Jun 11, 2024
Top Notch Comics #18 Aug 1941
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Top Notch Comics #18 Aug 1941
Top Notch Comics #24: The Black Hood
Archie
By Harry Shorten and Al Camy
Archie Comics was founded in 1939 as MLJ Magazines by Louis Silberkleit, Maurice Coyne and John Goldwater (“MLJ” being the first initial of each name). Initially MLJ published superhero comics such as Blue Ribbon Comics, Top Notch Comics and Pep Comics. In 1941 the company introduced the character of Archie Andrews, along with Jughead, Betty, and soon after, Veronica, in the pages of Pep. By the end of the 1940’s Archie had become the company’s star and namesake.
When the US Senate decided to investigate the relationship between juvenile crime and comic books in the early 1950’s, what would become the Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency not only called on the publishers of so-called “crime” or “horror” comics, such as EC Comics, but all those invested in the industry. The letter above, signed by Louis Silberkleit, one of the founders of Archie Comics, illustrates the complexity of responses by the industry to the Senate.
Letter from Archie Comics, 8/17/1950; Records of the U.S. Senate
Ed Ashe, December 1939
Top Notch Comics #1 Jan 1939
Introduction and origin of The Wizard
The Firefly from Top Notch #13, March 1941