ComicSource Newsletter No. 19

Artist Dan DeCarlo Dies

Former Archie Artist, Created Josie & The Pussycats

Archie Comics artist Dan DeCarlo, whose artwork set the tone and style of Archie, Betty, Veronica, Reggie, and Jughead for 40 years, died of pneumonia on December 18, 2001, in New Rochelle, N.Y.

DeCarlo, 82, illustrated Archie Comics for more than 40 years before he was fired after suing the comics publisher. In addition to drawing the Riverdale gang, DeCarlo also created the characters Josie and the Pussycats, Cheryl Blossom, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. His wife Josie, who was claimed as DeCarlo's inspiration for Josie and the Pussycats and DeCarlo were residents of Scarsdale, N.Y.

Born in New Rochelle, DeCarlo attended New Rochelle High School and the Art Students League from 1938 to 1941, before being drafted by the Army in 1941. During World War II he was stationed in England where he worked in the motor pool and as a draftsman with a sideline painting company mascots on the noses of airplanes. The future Atchie illustrator also drew a weekly comic strip about G.I. life.

DeCarlo met his wife, Josie Dumont, a French citizen, in Belgium shortly after the Battle of the Bulge. As mentioned, Josie DeCarlo was the inspiration for the leader of the Pussycats. "We

Dan DeCarlo

the house style for other Archie illustrators to emulate.

DeCarlo was responsible for Betty Cooper's distinctive ponytail (in Betty & Veronica no. 6) and kept up with teen fashion trends, from 60s miniskirts to 90s cargo pants.

Archie Comics terminated the longstanding employee after DeCarlo sued to recover the rights to Josie and the Pussycats, characters he had created. The impetus for the llawsuit was Archie Comics' deal to produced a major motion picture version of Josie and the Pussycats (see sidebar below).

Subsequently, DeCarlo provided artwork for Bongo Comics' The Simpsons comic book and for DC Comics' Scooby Doo.

DeCarlo is survived by his wife, Josie, and two grandchildren. His sons, Dan Jr. and Jim, both deceased, had assisted their father as inkers on many of his books.

went on a Caribbean cruise, and I had a costume for the cruise, and that's the way it started," Josie DeCarlo said.

In 1946, DeCarlo drew such titles as Millie the Model and My Friend Irma for Timely Comics (a predecessor of Marvel Comics) and free-lanced for The Saturday Evening Post, Argosy and Humorama.

After assuming the art duties at Archie in the late 1950s, DeCarlo set about establishing the look of the archetypical American teenagers Archie, Betty, Veronica, Reggie, Jughead at Riverdale High and Pop's Malt Shop. After the death of Archie creator Bob Montana in 1975, DeCarlo became chief artist of the series.

While Montana had based Archie and the gang on his own high school classmates, it was DeCarlo who brought his own unique, clean-lined cartoon style to the strip. Ultimately DeCarlo's trademarked style of wide eyed, snub-nosed, leggy gals became

DeCarlo Lawsuit

Josie Creation Questioned

Dan DeCarlo created a teenage feature of his own in the late 1950s, called "Here's Josie," named after his wife, and inspired by a costume she had worn to a party. He tried, unsuccessfully, to sell the idea as a strip to varioous comic strip syndicates.

Josie and the Pussycats

At least one syndicate turned him down, he said. "You know, I threw that letter away," he once said. "If I still had that letter, there wouldn't have been any case. I would have been a shoo-in."

Eventually, he brought the idea to Archie Comics, who published it as Josie and the Pussycats comic book in 1963.

During the 1960s, Josie and the Pussycats became a Hanna-Barbara cartoon show on CBS, which airs today on the Cartoon Network.

The exact circumstances of Josie's creation became the subject of a lawsuit involving DeCarlo and Archie Comics shortly before the cartoon was made into a feature film this year.

DeCarlo filed suit to regain the copyright to Josie and the Pussycats from Archie Comics, when the motion picture adaptation of Josie was announced. Archie Comics responded by firing the veteran employee in 2000.

DeCarlo's suit asked for $250,000 in damages, 50 percent of the profits on all Josie and the Pussycats merchandise, and that DeCarlo be given creator credit on Josie and the Pussycats.

Eventually, DeCarlo was listed as a creator in the end credits of Josie and the Pussycats, which flopped at the box office. He did receive a bonus and credit as co-creator of Sabrina the Teenage Witch, a comic book now turned into a popular television show starring Melissa Joan Hart.

Seymour V. Reit, an author and illustrator best known as a creator of the cartoon character Casper the Friendly Ghost, died on Nov. 21, 2001 in New York City. He was 83.

Casper, a ghost-child who wants only to make friends, was featured in 55 theatrically released cartoons, numerous comic books, an animated television show and a Steven Spielberg film.

Casper's origin was a matter of dispute between author Reit and artist Joe Oriolo. Reit's said he created the character in a short story one weekend in 1940 and that Oriolo drew up a sketch with assorted poses of the character.

All rights to Casper, who went on to become one of the most recognizable cartoon characters in the world, were sold to Famous Studios at Paramount in the early 1940s for $200.

Casper the Friendly Ghost

When the film Casper, produced by Steven Spielberg, came out in 1995, Reit said: "All I have is some nice memories and a little nostalgic sadness that I am not part of the movie. My career went on in all sorts of interesting, fun ways.

"I'm not mourning or grieving over what I might have lost with Casper," Reit added. "It was fun."

The theatrical cartoons were produced from 1945 to 1959, and the television cartoons appeared in 1963. Other characters' eyes bugged out as they cried, ``A ghost!'' and Casper walked away with hands clasped behind his back in dejection until he found a new friend and regained his skipping step.

A lifelong New Yorker, Reit was born on Nov. 11, 1918. That was Armistice Day, and he was given the middle name Victory. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx and drew cartoons for the humor magazine at New York University, from which he graduated at age 19.

The Fleischer Studios in Miami offered him a $25-a-week job, and he was soon producing ``in-between'' drawings -- the drawings between major movements in an animated scene -- and writing gags for Popeye and Betty Boop animated shorts.

Reit served with the Army Air Forces in Europe after D-Day. After the war, he continued his career in comics, writing for "Archie" and "Little Lulu," as well as contributing gags to the Casper shorts.

Reit also wrote more than 60 pieces for Mad magazine beginning in the late 1950s. He was also a ghostwriter for the syndicated strip "There Ought to Be a Law."

Casper received his name in comics published by St. John Publishing in 1949. Later, in 1952, the license to publish Casper comic books was transferred by Paramount to Harvey Comics, which bought the characters outright in the late 1950s. Casper's comics far outlasted his theatrical career - they were published regularly until 1982.

Reit also authored more than 80 children's books and adult nonfiction.

Reit is survived by his wife, Edmee Reit, and sister, Phyllis Reit Nelson of Pittsfield, MA.

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