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The Saturday Comics: Archie by Spire Christian Comics

3 Mar

March 3, 2012

A few weeks ago I chronicled the newspaper adventures of Archie Andrews, all-American teen. Along with Jughead, Reggie, Betty, and Veronica, the Riverdale gang have been entertaining the country for decades. From the fifties through today, their stories have never really changed but have never gotten boring. In a sense, they are timeless. Like Peanuts, they have an inner morality that never gets preachy and never favors any one group or creed over another.

Except during the 1970’s.

Here is a portion of a comment posted on my previous blog by master commentator Daniel, to whom this post is dedicated:

I VAGUELY, nebulously remember when Spire Comics ( ? ) picked up the rights to the Archie characters, & their adventures / misadventures, etc., also had candy – coated religious & moral lessons inside the comic coating. Like a Jack Chick religious tract w / out all the anti – Catholic, anti – Jewish / pro – Protestant sentiment, or the invitation to make a ” decision ” inside.

I had to know more. Here is what wiki has to say:

Spire Christian Comics was a line of comic books published by Fleming H. Revell starting in 1972. In 1981 Hugh Revell Barbour started his own company, Book Bargains, which soon became Barbour & Company. Barbour acquired the rights to republish many of the titles in the Spire Christian Comics line under the NEW Barbour Christian Comics imprint, keeping the comics in print until 1988.

Most of the Spire Comics were written and drawn by Al Hartley, who was working for Archie Comics at the time. Due to this connection, he was able to get permission to use the Archie characters in many of the comics.

What you are about to see is scary. These are Archie comic books that look and read exactly like regular Archie comic books, drawn and written by a regular Archie comic book creator, but instead of the wholesome Archie hijinks they are full of Archie hijinks with a pro-Christian bias. I am not against Christianity or religion, but I am against this sneaky method of proselytizing. Imagine a Superman Comic drawn by George Perez in which Superman extolls the virtues of Scientology and you’ll see what I mean.

Got to love the bearded stranger.

You can find many more scans of complete issues right here.

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A New York Minute (15)

13 Feb

February 13, 2012

Welcome to your New York Minute. What’s up?

Bruce Wayne once said that “criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot.” That may or may not be true, but if Batman comics have taught me anything, it is that bad guys love their colorful nicknames. and while New York may not be as overrun with arch-criminals as Gotham City, we do have our fair share of interestingly named villains.

The list of New York City Mob nicknames includes Jimmy the Gent, Vinny the Chin, Benny Eggs, Joe Bananas, Crazy Joe, and even Johnny Cash. And while no one has been called The Joker, New York did boast Louie Ha Ha and his brother Bobby Ha Ha.

One man who would have felt right at home in Gotham City was Dart Man, and that was no silly nickname.

In 1990, at least 53 woman were victims of assault by the mysterious Dart Man.

Dart Man was the alias of Jerome Wright, a resident of the Bronx and a former thief and drug dealer. Mistakenly named Dart Man by the press, he assaulted women by shooing pins or needles from  a quote “straw-like device” at their buttocks. None of the women were seriously injured and after posting $1,000 bail the charges were reduced to misdemeanors. He was only charged in two of the cases, there not being anyone able to identify him the other attacks. Most of the needles never broke skin and there were no substances found on the pins. Although he was found competent to stand trial after a psychiatric examination, no motive was found. However, all of his women had one thing in common: They were all light-skinned women attired in business suits or skirts.

The Dart Man attacks came a few months after a gang of girls were convicted of sticking rich-looking women with pins on Broadway in 1989. Interestingly, those attacks seem to be the source of the urban legend of the pin prick attack.

The legend goes that people were randomly pricking people on the streets or in crowds with HIV contaminated needles and infecting unsuspecting people with AIDS. While the 1989 attacks had zero connection with HIV and the needles were clean, this was near the height of the 1980’s AIDS scare and it is easy to see how this legend took off. The kicker of the legend is that the attacks would take place in clubs or late night movies and the victim would have no idea they had been pricked until they found a note in their pocket or stuck to their clothes saying “welcome to the AIDS club.” For the record, there has not been a single case of anything close to that ever happening, but legends like this and of AIDS Mary persist.

New York has a lot of interesting characters. Sometimes too many.

This has been your New York Minute.

An audio version of this legend recently appeared in the amazing FlashPulp website. Check them out for awesomeness and goodies!

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