YOUTH CULTURE IN COMICS 717
started a slow decay; at the same time, works like Archie or Dell’s funny animals titles
had been showing steady sales and at this point started their dominance of the pub-
lishing market. Funny animal titles were aimed primarily at younger children, Archie
and other similar titles, such as Penny (1943) and Bobby Sox (1944) were meant for
adolescents. Th ese titles helped to defi ne the concept of adolescence in society.
Culturally, movie studios, radio stations and music producers were starting to
recognize teenagers as a distinctive and economically interesting age group. In the world
of comics, it was probably in 1919 when a teenager was fi rst made the protagonist of a
comic strip. Carl Ed created Harold Teen , a comic strip for the Chicago Tribune. Har-
old was, in many ways, very similar to Archie: he talked, dressed, and hung out in the
same places that the average American teenager would do in the 1920s. However, it is
interesting to note that in that period the concept of adolescence was still emerging,
and that a comic like Harold Teen was probably helping to reinforce the diff erences in
behavior and interests between children and teenagers.
During the 1940s and 1950s many titles with children, teens and young adults
as main characters were published, including Little Lulu (1935), Dennis the Menace
(1951), Millie the Model (1945),
Leave it to Binky (1948), and Richie
Rich (1953). However, none of
them can be compared in success
and lasting history to Archie , fea-
turing America’s favorite teenager.
Th e comics about the redheaded
and freckle-faced Archie Andrews
helped to build and capitalized
on the newborn teenage culture.
Following the success of Mickey
Rooney’s movies and similar
themed radio shows, John Gold-
water at MLJ Publishing decided
that the market was ready for some-
thing diff erent from superheroes,
something closer to the everyday
life of the average reader. Archie’s
fi rst appearance was as a backup
story for Th e Shield in Pep Com-
ics #22. Archie is an idealized and
sanitized version of the American
teenager of the 1940s. He lives in a
peaceful suburban area, Riverdale,
and his friends correspond with
character types often found in any Betty and Veronica from the Archie Comics. Photofest
