Hey Teens, Comics!
Comic Book publishers of the Golden Age were quick to realize that they had the potential to reach a broad range of readers by expanding the comics genre from reprinting popular comic strip to creating new material and one demographic that was late to the party was Teenagers.
The immense popularity of the MGM Studios Andy Hardy film series starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland which started in 1937 created a demand for more comedies featuring the pitfalls and adventures of being an American teenager and comic book publisher MLJ (Later known as Archie Comics) was the first to jump on the bandwagon introducing Archie Andrews and his Riverdale High gang into the pages of their superhero book PEP COMICS.
By the fall of 1942 the Archie Gang had become so popular that they were spun off into ARCHIE COMICS focusing on the humor of teen culture and the struggle they faced with cars, dating, parents and dealing with authority figures.
The comics were particularly popular among pre-teen readers who were looking for insight into where their lives would soon be heading with High School life. Following World War II MLJ dropped all of their superhero titles ad became the predominant publisher of teen humor giving Archie the lead in PEP COMICS, his own title and launching the spin off series BETTY AND VERONICA which remained popular all the way up through the 1990s before being relaunched in the early 2010’s.
DC Comics followed suit in 1943 introducing Buzzy Brown in the pages of ALL FUNNY COMICS, a scrawny suit and tie wearing kid who with his girlfriend Susie could often be seen tooling around in his revamped 1920s jalopy car. Susie’s father wasn’t a fan of Buzzy’s trumpet playing and often played the foil in their struggling romance. Buzzy’s adventures ran well into the late 1950s.
Timely Comics published MILLIE THE MODEL in 1945 which focused on a slightly older career woman who often shared the same humorous hijinx of the teen comics characters.
1945 also saw American Comics Group (ACG) introduce animator Daniel Gordon’s Cookie in TOPSY-TURVY COMICS and soon gave him his own solo comic in 1946. Cookie’s slapstick stories and wild eyed adventures were precursor’s to the underground comics of the 1960s and have often been compared to the artistic insanity of Tex Avery’s well known cartoons for MGM.
Gordon went on to work on ACG’s Hi-JINX which was a ‘brand new idea in comics’ in 1947 which attempted to combine teen humor and funny animals but it never caught on getting cancelled after only seven issues.
Quality Comics introduced Candy in the pages of POLICE COMICS and gave her a solo title in 1947. Although Candy was sweet and wholesome she was liberated for her time and did a reverse Archie in chasing boys. Candy was drawn in a pinup style which appealed to servicemen looking for cheap entertainment.
Other titles popular at the time including PATSY WALKER, MAZIE, TAFFY, JUNIOR, SUZIE WILBUR, KATHY, GINGER and BINKY as well as dozens of others. The popularity of teen comics hastened the end of the superhero genre for many publishers. The comedic teen dating situation found in titles like ARCHIE would soon be reworked with a more sinister edge as Romance Comics were launched in 1947 with a target audience of mature female readers starting with Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s YOUNG ROMANCE.
As GI’s returned home from overseas deployment and comics readership became increasingly more adult tastes began to change as the 1950s approached and Horror Comics soon joined Romance Comics as the new hot genre.
Vintage Teen Humor Comics have seen a resurgence in recent years and many of the stories continue to entertain even today!