Archie and his pals at Riverdale High were created by Vic Bloom and Bob Montana in 1941. My favorite characters were the lifelong frenemies Betty and Veronica. The best Betty and Veronica artist, without a doubt, was Dan DeCarlo, who cranked out countless pages of Archie and its many spin-off comics beginning in the late 1950s. — Read the rest

This little comic, written by me and drawn by Christopher in 2007, explains the origin of some of the Disneyland Haunted Mansion's most engaging ghosts: the ballroom organist and the screaming singers who fly out of his organ pipes.

This has never seen the light of day before — it's the closest I've come as an adult to writing fanfic, and it was incredibly satisfying to produce. — Read the rest

[Video Link] Chronicle Books published this nice-looking collection of MAD's Fold-Ins.

Al Jaffee's fold-ins, on the inside back cover of virtually every issue of MAD Magazine since 1964, have become an icon of American humor. Generations have grown up with Jaffee's inspired skewerings of our foibles and cultural conundrums.

The condo association at Scarlett Place, a posh Baltimore building, have proposed to DNA-test all the dogs on the premises, and use DNA from errant dog-turds to identify feckless owners and fine them $500 per dog-pie.

Using all the dog swabs, BioPet would create a doggie database of sorts for the complex.

Here's part four of our week-long "Best of Boing Boing" holiday gift guide: basically, it's a list of the bestselling items from among the stuff we reviewed this year, reflecting your favorite items from among our picks. Today's list is comics, graphic novels, funnybooks and the like. — Read the rest

In 1956 Harvey Kurtzman (wiki), creator of Mad, asked his publisher, William Gaines, for a controlling interest in the comic book. Gaines fired him. Kurtzman went to his fan, Hugh Hefner, and launched a beautifully produced humor magazine for Playboy called Trump, but Hefner spiked the project after two issues. — Read the rest

Cartoonist Johnny Ryan guest edited the latest issue of Vice, magazine. I haven't seen a copy yet, but it sounds wonderful.

Out this week: VICE magazine's spanking-new Comics issue (Vol. 13, #5) , featuring guest editor Johnny Ryan. The issue is a doozy, kicking off with a collaborative cover by Johnny and legendary MAD artist Al Jaffee.