Posted By Dan Greenfield on May 5, 2025 | 0 comments

A MORRISON MONDAYS birthday salute!

By BILL MORRISON

Today is the anniversary of the birth of one of the comics industry’s most important cartoonists and colorists, Stan Goldberg!

The venerable Mr. Goldberg — born 93 years ago on May 5, 1932 — was undoubtedly best known for his many years drawing the Riverdale gang, both in various Archie comic books, and for the syndicated Archie newspaper strip. But of course, Marvel fans also know him as colorist and color designer for the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Hulk, and many other Marvel Age characters, and as artist for Millie the Model throughout the 1960s and into the ’70s.

But did you know that he once drew a Simpsons comic book?

I don’t recall the circumstances of Stan’s departure from Archie Comics — his long association with the publisher began in the 1970s — but in 2010 while I was still creative director at Bongo Comics and editing all of Bongo’s output, I had read the news, oh boy. Stan Goldberg had some time on his hands! Being an unabashed opportunist, I decided to find a way to put him to work at Bongo.

Stan was one of the most versatile cartoonists I’d ever met, and he really showed his ability to change his style as a penciller on Marvel’s Millie the Model line of books. In 1959, he took over the penciling chores on Millie the Model #93 when Millie’s regular artist, Dan DeCarlo decided to work exclusively for Archie, and he did a great job imitating Dan’s style.

But after a few years, Stan had morphed the style of the Millie books into a more realistic “romance comic” mode. Then in 1967, Stan Lee had Goldberg go back to the more cartoony DeCarlo style, probably to compete better with Archie’s comics, which were red hot in the late ’60s. He continued working in that style on DC humor books such as Leave It to Binky and Date With Debbi in the early ’70s, and in the ’80s he also drew stories for DC’s Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew in the style established by CC’s co-creator, Scott Shaw! So, I was well aware of Stan’s ability to draw in various styles and thought “Why not ask him to draw a Simpsons story?”

Henry Scarpelli inks

I called Stan and he readily agreed to take the assignment, but I decided that rather than just give him a run-of-the-mill Simpsons tale to illustrate, we’d make it special by commissioning a script that would be tailor-made for the man who had spent so many years drawing the adventures of “America’s favorite teenager!”

So, we called Simpsons scribe extraordinaire, Ian Boothby, and asked him to write a parody of Archie comics, made to order for Stan. Ian took the ball and ran with it, delivering a hilarious sendup of the denizens of Riverdale. Naturally, Stan got all the jokes, and his depictions of the inhabitants of Springfield masquerading as Archie characters was absolutely perfect! Andrew Pepoy’s inks, Art Villanueva’s colors, and Karen Bates’ lettering weren’t too shabby either! The results can be found in Simpsons Comics #183, and it has become one of my most favorite editing efforts!

By the way, though I’ve drawn a lot of parody covers over the years, this one is not by me. It’s the brilliant work of Bongo mainstays Jason Ho and Mike Rote, art-directed by Nathan Kane!

With Bob Montana’s 1942 Archie Comics #1

I don’t recall why Stan, who died in 2014 at the age of 82, didn’t do more stories for Bongo, because he captured the style so well, and his storytelling abilities were phenomenal. But I’m happy we have this one issue, because it’s a doozy! I wish I could share the entire book with you, but a few beautifully hilarious panels will have to suffice as we celebrate the birth of one of the GOAT!

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— A NATIONAL SUPERHERO DAY Salute to the Greatest of Them All: RADIOACTIVE MAN. Click here.

— THE JOKER’S UTILITY BELT: How CESAR ROMERO and DICK SPRANG Made Me a JOKER Fan Forever. Click here.