Posted By Dan Greenfield on May 25, 2024 | 3 comments

Superteen to the rescue!

 By PETER BOSCH

Earlier in May, 13th Dimension broke the news that Archie Comics would be publishing Facsimile Editions of their past gems. In addition, we ran three columns devoted to 13 COMICS we’d love to see Archie reprint, in three different categories — historic ones, risque ones, and classic MLJ/Mighty Crusaders ones.

Well, here is a fourth one — the Riverdale heroes, representing the mid-Sixties, when Archie’s humor characters got their chance at being costumed do-gooders. (Even Li’l Jinx got in the act occasionally as the Mighty Kid.) All stories below were written by Frank Doyle, unless otherwise noted.

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Life with Archie #42 (Oct. 1965). This was the first appearance of Archie as Pureheart the Powerful, though it turned out to be a dream sequence.

Bob White pencils. Inker unknown.

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Archie’s Girls Betty and Veronica #118 (Oct. 1965). Released the same month as Life with Archie #42, the first Pureheart, Betty daydreams of being a heroine named Superteen in order to protect Archie and to keep him from the clutches of Veronica.

Pencils by Bob White, inks by Marty Epp

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Jughead #126 (Nov. 1965). In a dream sequence, Jughead envisions himself as Captain Hero. He wore an eye mask in just this one adventure.

Bill Vigoda pencils. Inker unknown.

Vigoda pencils, Vincent DeCarlo inks

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Life with Archie #46 (Feb. 1966). In this issue, a concept was introduced that enabled adventures of Pureheart to be a dream or real. Archie called upon the PH (“the Pureness of Heart”) factor within himself and he transformed into the teenager hero Pureheart the Powerful. However, he discovers that two side effects of the PH factor is that anyone within proximity of Pureheart would fail to recognize him as Archie and it also wiped clean their memory afterward of Pureheart ever being there.

White and Epp

White and Epp

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Life with Archie #47 (March 1966). Archie Comics was never one to ignore a popular trend. At the same time they were spoofing superheroes, they also featured Archie as The Man from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E., a satire of all the spy series in movies and on television at the time. The issue included Pureheart and Man from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E. stories.

White pencils, Mario Acquaviva inks

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Life with Archie #48 (April 1966). The first appearance of Evilheart (secretly Reggie, of course), along with an origin.

White and Acquaviva

Vigoda and Acquaviva

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Life with Archie #50 (June 1966). Only Frank Doyle could come up with a funny escape like in this issue. Locked inside a steel cage, Pureheart isn’t worried. He tells Superteen and Captain Hero, “Those vultures don’t know that my hairdressing oil contains a special steel solvent!”

White pencils. Unknown inker.

White and Epp

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Betty and Me #3 (Aug. 1966). It took Archie Comics almost a year before they came up with an origin for Superteen, but it may be the noblest of them all. Betty’s PH factor turned out to be saving Archie Andrews’ life without a thought of her own, but for it to be activated her ponytail must be twisted in a certain way.

Dan DeCarlo pencils, Vincent DeCarlo inks

Dan DeCarlo pencils, Vincent DeCarlo inks

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Reggie and Me #19 (Aug. 1966). This was the first issue under the new title of Reggie and Me. (Previously, it had been Archie’s Rival Reggie and Reggie.) The cover here was an exceptional depiction of Evilheart dominating Betty, Archie, and Veronica (the only character not given a superhero identity in the Sixties). More of the Doyle great humor at play in the initial story, with Pureheart stumped to discover where Evilheart has taken the kidnapped Betty and Veronica… and then discovering Evilheart is so vain he listed himself in the phone book.

Vigoda pencils. Unknown inker.

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Archie as Pureheart the Powerful #1 (Sept. 1966). Pureheart gets his own comic with this issue, the first of six. With the fourth issue, he undergoes a temporary name change to Captain Pureheart.

Paul Reinman pencils. Unknown inker.

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Archie Giant Series Magazine #142 (Oct. 1966). A 68-page collection of reprints of superhero tales from Life with Archie, Jughead, etc.

Artist(s) unknown

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The Adventures of Little Archie #40 (Fall 1966). Amusing story of Little Evilheart joining forces with Black Widow (no, not that one) and it is up to Little Pureheart the Powerful to stop them both.

Dexter Taylor possible pencils, White possible inks

Script and art by Dexter Taylor

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Jughead as Captain Hero #4 (April 1967). Jughead: “Teenie-weenie magic beanie, pointing towards the sky, bring me muscle, vigor, strength, form a Mighty Guy!” The scripter for this is unidentified but it is likely Doyle. Some of the humor is clearly in his witty style. The excellent artist for the story page below has also not been confirmed, but there is something very different in its approach than the rest of the issues, so it may have been a fill-in.

No credits available

No credits available

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And here’s a bonus: Jughead #132 (May 1966). This one does not have any superheroes inside, but what a great cover!

Vigoda and Epp

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MORE

— ARCHIE COMICS to Launch FACSIMILE EDITION Line — With the Classic BETTY AND ME #16. Click here.

— 13 ARCHIE/MLJ SUPERHERO COMICS Facsimile Editions We’d Like to See. Click here.

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13th Dimension contributor-at-large PETER BOSCH’s first book, American TV Comic Books: 1940s-1980s – From the Small Screen to the Printed Page, was published by TwoMorrows. He is currently at work on a sequel, about movie comics. Peter has written articles and conducted celebrity interviews for various magazines and newspapers. He lives in Hollywood.