R. Alan Brooks, Archie, and Nancy Silberkleit
Comics can be an obscure hobby, with an arcane history that only fans can understand. Maybe less so today, what with big-budget films showing off superheroics on the regular, but since the modern comic book was born in the 1930s, it’s been known mainly to a small but faithful following.
Except, of course, for Archie. Archie Andrews first saw print in Pep Comics #22, which hit the streets in October of 1941. The idea was to capitalize on the success of then-popular film character Andy Hardy, as played by the inimitable Mickey Rooney. But even as Andy Hardy has slipped from the world stage, Archie’s popularity has never really flagged.
Even if you’re not a comic fan, chances are good that you’ve read an Archie comic, danced to “Sugar, Sugar,” seen the Saturday morning cartoon or the TV shows “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” or “Riverdale.” Archie is ubiquitous. To borrow a line from Mojo Nixon, Archie is everywhere.
Including right here in Denver. Sort of.
R. Alan Brooks, who’s become something of an artistic superhero on the local scene himself with such credits as his ongoing comic strip for the Colorado Sun, “What’d I Miss?” as well as his full-length books “The Burning Metronome,” “Anguish Garden,” and “The Mask in Your Dreams” is now coming out with a new project.
Brooks has written one of the stories in an upcoming issue ofArchie Comic Digest Halloween Special, hitting shelves at comic stores (and even your local grocery and drug stores) on Friday, Aug. 21. Brooks will appear from 3 to 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 26, at Mutiny Comics and Coffee in Englewood for a signing that is free and open to the public.
Archie Comics Publications
Brooks says that he’s been an Archie Comics fan since he was a kid. “I’ve been reading comics my whole life,” he says. “But when I was a kid, my younger sister saw that I was reading superhero comics, and wanted to try reading comics too. She bought a whole bunch of Archies from used book stores, so some were old, and some were newer, and I ended up reading all of them.”
The way Brooks got the gig was what Co-CEO of Archie Comics Publications Nancy Silberkleit calls “a true Archie moment.” Brooks was on his way to an event at the Jaipur Literature Festival — one at which he was scheduled to moderate a panel that included Silberkleit — when his high-mileage 2005 Toyota Camry (his own version of Archie’s famous jalopy, he grins and admits) blew a tire and made him significantly late.
In true Archie tradition, the apparent disaster turned out to be serendipitous — Brooks and Silberkleit ended up talking for hours that afternoon, making a connection that would eventually turn into a writing assignment.
“I feel those Archie moments really bring people together,” says Silberkleit. “I think if that moment hadn’t happened, I don’t know that I would have gotten to know Alan as my buddy like I did. It was just a heartwarming thing, as it turned out.”
The inspiration for the story concept that Brooks ended up being offered came from a number of sources, years apart, says Silberkleit. It was her work in education that brought about an interest in the inclusion of an autistic character in the Archie comics cast. She’d recently adopted a feral cat, and wanted to feature the importance of spaying and neutering cats. And then one day she was in a blueberry patch in Vermont (as one sometimes finds oneself) and someone told her the story of the Halloween Parade in Rutland that often featured superheroes — and in turn, the parade was featured in various DC and Marvel comics.
Being a comics fan, this idea appealed to Brooks. “The Rutland Parade has become to some fans the first Marvel/DC crossover,” he says. Specifically: Avengers #83 from 1970, and Batman #237 from 1971. And then in 1972, writers Steve Englehart, Gerry Conway, and Len Wein created a narrative in Amazing Adventures #16 and Thor #207 (both from Marvel), and Justice League of America #103 (from DC), where that trio of creators (and their notable purple car) travel to Rutland. “It was an under-the-radar unofficial crossover.”
It was those three seemingly disparate elements — the already-introduced autistic character Scarlett Saltee, cat overpopulation, and the Rutland parade tradition — that Brooks was able to bring together into a single cohesive narrative. “It was a unique challenge, to do all that in an eight-page story,” Brooks says. “To deal with all those things, and to make it feel like Archie, and to make it funny. But my years of work at the Colorado Sun really helped. Presenting an issue and leading up to a punch line in one page trained me for it. I was able to include two of my favorite Black characters from the cast, Chuck and Nancy. And throwing Jughead in there always helps with the comedy.”
Archie Comics Publications
Comics, of course, aren’t just about the writing; the art for Brooks’ story is being handled by industry pro Colleen Doran (known for her work on the sci-fi epic “A Distant Soil,” as well as extensive work with characters from both Marvel and DC over the decades). Silberkleit praises Doran’s work as a great example of the Archie style, and Brooks agrees. “When I saw her work, I was like ‘this is a real Archie comic!’” Brooks says. “It made it really real, and exciting.”
If Brooks has anything to say about it, this will be his first Archie story, not his only. “The archetypes in Archie are broad in a way that you can tell a lot of stories,” he says. “It’s influenced so many things, and so many people over the last 85 years. And I want to say that in my professional life, I’ve only been late to two things. I love that what started as a really embarrassing moment for me turned into a friendship with Nancy, and this story came from that. Like a true Archie story, everything turned out well in the end.”
R. Alan Brooks will be signinghis story in Archie Comics Digest Halloween Special from 3-5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 26,at Mutiny Comics and Coffee, 3483 S. Broadway, Englewood.
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