Archie comics, like any long running publication, have undergone numerous changes over the years, particularly in character design. As new artists are hired on to work on the illustrations, character designs evolve. In the world of the Riverdale gang, one man was particularly influential in creating the version of the Archie gang that people are most familiar with: Dan DeCarlo.
DeCarlo, was an illustrator who worked for several comic book and men's magazine publishers in the late forties and throughout the fifties. He worked on such illustrious comic books as Sherry the Showgirl and Millie the Model. In the late fifties he began freelancing for Archie comics and was later hired on after he was told that he could draw "anyway he liked". Though the next few years the Archie gang's familiar look evolved by way of DeCarlo's pen along with some of the salacious sensibilities he learned drawing for those earlier publications. If you have ever seen artwork from Archie comics of the forties and early fifties they look incredibly different from DeCarlo's. DeCarlo continued providing artwork for Archie comics throughout the rest of his career and created popular characters Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Josie and the Pussycats. He passed away in 2001.
Here are a couple more DeCarlo style Betty and Veronica Christmas pin-ups for your enjoyment.
