The Adventures of Little Archie #22

(Spring 1962)

Martians' Return (Table of Contents: 1)

Little Archie / comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script

Bob Bolling

Pencils

Bob Bolling (signed)

Inks

Bob Bolling (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

Bob Bolling

Genre

humor; children; fantasy-supernatural; science fiction

Characters

Little Archie Andrews; Fred Andrews; Mary Andrews; Little Betty Cooper; Little Veronica Lodge; Little Reggie Mantle; Little Jughead Jones; Abercrombie; Stitch; Grizbik

Synopsis

Abercrombie and Stitch, the Martians, return to Earth in a rocket ship cleverly disguised as a shooting star. While they inspect Little Archie's house to learn more about earth food, they give Little Archie a present: the Grizbik, a bearded, gibberish-spouting creature who exists only to make things neat and tidy. But the Grizbik's presence has one unfortunate side effect.

Reprints

• in Archie's Double Digest Quarterly Magazine (Archie, 1982 series) #4 (October 1982)

Indexer Notes

Second and last appearance of Abercrombie and Stitch, originally introduced in "Little Archie On Mars" (Little Archie # 18).

Lawbreaker (Table of Contents: 2)

Little Archie / comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script

Bob Bolling

Pencils

Bob Bolling (signed)

Inks

Bob Bolling (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

Bob Bolling

Genre

humor; children

Characters

Little Archie Andrews; Little Betty Cooper; Little Veronica Lodge; Little Reggie Mantle; Little Jughead Jones; Ambrose Pipps; Little Dilton Doiley

Synopsis

Little Archie plays traffic cop, and starts making up all kinds of arbitrary new laws to put his friends in "jail." Then he transforms the jail into a police vehicle to chase after a speeding go-kart driven by Ambrose.

Reprints

• in Archie Comics Digest (Archie, 1973 series) #25 (August 1977)
• in Archie (Jumbo Comics) Double Digest (Archie, 2011 series) #220 (September 2011)
• in The Best of Archie Comics (Archie, 2011 series) #4 ([August] 2014)
• in Archie Spotlight Digest: Archie 75th Anniversary Digest (Archie, 2016 series) #5 (February 2017)
• in Archie's Big Book (Archie, 2017 series) #1 - Magic, Music & Mischief (August 2017)

The Wright Brothers (Table of Contents: 3)

text article / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

Typeset

Genre

non-fiction; history

Synopsis

Article on the Wright brothers.

Little Archie and the "Wishing Witch" (Table of Contents: 4)

Little Archie / comic story / 10 pages (report information)

Script

Bob Bolling

Pencils

Bob Bolling (signed)

Inks

Bob Bolling (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

Bob Bolling

Genre

humor; children; fantasy-supernatural

Characters

Little Archie Andrews; Geraldine Grundy; Little Reggie Mantle; Waldo Weatherbee; Wishing Witch

Synopsis

Little Archie is assigned to attract a bird to Miss Grundy's bird-feeding platform. An eccentric witch who lives at the library gives him a magical book with instructions on how to attract the most unusual bird the school has ever seen: a prehistoric pterodactyl.

Reprints

• in Jughead with Archie Digest (Archie, 1974 series) #20 (May 1977)
• in Little Archie Digest Magazine (Archie, 1991 series) #10 (September 1993)
• in Archie's Pals 'n' Gals Double Digest Magazine (Archie, 1992 series) #53 (December 2000)

Keywords

dinosaur; pterodactyl

Indexer Notes

The witch says that she was studying to become a TV quiz show contestant, but there are "no more big time TV quiz shows." This is a reference to the fact that most prime-time game shows had been canceled in the wake of the quiz-show scandals of the late '50s.

Money Talk! (Table of Contents: 5)

Shrimpy / comic story / 1 page (report information)

Script

Joe Harold

Pencils

Joe Harold

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

?

Genre

humor; children

Characters

Shrimpy

Synopsis

Shrimpy finds a dollar.

Tell The Tooth (Table of Contents: 6)

Little Archie / comic story / 5 pages (report information)

Script

Dexter Taylor

Pencils

Dexter Taylor

Inks

Dexter Taylor

Colors

?

Letters

Dexter Taylor

Genre

humor; children

Characters

Little Archie Andrews; Spotty; Mary Andrews; Fred Andrews; Detective O'Hara; George; un-named woman

Synopsis

When Little Archie puts a tooth under his pillow, "Tooth Fairy" Fred has to go out in the snow to borrow some change.

Reprints

• in Archie... Archie Andrews, Where Are You? Comics Digest Magazine (Archie, 1977 series) #5 (February 1978)
• in Archie's Double Digest Magazine (Archie, 1984 series) #15 (March 1985)

Movie Madness (Table of Contents: 7)

Little Archie / comic story / 9 pages (report information)

Script

Dexter Taylor

Pencils

Dexter Taylor

Inks

Dexter Taylor

Colors

?

Letters

Dexter Taylor

Genre

humor; children

Characters

Little Archie Andrews; Fred Andrews; Mary Andrews; Spotty; un-named babysitter; un-named ticket taker; un-named projectionist; un-named candy counter woman

Synopsis

Fred and Mary go to the movies and leave Little Archie with a babysitter, but he sneaks out of the house, stows away in their car, and changes the program at the movie theatre.

Reprints

• in Archie... Archie Andrews, Where Are You? Comics Digest Magazine (Archie, 1977 series) #2 (May 1977)

Indexer Notes

One of the most elaborate of Taylor's many pantomime stories: there is no dialogue in this entire story until the final panel.

Spotty Strikes Back (Table of Contents: 8)

Little Archie / comic story / 2 pages (report information)

Script

Dexter Taylor

Pencils

Dexter Taylor

Inks

Dexter Taylor

Colors

?

Letters

Dexter Taylor

Genre

humor; children

Characters

Little Archie Andrews; Little Betty Cooper; Spotty; Caramel

Synopsis

After Spotty chases Caramel up a tree, Betty forces Little Archie to help her cat get down.

Reprints

• in Archie Annual Digest (Archie, 1975 series) #30 (1977)
• in Little Archie: The House That Wouldn't Move (Archie, 2007 series) (October 2007)

Indexer Notes

Reprinted in 2007 in "Little Archie: The House That Wouldn't Move" (where it was mistakenly credited to Bob Bolling).

Turnabout Tale (Table of Contents: 9)

Little Archie / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Dexter Taylor

Pencils

Dexter Taylor

Inks

Dexter Taylor

Colors

?

Letters

Dexter Taylor

Genre

humor; children

Characters

Little Archie Andrews; Waldo Weatherbee; Geraldine Grundy; Evelyn Evernever; Beefy Brawnson; Little Jughead Jones; Little Reggie Mantle; un-named boy; Mr. Rabbit; little rabbit

Synopsis

A rabbit tells his son the story of a group of humans who discovered the truth about rabbit's feet: they're not lucky.

Reprints

• in Archie's Double Digest Magazine (Archie, 1984 series) #11 (July 1984)

Close the Door! (Table of Contents: 10)

Li'l Jinx / comic story / 5 pages (report information)

Script

Joe Edwards

Pencils

Joe Edwards

Inks

Joe Edwards

Colors

?

Letters

Joe Edwards

Genre

humor; children

Characters

Li'l Jinx; Hap Holliday; Merry Holliday

Synopsis

Li'l Jinx keeps forgetting to close doors.

Reprints

• in Archie Comics Digest (Archie, 1973 series) #25 (August 1977)

Indexer Notes

Though officially named Hap, Li'l Jinx's dad is addressed as "Bill" in this story. Story is 4.25 pages with remaining 0.75 page filled with list of kids who want to be "Li'l Jinx Pen Pals."

One For the Book (Table of Contents: 11)

Little Archie / comic story / 1 page (report information)

Script

Dexter Taylor

Pencils

Dexter Taylor

Inks

Dexter Taylor

Colors

?

Letters

Dexter Taylor

Genre

humor; children

Characters

Little Archie Andrews; Geraldine Grundy

Synopsis

Little Archie borrows a book from Miss Grundy.

Nothing But the Tooth (Table of Contents: 12)

Little Archie / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script

Dexter Taylor

Pencils

Dexter Taylor

Inks

Dexter Taylor

Colors

?

Letters

Dexter Taylor

Genre

humor; children

Characters

Little Archie Andrews; Little Veronica Lodge; Little Moose Mason; Little Reggie Mantle; Little Betty Cooper; Waldo Weatherbee; Geraldine Grundy; Little Jughead Jones; un-named Mayor; un-named beaver

Synopsis

Little Archie brings a pet beaver to school.

Reprints

• in Archie Comics Digest (Archie, 1973 series) #23 (April 1977)
• in Archie (Jumbo Comics) Double Digest (Archie, 2011 series) #286 (March 2018)

Keywords

beaver

Anton Van Leeuwenhoek (Table of Contents: 13)

text article / 1 page (report information)

Script

?

Pencils

?

Inks

?

Colors

?

Letters

Typeset

Genre

non-fiction; history

Synopsis

Article on the inventor of microscopes.

Has a Tale (Table of Contents: 14)

Caramel / comic story / 10 pages (report information)

Script

Bob Bolling

Pencils

Bob Bolling (signed)

Inks

Bob Bolling (signed)

Colors

?

Letters

Bob Bolling

Genre

drama; anthropomorphic-funny animals; children; fantasy-supernatural

Characters

Caramel; Little Betty Cooper; Little Veronica Lodge; Taffy; Honey; Cocoa; un-named adults; un-named little girl

Synopsis

When Betty and Ronnie comment on how lazy Betty's cat Caramel is, Caramel reveals that she has the ability to talk to them (but only while they're still small children). Caramel tells them the story of her life: she had three kittens and lived with them in an old abandoned house. When the house was destroyed, the four cats set off on a journey across America, where Caramel found homes for each of her children -- and almost lost her own life in the process.

Reprints

• in Archie's Double Digest Quarterly Magazine (Archie, 1982 series) #4 (October 1982)
• in The Best of Archie Comics (Archie, 2011 series) #2 (2012)
• in World of Archie Double Digest (Archie, 2010 series) #51 (August 2015)
• in Archie 1000 Page Comics Jam (Archie, 2015 series) (2015)
• in Archie Spotlight Digest: Archie 75th Anniversary Digest (Archie, 2016 series) #2 (November 2016)

Indexer Notes

As Caramel promises in the story itself, this is the only time Caramel ever talks to anyone.

The story is also an example of how Bolling changed the designs depending on the type of story: while the girls are drawn in a cartoony style, Caramel is drawn more realistically than usual, and the adults are drawn in a realistic style.