Archie Classic Newspaper Comics

Bruce Canwell is the Associate Editor of the Library of American Comics, who have produced such books as Bloom County, King Aroo, Little Orphan Annie, and Rip Kirby for IDW. This month, they bring us Archie Classic Newspaper Comics which collects strips by Archie co-creator Bob Montana. Westfield’s Roger Ash recently contacted Canwell to learn more about this book.

Westfield: How did you come to publish the Archie newspaper strips? How closely are you working with Archie Comics on this?

Bruce Canwell: Greg Goldstein, who is IDW’s Chief Operating Officer, did the actual deal that allowed us to reprint the Archie strips. Over a year ago, the collective decision was made to release IDW’s various strip projects under The Library of American Comics (LOAC) banner, which immediately allowed LOAC to take over production on Dick Tracy. It also meant, while Editorial Director Dean Mullaney and I still choose the majority of LOAC projects, other IDW leaders can bring projects to LOAC. That’s how we landed Bloom County and Family Circus last year – editor Scott Dunbier has pre-existing relationships with Berke Breathed and the family of Bil Keane. Now Greg has brought us Archie. One of the things I like best about this deal is that Archie’s hometown of Riverdale is based on the real-life town of Haverhill, Massachusetts, which is in the greater Boston area, less than twenty miles from where I live. (By the way, for you non-Bostonians, “Haverhill” is pronounced “HAYV-ur-ull”!)

As far as our relationship with Archie Comics goes, obviously, Greg collaborated closely with Archie’s executives in doing the deal. The folks at Archie seem like a friendly and thoroughly professional group, so they’ll lend us a helping hand as needed. But we know they have their own line of regular comics to produce and we don’t want them to view us like an annoying kid tugging on their shirt and pestering them: “What about this? What about that? What about the other?” We want to be as professional as the Archie crew, which means we view them as a resource, but one that we shouldn’t abuse.

Archie Daily strip 1

Westfield: For those who may not be familiar with the work of Bob Montana, what can you tell us about him?

Canwell: Bob was a really fascinating guy. He spent several of his boyhood years on the road. He and his family performed a Vaudeville act headlined by his father, who was a singing cowboy! We’ve found some entertaining information about “Montana, The Cowboy Banjoist” that we’ll be sharing with readers. As Bob grew older, he started following a more conventional artist’s path — he attended school in New York City, launched his career around 1941, and began the Archie newspaper strip in 1946. Eventually he settled down in Meredith, New Hampshire — that’s another town only about an hour away from where I live.

Of course, Bob was THE artist who created the visual look of the Archie stable of characters. Most of us grew up with the Dan DeCarlo versions of the Riverdale gang, yet I think readers will find it fascinating to compare and contrast the “Montana look” with the “DeCarlo look.” I’m a Dan DeCarlo fan, but I’d say Bob Montana’s characters are looser, their “acting” is somewhat broader than Dan’s, and they tend to have a wider range of expressions and body language. Preparing this book has been my first prolonged reading experience with the Bob Montana Archie and I’ve become thoroughly charmed by his work.

Westfield: How does the daily strip compare to what people see in the Archie comic books?

Canwell: There are the obvious similarities – the core characters you’re familiar with from the comic books are all here. You’ll find Archie and Jughead, Betty and Veronica, Miss Grundy and Archie’s parents. The core relationships are the ones we’re all used to: is Archie more interested in Betty (the classic girl next door) or Veronica (the spoiled little rich girl)? From this perspective, the Archie strips are like the comics equivalent of comfort food.

Archie Daily Strip 2

That said, the strips put a different spin on the ball, which readers should find refreshing. The pacing of stories is different in strips than it is in comic books. Strips serve up a little joke or a mini-cliffhanger every day as they build to a bigger payoff, where comic book stories build along a smoother arc to reach a story’s climax. There are also subtle differences in characterization that readers will see – Jughead is more sardonic in the strips than he was in all the Archie comics I’ve read throughout my lifetime. The newspaper strips were launched with the assumption that 1940s readers had never seen or heard of Archie Andrews and his pals. That means the narrative begins at a logical beginning, with the arrival of Veronica Lodge at Archie’s high school. The analogy I’d draw from all this: if the Archie comic books are the equivalent of the classic Marvel Universe, the Archie comic strips are the equivalent of the Ultimate Universe.

Westfield: The Library of American Comics always has cool extras in their books. What extras can we look forward to in this volume?

Canwell: Roger, I have a multi-layered answer to this one!

First layer: we at LOAC work hard to try to find new or little-known information about the strips and their cartoonists – our goal is to add to the overall body of knowledge that’s available, not simply to retread ground others have already walked on. We’re also always on the lookout for original artwork, rare photographs, merchandising items, and other unusual visuals we can share with readers.

Second layer: With that in mind, our first Archie volume will feature text by the one and only Maggie Thompson. Maggie doesn’t need me to hype her – her knowledge and love of comics is universally known, her writing skills have been displayed both in countless fan publications and for many years in The Comics Buyer’s Guide. We’re delighted to be working with her, and within only a day or two of her accepting the Archie assignment, she was sending us e-mail about the pulp magazines MLJ published before moving into comics and ultimately launching Archie. Maggie had these pulps in her own personal collection! I fully expect Maggie’s text is going to help us all learn some new things about the genesis of Archie Comics. (Maggie’s also writing the introduction for our King Aroo Volume 2, which will be available around holiday time. It’s a tough call as to who’s the biggest Aroo fan: Maggie, Dean Mullaney, or me!)

Archie Daily Strip 3

Third layer: Remember how I mentioned Bob Montana eventually settled in Meredith, New Hampshire? The good news for all of us is: Bob’s two daughters still live there! They are delighted their dad’s work is going to be available once again and they’re making their family archives available to support the LOAC Archie series. So expect to see family photos, newspaper syndicate advertisements, artwork, and reminiscences from Bob Montana’s daughters throughout our Archie books.

Westfield: Are there any upcoming Library of American Comics volumes on the way that you’d like to mention?

Canwell: Do you see that B*I*G grin on my face? That’s because in August we’ll release our first Polly And Her Pals volume! “Polly” is Polly Perkins, a flighty young blonde, and her “pals” are the many guys who want to woo her. Even though the series bears Polly’s name, the star of the strip is her father, irascible ol’ Paw Perkins. The character who steals the show is Kitty, the family cat, whose antics in pantomime add a great comedic dimension to the story. If the misadventures of the Perkins family weren’t delightful enough, Polly features wonderful, often surreal artwork by cartoonist Cliff Sterrett. The Sunday pages are so eye-poppingly great, we’re publishing this book in an extra large 12″ x 16″ format. Polly fans have to be as excited as I am about this, and after reading this book I’m betting newcomers will join me in saying, “I love me some Polly!”

2010 is also the year LOAC begins to touch comic books as well as comic strips. Our first step in that direction appears in July, when we begin reprinting the newspaper strip Secret Agent Corrigan. A fair question would be, “How does this comic strip mark a move into the comic book arena?” Answer is, for many years Corrigan was written and drawn by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson. Archie, of course, was the much-beloved creator who left an indelible mark as the first editor for Jim Warren’s line of magazines (Creepy, Eerie, Blazing Combat), later as the writer of Iron Man and editor of Epic Illustrated and Marvel’s popular creator-owned Epic Comics line, then later still as a Batman editor par excellence, since he was the original guiding light behind Legends Of The Dark Knight. Al Williamson worked all over the place – EC, Dell, Charlton, Pacific, Marvel, and other stops in between each of those – and has long been one of the most respected and admired comics artists of the past half-century. When George Lucas wanted to launch a Star Wars newspaper strip, who did he tap to produce it? Those Secret Agent Corrigan guys, Goodwin and WIlliamson!

Then October brings Genius, Isolated: The Art & Life Of Alex Toth, which we believe will be THE comics artist biography of 2010. We’re working with the approval and support of the Toth estate, and in addition to detailed coverage of Alex’s life story, we’ll be presenting many rare or never-before-seen visuals as well as complete reprints of several of his stories. We’re excited to be offering readers new insights into the mind of Alex-the-man, and fresh, full-color examples of the work of Alex-the-artist’s-artist.

Westfield: Any closing comments?

Canwell: Here’s a tip of the Boston Red Sox cap to everyone who buys and reads our books. We appreciate all the support we receive, and we read and discuss all the comments we receive — especially the criticism! We’re making it easier for readers to contact us by launching www.libraryofamericancomics.com. The site will have news about upcoming LOAC projects, information about our complete catalogue of books, special offers and contests, even MORE extra material about the strips and creators we publish, as well as direct e-mail links to Dean and me. We’ll add other fun and interactive ideas in the near future as the site matures. We hope everyone who reads LOAC books will visit us at LOAC on the web!