Volume 2: Archie Comics

The second series to carry the Blue Ribbon Comics name was initially published by the Archie Comics

Archie Comics

Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...

 imprint Red Circle Comics. It ran for 14 issues cover-dated November 1983 to December 1984. After four issues, the imprint, initially directed at the "direct-sales market" of comic-book stores, repositioned to newsstand distribution and changed the imprint name to Archie Adventure Series, which Archie Comics had used for its superhero

Superhero

A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...

 line in the 1960s. Concurrently, the printing format changed from glossy Baxter paper to standard comics print.

Blue Ribbon Comics vol. 2 published a combination of new and reprinted work featuring a variety of Archie superheroes. Reprints including Joe Simon

Joe Simon

Joseph Henry "Joe" Simon is an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of Comic Books and served as the first editor of Timely Comics, the company that would evolve into Marvel Comics.With his...

 and Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby

Jack Kirby , born Jacob Kurtzberg, was an American comic book artist, writer and editor regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic book medium....

 stories from Adventures of the Fly

The Fly (Archie Comics)

The Fly is a fictional comic book superhero published by Red Circle Comics. He was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby as part of Archie's "Archie Adventure Series" and later camped up as part of the company's Mighty Comics line...

#1-2 (Aug-Sept. 1959), and Simon/Kirby Lancelot Strong: Shield stories primarily from The Double Life of Private Strong #1 (June 1959). However, the second volume largely comprised new stories of previous MLJ/Archie characters: a Mr. Justice origin story by writers Robin Snyder, who also provided a Blue Ribbon Comics checklist over various issues of the comic's run, and Bill Dubay, with art by Trevor Von Eeden

Trevor Von Eeden

Trevor Von Eeden is a comic book writer/artist who, known for his work on such DC Comics books as Black Lightning, Batman, and Green Arrow, as well as Marvel Comics books such as Power Man and Iron Fist, and the biographical series The Original Johnson.-Early life:According to Von Eeden, he...

 and Alex Niño

Alex Niño

Alex Niño is a Filipino comic book artist best known for his work for the American publishers DC Comics, Marvel Comics, and Warren Publishing, and in Heavy Metal magazine.-Early life and career:...

 in issue #2 (Dec. 1983). An origin for Steel Sterling followed, in issue #3 (Dec. 1983), leading into a backup feature in another Archie title, The Shield. There were also two new stories of the Fly and Flygirl, the featuring Jaguar, by writers Rich Buckler

Rich Buckler

Rich Buckler is an American comic book artist and penciller, best known for his work on Marvel Comics' The Fantastic Four in the mid-1970s and, with writer Doug Moench, co-creating the character Deathlok in Astonishing Tales #25...

 and Stan Timmons, with art by Trevor Von Eeden

Trevor Von Eeden

Trevor Von Eeden is a comic book writer/artist who, known for his work on such DC Comics books as Black Lightning, Batman, and Green Arrow, as well as Marvel Comics books such as Power Man and Iron Fist, and the biographical series The Original Johnson.-Early life:According to Von Eeden, he...

 in #4 (Jan. 1984), and a two-part Fox story by Buckler and Timmons, with art by Dick Ayers

Dick Ayers

Richard "Dick" Ayers is an American comic book artist and cartoonist best known for his work as one of Jack Kirby's inkers during the late-1950s and 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comics, including on some of the earliest issues of Marvel Comics' The Fantastic Four, and as the signature...

 and Tony DeZuniga

Tony DeZuniga

Tony DeZuniga is a Filipino comic-book artist best known for his work for DC Comics, where he co-created the characters Jonah Hex and Black Orchid.-Early life and career:...

, in #6-7 (March-April 1984). A revival of Black Hood by Gray Morrow

Gray Morrow

Dwight Graydon "Gray" Morrow was an American illustrator of paperback books and comics.-Biography:Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Morrow is best known as art director of Spider-Man between 1967 and 1970 and as illustrator of the syndicated Tarzan, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and Prince Valiant comic...

 took up issue #8 (May 1984).

As well as revivals of MLJ/Archie inventory characters, volume two introduced the underwater adventures of "Agents of Atantis" in #9 (June 1984). On the letters page of issue #10 (July 1984), Buckler signaled another editorial change, to "more lighthearted stories", with more Simon/Kirby reprints from the early 1960s Adventures of the Fly, followed by a reprint in issue #11 (August 1984) of a Black Hood story from Archie Superhero Special Digest Magazine #2 (Aug. 1979), originally written for the unpublished Black Hood #1. The story had already been reprinted in JC Comics

JC Comics

JC Comics , was a short-lived comic book company owned by John Carbonaro . JC published a few titles in the early 1980s, most notably comics featuring the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents....

#1 (1981). John Carbonaro appears to have bought the work from Archie to publish in JC, then paid Archie to reprint the tale in Archie/Red Circle Comics. Characters from other publishing companies were featured in the following issues:. First came Tower Comics

Tower Comics

Tower Comics was an American comic book publishing company best known for Wally Wood's T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, a strange combination of secret agents and superheroes; and Samm Schwartz's Tippy Teen, an Archie Andrews clone...

' T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents is a fictional team of superheroes that appeared in comic books originally published by Tower Comics in the 1960s. They were an arm of the United Nations and were notable for their depiction of the heroes as everyday people whose heroic careers were merely their day jobs...

 in #12 (Sept. 1984), with art by Steve Ditko

Steve Ditko

Stephen J. "Steve" Ditko is an American comic book artist and writer best known as the artist co-creator, with Stan Lee, of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange....

 on a back-up story starring NoMan, one of the Agents. Martin L. Griem's company-hopping Thunderbunny

Thunder Bunny

Thunderbunny is a comic book created by Martin Greim about the adventures of a boy who gained the ability to become a superhero who also resembles a large pink humanoid rabbit.-Publication history:Thunderbunny first appeared in fan publications...

 starred in #13 (Oct. 1984), in a story also featuring Archie Comics' Mighty Crusaders

Mighty Crusaders

The Mighty Crusaders is a fictional superhero team published by Archie Comics. The team originally appeared in Fly-Man #31, #32 and #33 before being launched in its own title, Mighty Crusaders. Written by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, the series lasted seven issues before being cancelled. The...

 superhero team. The last issue, #14 (Nov. 1984), teamed the Web

The Web (comics)

The Web is a fictional character, a superhero created by MLJ Comics' John Cassone as artist and an unknown writer in 1942.-Fictional character biography:...

 and the Jaguar. A "next-issue" box in #14 announced that a planned but ultimately unpublished issue #15 would feature a sword-and sorcery adventure, "The Cat Queen", featuring Catgirl by writer Paul Kupperberg

Paul Kupperberg

Paul Kupperberg is a former editor for DC Comics, and a prolific writer of comic books and newspaper strips.-Biography:Kupperberg entered the comics field from comics fandom, as had his brother, writer/artist Alan Kupperberg...

 and artist Pat Boyette

Pat Boyette

Pat Boyette Pat Boyette Pat Boyette (July 27, 1923, San Antonio, Texas – January 14, 2000, was an American broadcasting personality and news producer, and later a comic book artist best known for two decades of work for Charlton Comics, where he co-created the character The Peacemaker...

. The series by then had been canceled, along with the rest of the Archie Adventure Comics" line.

Publication history: Other

St. John Publications

St. John Publications

St. John Publications was an American publisher of magazines and comic books. During its short existence , St. John's comic books established several industry firsts. Founded by Archer St. John , the firm was located in Manhattan at 545 Fifth Avenue. After the St...

 produced six issues of an umbrella series, Blue Ribbon comics, that featured highly disparate contents each issue. It was published from late 1948 to mid-1949, with only issue #4-5 given cover dates (June & Aug. 1949) but postal indicia

Indicia (publishing)

Indicia is the plural of the Latin word indicium, meaning distinguishing marks.In magazine publishing, indicia refers to a piece of text traditionally appearing on the first recto page after the cover, which usually contains the official name of the publication, its publication date, information...

 given as February to August 1949. The series starred the movie studio Terry Toons' funny animal

Funny animal

Funny animal is a cartooning term for the genre of comics and animated cartoons in which the main characters are humanoid or talking animals, with anthropomorphic personality traits. The characters themselves may also be called funny animals...

 characters Heckle and Jeckle

Heckle and Jeckle

Heckle and Jeckle are cartoon characters created by Paul Terry, and released by his own studio, Terrytoons for 20th Century Fox. The characters are a pair of identical magpies who calmly outwitted their foes in the manner of Bugs Bunny, while maintaining a mischievous streak reminiscent of Woody...

 in issues #1 & 3; the romance

Romance comics

Romance comics is a comics genre depicting romantic love and its attendant complications such as jealousy, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and heartache. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published through the first three decades of the Cold War...

-themed Diary Secrets in issues #2, 4 & 5 (the last two fully titled Teen-Age Diary Secrets), and, in the final issue, the funny animal feature "Dinky", starring Dinky Duck

Dinky Duck

Dinky Duck was a Terrytoons cartoon character that appeared in a number of animated shorts. Dinky was a young duck that lived on a farm with ducks, chickens and other typical farm animals. Dinky often took on the role of an orphan who simply wanted a place to call home. Other times, Dinky would...

.

In the 2000s came two issues of a fan publication, Blue Ribbon Fanzine (Nov. 2005 & March 2006), dedicated to Blue Ribbon Comics., Published by Mike Bromberg in 2005. These reprinted selected Mr. Justice, Captain Flag and Fox stories from the 1940s MLJ Blue Ribbon Comics.

External links

• Red Circle Comics Index at the Mighty Crusaders Encyclopedia