Every Monday, CBR shares a preview of the newest Archie Comics releases that week, plus occasional spotlights on the latest Archie news. This time around, we're looking at a brand-new Archie horror-themed one-shot, as well as the latest World of Archie Jumbo Comics Digest, which, like all of Archie's digests this month, is Halloween-themed!
First up is World of Archie Jumbo Comics Digest #134, which has a Bill Golliher/Dan Parent cover, and explains to everyone that there ain't no party like a Riverdale Halloween party, because a Riverdale Halloween party is catered by Pop's! You see, in the first story (by writer Goldie Chan, artist Holly G!, inker Jim Amash, colorist Glenn Whitmore and letterer Jack Morelli), Ginger Snapp (an old-time comic book character from the 1940s, from before Archie Comics was even called Archie Comics) is asking Archie and the gang about their favorite Halloween memories, and surprisingly, a lot of them involve Pop's hamburgers!
In the next brand-new story in the volume, by writer/artist Bill Golliher, inker Bob Smith, colorist Whitmore and letterer Morelli, we see a story starring detective Penny Parker, who was a character introduced by MLJ Comics (the company that eventually changed its name to Archie Comics) in 1941, months before Archie Andrews made his debut! Here, Penny is trying to prove that her boxing coach isn't actually a crook, and Archie and the gang are helping her prove it!
WORLD OF ARCHIE DIGEST #134
TWO BRAND NEW STORIES! Ginger Snapp visits Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe on the eve of Halloween to help Betty & Veronica with costume ideas. As different Riverdale folks stop by, they remember a particular Halloween-related incident around Pop’s food item. Then, when Penny's boxing instructor, Pug, is charged with a gym owner’s disappearance she teams up with Veronica and Archie to prove him innocent. Will the three be victorious or wind up down for the count themselves?
Script: Goldie Chan, Bill Golliher
Pencils: Holly G!, Bill Golliher
Inks: Jim Amash, Bob Smith
Colors: Glenn Whitmore
Letters: Jack Morelli
Cover: Bill Golliher, Dan Parent
On Sale Date: 10/18
192-page, full color digest
$9.99 U.S.
For the other major release this week, the original horror-one shot, Fear the Funhouse...Toybox of Terror #1, Archie Comics had previously shared with CBR a first look of the issue, and you can check that out here!
TOYBOX OF TERROR (ONE-SHOT)
In Riverdale, even the toys are terrifying in this anthology one-shot set in the universe of last year’s Fear the Funhouse comic. Three tales of dolls, robots, and puppets gone awry all thanks to the work of a shadowy toymaker and a young girl intent on revenge, in the vein of the widely successful M3GAN movie and Child’s Play franchise.
Script: Timmy Heague, Danielle Paige, Michael Northrop
Art: Ryan Caskey, Tango, Ryan Jampole
Colors: Matt Herms
Letters: Jack Morelli
Cover: Ryan Caskey
Variant Cover: Sweeney Boo
On Sale Date: 10/18
32-page, full color comic
$3.99 U.S.
Archie's digests frequently spotlight stories from different eras, and the names might be unfamiliar to new readers, so we do spotlights on one notable Archie creator from the past each week (or at least each week that we remember to do it). Today, we'll look at Rudy Lapick, who inked at least one story in this week's World of Archie Jumbo Comics Digest #134.
Rudy Lapick
During the Golden Age of Comics in the 1940s, there were dozens of comic book companies in New York City, but by the end of the decade, many of them had gone out of business following the World War II boom in comic book popularity. After being discharged from the Navy following an injury, Rudy Lapick (his family had immigrated from Italy in the 19th Century, and shortened Lapicarelli to Lapick) broke into comics in 1945 at one of those short-lived companies, Cinema Comics. Lapick soon found work, though, at Timely Comics (now known as Marvel). Lapick was a staff inker at Timely, meaning he was paid a salary and inked whatever pages he was given at the office. He primarily worked on TImely's humor comics. Lapick met a young Gene Colan at the time, and the two became lifelong friends.
In 1950, Timely decided to drop its staff production, and go freelance only, so Lapick lost his job. Luckily, Dan DeCarlo, Timely's number one humor artist at the time, had just lost his regular inker, so DeCarlo hired Lapick as his personal inker. The two worked together at DeCarlo's studio. It was Lapick who actually went to Archie editor, Harry Shorten, to get work for the pair from Archie Comics. DeCarlo, of course, then became Archie's number one artist, and in the mid-1960s, Lapick went to work directly for Archie Comics, where he inked for them for the next 40 years (continuing to ink DeCarlo a lot, of course, but also working with countless other Archie artists, even his old friend, Colan, in the late 1980s/early 1990s). Lapick passed away in 2004. Jim Amash, one of the inkers of the new stories in this week's World of Archie Jumbo Comics Digest, interviewed Lapick in TwoMorrows's Alter Ego #22, which is where all of this historical information was uncovered.
Source: Archie Comics