo      
   Decisions, Decisions      6 pages      JOSIE #45      Dec. 1969      Dick Malmgren      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   Pussy Footing      5 pages      JOSIE #45      Dec. 1969      Dick Malmgren      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   Using His Head      11 pages      JOSIE #48      June 1970      Dick Malmgren      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   Quiet on the Set      8 pages      JOSIE #50      Sept. 1970      Dick Malmgren      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   Think Jinx      6 pages      JOSIE #56      Aug. 1971      Dick Malmgren      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      
   My Brother's Keeper      8 pages      JOSIE #65      Oct. 1972      Frank Doyle      Stan Goldberg      Mario Acquaviva      
   Some You Win      5 pages      JOSIE #98      Oct. 1978      Frank Doyle      Dan DeCarlo      Rudy Lapick      

The only story in this collection that doesn't appear in any of the other Josie collections is "Rebellion", and though it's a great story, is it worth the price of the collection for that one 8-page story? Once again, we get a complete reprint of JOSIE #1, but if you have the SHE'S JOSIE digital exclusive collection, you don't need it again. To be honest, I can't really see any reason to purchase this one unless you just want a complete set of the ARCHIE 75 SERIES.

The Archie character names and likenesses are covered by the registered trademarks/copyrights of Archie Comic Publications, Inc. and are used with permission by this site. The Official Archie Comics website can be visited at www.archiecomics.com.