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splash-page

blast the proxy poodle into pieces

a twisted Jack-in-the-box

cousin Leroy

a one-page house-ad

record albums

the permanently puckered Whistler

one of which knocks out the Whistler’s teeth

Cartoonist William “Bill” H. Vigoda (1920 - 1973) received his education at various commercial art studios in New York City. Citing his artistic influences as Bob (ARCHIE”) Montana, Jack Kirby and Irv (“The Shield”) Novick, Bill began his cartooning career at Lloyd Jacquet’s Funnies, Inc. studio, but primarily worked for Archie Publications. There, his gigs included ARCHIE, ARCHIE’S MADHOUSE, “The Archies”, BETTY AND VERONICA, ”Big Moose”, “The Black Hood”, “Boy Buddies”, CAPTAIN HERO, “Dusty”, THE FLY, “Flying Dragons”, JUGHEAD, “Mr. Weatherbee”, “Red Rube”, REGGIE, “Roy, The Super Boy”, SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH, “Senior Siesta”, “The Shield”, VERONICA, WILBUR and “The Wizard”. Bill also worked for Timely/Marvel Comics (writing and drawing THE HUMAN TORCH) and Quality Comics, as well as doing advertising illustrations and painting portraits.

Cartoonist Jon D’Agostino, born in 1929, as also worked under the pen names “Johnny D.”, “Johnny Dee” and “Matt Bakerino”. Jon received his education at New York City’s High School of Industrial Arts and Art Students League. He has worked primarily for three mainstream publishers, Archie Comics, Charlton Comics and Marvel Comics. At Archie Comics, Jon has worked on ARCHIE, ARCHIE AND ME, ARCHIE AT RIVERDALE HIGH, ARCHIE'S MADHOUSE, ARCHIE'S TV LAUGH-OUT, “The Archies”, BETTY AND ME, BETTY AND VERONICA, “Captain Sprocket”, “Coach Kleats”, “Dilton”, “The Girl From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E.”, JOSIE, JUGHEAD, LIFE WITH ARCHIE, LITTLE ARCHIE, “Little Jughead”, “Little Sabrina”, MADHOUSE, “The Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E.”, “Marvelous Maureen”, “Midge”, MIGHTY MUTANIMALS, “Mr. Weatherbee”, “Pop Tate”, REGGIE, REGGIE AND ME, SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH, “Svensen”, TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES, THAT WILKIN BOY, THUNDERBUNNY and VERONICA. At Charlton, Jon has worked on ANNIE OAKLEY, ARMY ATTACK, ARMY WAR HEROES, “Arro The Caveman”, ATOM THE CAT, ATOMIC BUNNY, ATOMIC MOUSE, ATTACK, BATTLEFIELD ACTION, BILLY THE KID, CHEYENNE KID, “Cornfield Chatter”, “Count Gatto”, “Dear Park”, FIGHTIN' AIR FORCE, FIGHTIN' ARMY, FIGHTIN' MARINES, FIGHTIN' NAVY, “Freddy”, GO-GO, “Gordie And Junior”, “Grandpa”, GUNMASTER, HEE HAW, HOT ROD RACERS, HUNK, “Jeannine”, “Johnny Boy”, JUST MARRIED, “Katrina”, LI'L GENIUS, “Li’l Lumberjack”, “Li’l Wise Guy”, LOVERS' LEAP, MARINE WAR HEROES, MARINES ATTACK, MASKED RAIDER, “Miss Bikini Luv”, MY LITTLE MARGIE, MYSTERIES OF UNEXPLORED WORLDS, NAVY WAR HEROES, “Nick The Beat”, OUT OF THIS WORLD, OUTER SPACE, OUTLAWS OF THE WEST, “Professor Invento”, ROCKY JONES -- SPACE RANGER, “The Rotting Stumps”, “Roy ‘N’ Junior”, “Roy And Lulu”, “The Shadow”, “Snooper And Blabber”, SPACE ADVENTURES, SPACE WAR, STRANGE SUSPENSE STORIES, “Stuff”, SUBMARINE ATTACK, “Sweet Jessica”, SWEETHEARTS, TEENAGE HOTRODDERS, TEXAS RANGERS, TEXAS RANGERS IN ACTION, TIMMY THE TIMID GHOST, “Tooley The Tramp”, U.S. AIR FORCE COMICS, UNUSUAL TALES, WAR AND ATTACK, WAR HEROES and WYATT EARP. At Atlas/Marvel, Jon has worked on ALL-TRUE CRIME CASES, AMAZING DETECTIVE CASES, BATTLE, CHUCK NORRIS KARATE KOMMANDOS, CONAN THE BARBARIAN, DAMAGE CONTROL, DROIDS, EWOKS, FANTASTIC FOUR, FLINTSTONE KIDS, FOOFUR, G.I. JOE, HEATHCLIFF, LUKE CAGE AND IRON FIST, MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE, MILLIE THE MODEL, PLANET TERRY, ROYAL ROY, STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE, THE MIGHTY THOR, TOP DOG, WALLY THE WIZARD and WHAT IF? Jon has also done work for DC Comics (lettering various comics), Mirage Studios, Palette Art, Orbit Publications (various romance comics); Story Comics (DARK MYSTERIES, HORROR FROM THE TOMB, MYSTERIOUS ADVENTURES, NUTS!, POLICE AGAINST CRIME, ROMANTIC HEARTS and TRUE LOVE CONFESSIONS), Western Publishing (lettering various comics) and Youthful Magazines (lettering various comics), as well as some advertising work.

This issue’s two-part, 13-page “A.R.C.H.I.E. As The Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E.” story is titled “Play Deadly” and was written by Frank Doyle, penciled by Bill Vigoda and inked by Jon D’Agostino. After a splash-page that closely approximates this comic’s cover-scene (a significant difference between the two is that the villain’s name is “Toyman” on the cover), “Part 1” begins as P.O.P. agent J.U.G.H.E.A.D. -- who’s just finished a satisfying repast at Pop’s Soda Shoppe -- responds to an emergency “mayday call” on a transceiver concealed in his P.O.P. button. Rushing to the intersection of Fourth and Main on his special “super-bike”, J.U.G.H.E.A.D. uses his bike’ “sonic shock horn” to awaken A.R.C.H.I.E. and V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A., who’ve been overcome by the Toymaker’s army of mechanical toy soldiers to steal valuable microfilm for the supervillain’s criminal overlords at CRUSH headquarters. While the teen agents recover, V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A. realizes that the Toymaker must have known they were carrying the microfilm thanks to information passed on to him by a pet poodle that she won in a recent raffle:

V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A.:
I’ll bet it was a PLANT! A stool pigeon plant!

A.R.C.H.I.E.:
A bugged beast! A typical Toymaker trick! Lucky we had a monitor on that cage! Let’s run this rat to his den!

Jumping into A.R.C.H.I.E.’s jalopy, the young spies track the signal to a nearby apartment, wherein the Toymaker -- who looks like he got giant LEGO toy parts stuck on his head -- inspects the contents of Hiram Lodge’s stolen briefcase:

THE TOYMAKER:
Heh, heh! Now to uncover some of the secrets of Lodge Enterprises! First a tunafish on rye! Then a -- lunch? I stole Lodge’s lunch! I’ll KILL that stupid poodle! That machine-made mongrel SWORE they were carrying plans!

With that, the frustrated Toymaker hurls the purloined briefcase out of the window of his high-rise apartment. Fortunately, A.R.C.H.I.E. and his comrades, still in his jalopy, catch it before it shatters on the street below. Then they finish making their special delivery to Mr. Lodge, who takes apart his tunafish sandwich to reveal:

HIRAM LODGE:
Yech! Hiding my microfilm in this mayonnaise was a messy maneuver!

V.E.R.O .N.I.C.A.:
It saved the day, Daddy! Which reminds me! Come, boys! I’m going to look a gift dog in the teeth!

Examining the robot pooch, V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A. is forced to dive for cover as a trio of the Toymaker’s toy jets swoop into the room and use their firepower to blast the proxy poodle into pieces:

A.R.C.H.I.E.:
They’re executing that furry fink for being such a failure! Typical CRUSH methods! Brutal, uncivilized!

As the toy fighter planes fly back to their point of origin, A.R.C.H.I.E., V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A. and J.U.G.H.E.A.D. follow them in A.R.C.H.I.E.’s gadget-laden flivver, unaware that the Toymaker has got a deadly surprise in store for them. But when the “beware button” in A.R.C.H.I.E.’s auto goes off, alerting V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A. to use her “detecto diamond” to locate “foreign matter” that may be aboard -- in this case, the glove compartment contains a twisted Jack-in-the-box that drills its way lengthwise through A.R.C.H.I.E.’s jalopy! Fortunately, no one is hurt by the potentially lethal prank. Soon, the trio arrives at the Toymaker’s high-rise apartment building, where they use the car’s “ejecto seat” to fire J.U.G.H.E.A.D. onto its rooftop. Then:

J.U.G.H.E.A.D.:
Perfect shot! Now I can attack from above! I’ve unreeled exactly twenty-two feet of super strength nylon thread from my sock!

SFX:
CRASH!

J.U.G.H.E.A.D.:
Perfect figuring! It snaps me right into the center of the TOYMAKER’S window!

Inside, instead of finding the Toymaker, J.U.G.H.E.A.D. discovers a crying baby laying in a crib. Unfortunately for the felt-hat-wearing P.O.P, agent, the “infant” turns out to be another of the Toymaker’s clockwork creations, “another insidious toy” that squirts J.U.G.H.E.A.D. in the face with knockout formula from its faux baby bottle! Then the Toymaker makes another appearance, yelling an insincere invitation down to A.R.C.H.I.E. and V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A.:

THE TOYMAKER:
Why don’t you two P.O.P. agents in the car come up for tea? The TOYMAKER loves to entertain!

TEASER CAPTION:
Is there no protection from the perilous playthings of this villain? A.R.C.H.I.E.! V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A.! Don’t come! It’s a trap!!!

“Part 2” of “Play Deadly” starts with A.R.C.H.I.E. and V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A. dashing down the hallway leading to the Toymaker’s apartment. Before entering the hideout, A.R.C.H.I.E. hurls a potted plant through the open doorway. His instincts are good, though; the Toymaker’s toy fire-breathing dragon (named “Dino”, for some strange reason; maybe it’s Italian?) incinerates the plant in mid-air. As the teenage secret agents enter the furnished apartment, the Toymaker tosses a tiny explosive at A.R.C.H.I.E., who narrowly manages to avoid it, then pretends to give up as a ruse to get close enough to the Toymaker that he can deliver a massive electric shock with his “paralyzing hand buzzer”, knocking their fiendish foe unconscious. But as the Toymaker recovers, A.R.C.H.I.E. and V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A. realize that it won’t be easy to deal with his weaponry:

V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A.:
Say! Those steps lead down to the next floor! His factory is down there!

A.R.C.H.I.E.:
Don’t go down! That’s where he makes his deadly toys!

THE TOYMAKER:
You’re so right, you P.O.P. punk! The TOYMAKER wins again! If you go down there to destroy them, they’ll destroy you first!

Fortunately, A.R.C.H.I.E. has an idea how to neutralize those killer toys. Calling R.E.G.G.I.E. on his P.O.P. agent lapel button, he tells his fellow R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E. agent to come to the eighth floor toy factory -- and to bring along V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A.’s rarely-seen bratty cousin, Leroy. The Toymaker is confident that his toys can easily destroy P.O.P.’s entire organization. Shortly, A.R.C.H.I.E., V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A., J.U.G.H.E.A.D. (now recovered) and the Toymaker gather in the ninth floor apartment:

A.R.C.H.I.E.:
How long has it been, V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A.?

V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A.:
Ten minutes!

THE TOYMAKER:
By now, they’re dead! Disintegrated! Destroyed!

A.R.C.H.I.E.:
One year, Leroy’s Christmas toys lasted seven minutes! It was a RECORD!

V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A.:
He was ILL that day!

A.R.C.H.I.E.:
He’s had FIFTEEN minutes in your factory!

V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A.:
We’d like you to meet the most destructive kid in the world!

They descend to the eight floor, where they’re met by R.E.G.G.I.E., cousin Leroy and a factory full of smashed toys:

THE TOYMAKER:
Egad! It’s impossible! My life’s work! Destroyed! Smashed! Broken! By a little kid!

LEROY:
Grrr! Crummy bunch of toys! They all FELL APART!

A.R.C.H.I.E.:
We’ve got a new secret weapon in that boy!

R.E.G.G.I.E.:
And P.O.P. pops another CRUSH bubble!

Also included in this issue of LIFE WITH ARCHIE are the following stories, features and advertisements:

• “Treasure Chest Of Fun”, a black-and-white, inside-front-cover ad for a variety of practical jokes, tricks and gadgets available via mail-order from the “Honor House Prod. Corp.”

• A page composed of two advertisements: an untitled strip-ad featuring Archie, Betty, Veronica and Jughead for “Bendix Bicycle Brakes”; and “Fascinating Stamps”, for a variety of collectible postage stamps with themes that range “from prehistoric times to space age”, available through mail-order from the “Zenith Company”.

• A page featuring two unrelated advertisements: “Let Me Be Your Photo Scout! I’ll Send Direct From Hollywood To You! -- Free Star Photos!”, for “not just one, but two” photos of favorite movie, television and recording stars via mail-order from “Jeri Of Hollywood”; and “Play Guitar In 7 Days Or Your Money Back” -- claiming that guitar-players “get more fun out of life” -- available through mail-order from “Ed Sale”.

• “Li’l Jinx” in “Sound Off”, a one-page gag-strip written and drawn by Joe Edwards.

• “Archie Says…Get This Raincoat Free!”, a one-page house-ad for subscriptions to ARCHE, PEP, LAUGH, JUGHEAD, BETTY & VERONICA, ARCHIE’S JOKE BOOK, LIFE WITH ARCHIE and ARCHIE’S MAD HOUSE, offering a free transparent plastic “all-weather raincoat” with each paid subscription.

• “B.E.T.T.Y. As The Girl From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E.” in “Whistle Bait”, “Part 1” of a two-part story written by Frank Doyle, penciled by Bill Vigoda and inked by Jon D’Agostino. -- “In which we meet again, that musical monster with the perilous pucker, in another rampage of revenge against the organization dedicated to PROTECTING OUR PLANET! Hold your ears and read on to see how our friends meet the return of the ‘Whistler.’” While P.O.P. agent B.E.T.T.Y. is washing her hair, A.R.C.H.I.E. puts a new record club disc on the her record player -- and is instantly bombarded with a high-pitched whistling sound that nearly makes his red-haired head explode! (Note those record albums by the Beatles and Herman’s Hermits near the record player.) B.E.T.T.Y. enters the room with a wet towel on her head; this muffles the ear-piercing noise and allows her to smash the record. But before she destroys it, she hears a familiar voice with a threatening message: “You can’t hear me, P.O.P. girl, because your eardrums are shattered, but you have just become the first victim of the WHISTLER’S REVENGE!” Fortunately for him, A.R.C.H.I.E. was playing the record at a low volume, one that allowed him to escape having his brain cells scrambled. After putting “diffuso plugs” in their ears, B.E.T.T.Y. and A.R.C.H.I.E. hop into his technologically-augmented jalopy, and with a “POW! ROAR! CLUNK!” and a cloud of exhaust, they head across town to Pop Tate’s Choklit Shoppe, the secret headquarters of P.O.P. When an oil tanker truck lays down an unexpected oil slick to slow down the two agents of P.O.P., but fails to do so when A.R.C.H.I.E. converts the jalopy’s tires into road-gripping spiked wheels. When they finally arrive at the Choklit Shoppe, B.E.T.T.Y. and A.R.C.H.I.E. find J.U.G.H.E.A.D., R.E.G.G.I.E. and Pop Tate, all barely conscious after an attack by the Whistler. Apparently, the only thing that saved them was that all the ice cream in the place “absorbed most of the deadly blast”! B.E.T.T.Y. reasons that V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A. will be the Whistler’s next victim, but before any of the P.O.P. agents can reach her, the permanently puckered Whistler already puts her in a mind-sapping trance with his “soft, come-hither whistle”. Under his control, V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A. leads the Whistler right past security guards and into the heart of Lodge Enterprises. Leaving V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A. waiting outside, the Whistler proceeds to destroy her father’s power plant with his super-whistle. Meanwhile, A.R.C.H.I.E. discovers the entranced P.O.P. agent and reading the situation, goes into action to stop the foul fiend from pulverizing the entire plant.

• A page consisting of two unrelated advertisements: “Order By Mail Specials” for a variety of decals, tricks, signs, pennants, patches, stamps, labels and “1001 Things That You Can Get Free”, all available via mail-order from “Dollar Bargains”; and a “Polaris Nuclear Sub” -- one that is supposedly “over 7 feet long”, “big enough for 2 kids” and “fires rockets and torpedoes” -- available through mail-order from the “Honor House Prod. Co.”

• “Archie Club News” a two-page letter column and ad for mail-order membership in the “Archie Club”.

• “Get The First Speedo Deluxe In Your Neighborhood!”, a one-page advertisement for the “Speedo Deluxe” bicycle speedometer, manufactured by the instrument department of “Stewart-Warner”.

• “B.E.T.T.Y. As The Girl From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E.” in “Whistle Bait”, “Part 2” of a two-part story written by Frank Doyle, penciled by Bill Vigoda and inked by Jon D’Agostino. -- While A.R.C.H.I.E. searches for the Whistler, his high-pitched foe stalks him. Meanwhile, B.E.T.T.Y. looks for A.R.C.H.I.E., passing V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A. just as she finally emerges from the Whistler’s trance. Hearing her rival declare her intention to rescue the object of their mutual attention, V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A. decides that she needs to save A.R.C.H.I.E. from being rescued by B.E.T.T.Y.! (Hey, this may be “The Girl From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E.”, but it’s still an “Archie” funnybook!) When B.E.T.T.Y. locates A.R.C.H.I.E., she arrives just as the Whistler is about to ambush him by shattering a chain that dangles a girder directly over A.R.C.H.I.E.’s head, so the girl from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E. launches her “cork-loaded compact” to “plug his pucker”. But when both B.E.T.T.Y. and V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A. rush to push A.R.C.H.I.E. out from under the falling girder, they collide, head-to-head, leaving it up to the red-headed P.O.P. teen agent to rescue both of them. While the girls fight over A.R.C.H.I.E., the Whistler uses a corkscrew to remove the cork from his mouth and runs away. He leads the three teenage spies into a locked room on the Lodge Industries lot, in which he plans to shatter their brains with one blast of his weird whistle. Confident, A.R.C.H.I.E. is counting on their diffuso plugs to save them, until B.E.T.T.Y. points out that V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A. isn’t equipped with any! Thinking fast, B.E.T.T.Y. uses the “iodide ray” from her special charm bracelet to instantly freeze V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A. in a huge (and protective) ice crystal. When the Whistler emits his trademark noise, the piercing sound shatters V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A.’s shield of ice into fragments, one of which knocks out the Whistler’s teeth! B.E.T.T.Y. observes, “That toothless terror is about as dangerous as a pussycat!”, while the Whistler laments, “My TEEF! I can’t WHITHLE without my TEEF!”

• “Famous Name Prizes Or Cash…The Easy Olympic Way”, a one-page ad soliciting for door-to-door greeting card salespeople to represent the “Olympic Sales Club, Inc.”

• “If You Missed This -- Get This”, a black-and-white, inside-back-cover advertisement for mail-order high school diplomas available from “International Correspondence Schools”.

• “Boys, Girls, Men, Women -- If You Need Extra Money & Know Just 10 People…You Can Make $50.00, $100.00, $200.00 And More In Your Spare Time -- It Costs You Nothing To Try!”, a back-cover advertisement soliciting for door-to-door greeting card peddlers to represent “Wallace Brown, Inc.”

ODDBALL FACTOID – As previously noted, cartoonist Bill Vigoda was the brother of actor Abe (BARNEY MILLER) Vigoda! Even odder, Bill and Abe also had a third brother who was a prolific comic book writer, Hy Vigoda! Born in 1924, Hy attended the New York City Art Students League and one of his first gigs was as a writer for Lloyd Jacquet’s Funnies, Inc.; during the “Golden Age Of Comics”, he also worked for Ace Periodicals (HAP HAZARD), Charlton (“Yellowjacket”) DC (“The Flash”), Fox Comics (BLUE BEETLE), Timely/Marvel (THE HUMAN TORCH and SUB-MARINER) and Novelty Comics (“Target and the Targeteers”), but the main bulk of his body of work was for Archie Comics! There, Hy wrote stories for ARCHIE, BETTY AND VERONICA, JUGHEAD, WILBUR and other Archie titles! Hy also worked as a magazine editor, a commercial artist and as the ghost-writer of two syndicated newspaper comic strips, AGGIE MACK and BIBS ‘N’ TUCKER!

New Next Week: ODDBALL COMIC #1,239 -- MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 2008 -- Years before the creation of the cube-shaped planet Htrae, world of SUPERMAN’s Bizarros came “The Square Earth”, brought to you courtesy of Julius Schwartz, Otto Binder and Sy Barry! Yes, it’s another ODDBALL issue of MYSTERY IN SPACE! Plus, “The Men Who Bombed The Sun!”, “The Venus Sky-Trap!” and “Rescue Through The Fourth Dimension!”

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