Today however, we're going to talk about Radio Comics, a branch of the publisher formerly known as MLJ which is today is called Archie Comics, after their most successful creation. Beginning its run with the anthology Pep Comics #1 in 1940, MLJ's annoyingly squeaky-clean teenage icon would make his first appearance in issue #22 (replacing a horror strip named "Madam Satan") and by issue #36 the company experimented with putting the kid on the cover of Pep.

Within a year and a half the redhead had proved so popular that the MLJ dropped it's superhero characters from their line entirely. The Shield (who's sole claim to fame was being a Patriotic hero who predated Captain America by a few months) was finished in the pages of Pep, and Top Notch Comics ditched The Black Hood, an ersatz-Batman, in favor of Jughead Jones to become Laugh Comics. Also gone was Jack Cole's creation The Comet, who was killed off in Pep Comics #17 in order to introduce his brother, The Hangman who actually went around lynching bad guys. Yes, the company that would be Archie had the gall to publish this in a time when lynching was still a serious problem in much of the US. (And you thought comics didn't get Grim & Gritty (tm) until the 90s.) This character obviously proved too vicious for the newly family friendly publisher. Also missing in action was Mandrake The Magician-knockoff The Wizard and his sidekick Roy The Super-Boy (hyphenated to prevent lawsuits.)

As early as 1959 though, Archie felt the need to need to delve into the super-hero genre again with a new Shield series (oddly entitled The Double Life of Private Strong) that lasted a whopping 2 issues. More successful was "Adventures of the Fly" which was initially created by Captain America creators Joel Simon and Jack Kirby as a sort of insect themed variation of Captain Marvel. Young adolescent orphan Tommy Troy was taken in by a cruel old man, and one day in a Cinderella-esc twist discovered a magic ring that allowed him to become a big strong superhero with the ability to (you guessed it) fly. Simon & Kirby would leave the book by issue #4, and strangely enough as issue #5 opened Tommy Troy had grown up to become an adult law-school graduate. This newly adult fly carried a wacky stun-ray called a "Buzz Gun" and in issue 14 was joined by a female counterpart, actress Kim Brand who became Fly Girl. His sole reoccurring villain would be The Spider, a sort of Dollar General version of Lex Luthor. This version of the character would last for 30 issues.

In 1965 though, an Archie editor by the name of Richard Goldwater took notice of Marvel Comics success and decided that Archie's adventure comics line would sell better if they looked more like Marvel's titles. Rick Goldwater had gone to such extremes to imitate Marvel's successes as to take upon himself the pen name "Rick Gee" a less than subtle nod to Stanley Lieber's pen name. Archie's adventure comics line would also change it's name from Radio Comics to the Marvelous sounding Mighty Comics.

In addition to shamelessly aping Marvel's editorial style, the line also strove to imitate the campy humor of the popular Batman television series. Established characters were given gimmicks, often played to comical effect. The Shield was now in his civilian identity a hapless sap who was unable to hold onto a good job. College professor-turned-crime fighter The Web was given a scheming sitcom style housewife who would give him no small amount of grief about his crime fighting hobby, prompting the hero to be referred to as "The Hen-Pecked Hero" or "The Pussy-Whipped Paladin."

In retrospect the mixture of bombastic Marvel production-style with zany camp humor probably seemed good idea at the time, and with the proper execution it could have worked. Talent wise Archie's roster certainly seemed up to the job with journeyman artist Paul Reinman at the helm of most titles. Reinman had worked on numerous titles over the years, and at the time had done many back-up stories starring Iron-Man and Ant-Man among others. More important still was the fact that Richard Goldwater had recruited a certifiable legend to handle the writing chores. A man whose accomplishments would bring this comic line instant respect.

A man named Jerry Seigel, co-creator of Superman, and one of the fathers of the superhero genre.

The newly revised Archie Superhero line made it's debut in what was original solicited as Issue #31 of "Adventures of the Fly." The comic was unimaginably re-titled "Fly-Man" and in addition to displaying the newly updated Fly character, it would also be used as a storyline set-up to springboard a new team book called "The Mighty Crusaders" which would be used as a showcase for the company's numerous superhero properties.

It was a perfectly sound plan. What could go wrong?

Everything, and the fact that Rick Goldwater decided to promote the established talents of Reinman and Seigel as "Paul Are" and "Jerry Ess" wasn't even the tip of the iceberg.

To be continued...

 

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