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TOTALLY IRRELEVANT TO THE HISTORY OF COMIC BOOKS SERIES REVIEW! HARVEY #'s 1 TO 6 (Marvel Comics Group, 1970-1972)

Y'know, one thing I really did not want this blog to turn into was one that was devoted to comics either of the newspaper or magazine variety! But in some ways it does seem that's just what's pretty much is happening and like, what c'n I do? Things just plainly turn out these ways and in most cases there's little control one can do when it comes to the shape of things to come. Now I know how Uncle Ferd felt when those two guys in tank tops with backwards baseball caps and bushy mustaches walked into his bar and within a few weeks boy, did the place have a rapid change of clientele!

Well my situation ain't that bad but gosh, it sure seems as if my pre-pubesprout passion for the comic realm has suddenly overtaken me to the point of obsession, and given how a whole load of similar adolescent passions of mine are strictly verboten these days (candy, snack food, locking the bathroom door...) maybe comics are the best way for me to re-connect with my suburban slob past without wrecking my health, both physical and mental.

Boy did I like to read them cartoons whether they were in the daily papers or via the spinning display at the mini-mart or flea market/garage sale stacks! Sure better'n engaging in those other pre-teenbo kid activities like sports I'll tell ya! And like, I dug 'em all (well, not westerns, war and romance titles) from the various superhero efforts not only of the day but of the distant past, as well as the Marvel monster reprints with those great Jack Kirby giants and Steve Ditko mystical swirls. And not so strangely enough, there were the Archie titles which, as you probably already know, were one of the best ways for me to get my teenbo har-hars even if these books were in no ways as good as the actual strip. 

And, like with every other success in the world of comicdom there were bound to be imitations, and Archie was no exception. I've seen many of 'em over the years and frankly most of 'em were pale ale swipes without any of the anarchistic charm or defining artwork of the original. eh, some of the copycat efforts managed to capture a tad of the sway and swerve, and this particular breed of titles have actually been covered in a wide array of rock-oriented fanzines over time. After all, rock 'n roll and teenbo comics with sexy and sparsely-dressed young gals is something that does somewhat coalesce with the raging hormones within many a overweight thigh-pimpled 14-year-old just getting things into hand, ifyaknowaddamean... I mean, having gone through all that I sure do!!!!

DC had BINKY, which started off without any discernable swipes of the Archie house style, at least until Stan Goldberg was on hand and the covers began to look like they were made for kids with bad eyesight thinking they were reaching for something with the Archie imprimatur of teenage fun and jamz. The non-Goldberg artists for that 'un went nowhere towards the by-then patented Dan DeCarlo style and were pretty pedestrian in their renditions, but then again artists like Bob Oskner were more adept for the likes of Jerry Lewis. Since DC had him in their ranks I guess he got the job even if both  BINKY and JERRY LEWIS were heading for the scrap heap of comic flotsam and jetsam! I reviewed a BINKY digest (yet another trick to get the nearsighted ones to snatch up with they thought was something else) quite awhile back and it wasn't so hot what with the stories about as strong as a glass of water without any of the fun chaos or even story development that went with a good settle down for a gag comic book. Ditto for DATE WITH DEBBI which even had the nerve to swipe the Archie title lettering and cover scheme showing that when it came to comic book publishers there was no shame!

Goldberg must've done a whole lotta double-timing because while he was cranking away on BINKY Goldberg was also working at Marvel doing the revamped MILLIE THE MODEL (which at one time had the Archie Comics Group sway with would figure given how Dan De Carlo was drawing it before it turned into a romance title for gals beforse swinging back into another blatant Archie swipe complete with a Jughead somethingalike named Marvin) as well as this particular beaut of a rip off of the Archie style. This particular fanabla which went under the title of HARVEY was not Marvel's first venture into the Archie realm...earlier there was GEORGIE, a guy who resembled Jonathan Richman more than he did the freckled one although his sidekick was a strange flub-a-dub of Archie and Jughead who was named Happy, something which even a brain damaged dolt like myself will tell you was crossing more than just a few questionable lines! And once again, the Archie styled title lettering and cover scheme was blatantly swiped which maybe was a smart move on Marvel's part given how I'm sure with the lack of vitamins and proper nutrition during those days a lotta kids' eyesight just weren't that swell.

Goldberg's work can also be seen all over the HARVEY title, the second one that I know of entry into the Archie swipe sweepstakes which only goes to show ya that Marvel didn't learn their lesson the first time. As even Helen Keller can tell you there are blatant, to be mild about it, similarities in cover style with the artwork spot on with the De Carlo style, More than a few Archie tropes have been "lifted" if not downright plagiarized, from the grumpy old guy running the high school hangout sweet shop (something I thought woulda been dead and buried at least by the mid-sixties) to the dancing kids hopping it up just like they have been on just about every Archie comic title from the forties on up. I know that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery to be cornballus about it, but this is ridiculous!

The sagas inside are equally Archie-esque and so is the cast. Harvey's naturally the same aw-shucks All Amerigan  doof complete with red hair even if he lacks freckles and crisscrosses on his longer'n usual hair. There are two gals in the guy's life, one being Raven who's a Veronica clone to the point of lawsuit-time while Wendy thankfully looks nada like Betty even if she does come somewhat close to Josie. The Reggie role's taken by the equally self-centered Duke while the scraggly gal goes by the name Raquel which I find slightly amusing if one could find it amusing at all. Thankfully the sidekick here bears hardly any resemblance to Jughead other'n wearing a funny hat with a peace sign badge on it. "Goober"'s hair, unlike Jughead's messy frump style, is in a pageboy and I must admit that the schnook looks somewhat like Emo Phillips. Unlike his gal-hating predecessor Goober actually dates the Big Ethel-ish Raquel so we don't have to worry about any asexuality in this comic book nohow!

Issue #1, dated October 1970, introduces Harvey as a new student at Midville High who actually gets the best of Duke after the Reggieoid tells the new student to walk up to Principal Snorkle (basically Mr. Weatherbee with a bulbous nose and curly fringe) and slap him on the back! To the surprise of even me, the principal actually takes Harvey's how do ya do backslap as an outgoing, spirited gesture which leads to Duke's further plans backfiring more than my hindquarters after downing a few cans of pork and beans followed by a heaping bowl of coleslaw. The rest of the stories in #1 continue on this origin you never would see in any Marvel anthology what with Harvey's parents (Mother looks much like Archie's though Daddy reminds me more of a chubby John Fiedler)  who strangely enough you never see after this issue getting the worse of Harvey's new pals. 'n you know what? These stories actually do have the same feeling and teenage gagaroonie humor that are bountiful in the Archie books that were coming out at the same nanosecond so all I gotta say is good job here for once!

Bizarro thing...after issue #2 (December 1970) HARVEY takes a hike, at least until #3 (June 1972) where it seems as if the comic has gone through some slight renovation as well as the price upping to an exorbitant fee of twenty cents. Never mind that the cover looks like a slight swipe from that of ARCHIE #1...there have been changes made from not only the absence of Wendy, Duke, the principal, the parents and the principal but of the addition of the comic's token Negro, a tall sort named Floyd (no, I will not make the obvious Fentanyl joke here) who, despite his height is not exactly the basketball player Harvey wants on the team but a scientific genius closer to the Urkel/Dwayne Dibbley mold of Afro American nerd-dom. Let's be thankful that he just wasn't another Chuck, though as you'd guess you don't see him anywhere after this brief pop up making him the Franklin of the comic or something like that.

The artwork is different here...Goldberg's gone and whoever drew this ish, although sticking to the De Carlo house style, is somewhat subpar but not quite gag-inducing in comparison. The artist didn't even sign his name which must show that even he was embarrassed by it all, though kind enough me would give the art a passing grade, like maybe a C+. Maybe the nameless Miss Grundy who appears in one panel during a story where Goober does a report on his visit to the United Nations would fail him, but not me!.

As fer the rest well...thankfully by issue four the artwork was put into the hands of another professional, mainly future ARCHIE artist (just like Goldberg who probably figured since you can't beat 'em...) Henry Scarpelli (working in conjunction with Stu Schwartzberg who for all I know might have also skedaddled off the the Archie group later on himself) has taken over and thankfully things were back to normal.  The series thankfully continued on at a fair pace keeping up with the times and doing it in a fashion that made the guys at Archie Comics look as if they were still in the Stone Age what with this 'un showing some concessions to the early-seventies not only with Raven's new hair curls (maybe the heat from the former MLJ got to 'em) but a tip of the hat to the then-current rage of roller derby. Best of all is the saga where Harvey and Goober actually go to China with Richard Nixon and make him the receiver of their typically teenbo hijinks! How current events can ya get???

HARVEY rambled on (not as rambling as this post tho) for another two issues before receiving the Karen Quinlan treatment, and I gotta admit that these final 'uns do hold up somewhat swell as far as teenbo lazing on a scummy afternoon things go. The fifth one steers too close for somethingorother to the entire Archie reason-for-being what with stories set at the beach complete with the old two things threaten to beat up judges Harvey and Goober if their gals don't win the beauty pageant storyline, not to mention this other 'un where Raquel takes driver's ed with the results that'll make you bet five cents with yourself that the results aren't the exact same as every other teenage driving lesson saga seen throughout the years. The final installment (December 1972) has the Harvey Gang at a carnival as well as Raquel taking a visit to her sick uncle's place to help out. I'll bet even Nostradamus couldn't conjure what happens in both these stories, eh? You'll never guess in a millyun years I'll tell ya!

And with that came the end of HARVEY ne'er to be seen again. Not that I'm shedding any tears over it but still, I'm sure it was a sad day for quite a few adolescent misfits out there seeing this entry into Marvel's line of non-serious superhero titles bite the ol' dust with not even a digest to collect 'em all. Doubt there'll even be any hardcover high class glossy paged books gathering these up for not only old turds but future generations to gobble 'em up while eating candy and pop in the sanctity of their own fart encrusted bedrooms either. Thankfully these titles seem to pop up in comic piles seen at antique shops even this far down the line, and at times they can even be available at song and dance prices. Maybe if you're sick of the current direction that the Archie titles have gone, perhaps getting hold of these might be the tonic you need in your otherwise Geritol-depleted life!