Archie – Comics Archeology

The Adventures of Little Archie #24 (1962)
by Bob Bolling

Little known fact: about four months after debuting on Fantastic Four #5, Doctor Doom also appeared on Archie Comics.

Most people forget that Doom’s castle showing up in his first Fantastic Four story isn’t the one in Latveria, but a completely different castle in upstate New York.
But that’s not the ONLY castle Doom has in America, because there’s another one in Riverdale.

Doctor Doom will still take a couple of issues to grow into his more complex persona. In the Fantastic Four story he was more of a generic would-be conqueror, and in this story he relies HEAVILY into the “mad scientist” tropes.
Also he has an assistant and a pet bird…

…which is consistent with his previous appearance on Fantastic Four.
I definitely prefer the vulture’s design, but a crow fits his gothic esthetics better.

Doom’s had tons of mind control devices over the years, which he tends to only use once. That’s probably the reason why he doesn’t attach THIS device to all of his Doombots.

I should probably have covered this one in the retrospective about Doom’s origins, because it DOES drop a bit of lore: either the same experiment that scarred his face also gave him a hangnail, or he got his doctorate in curing hangnails. I think it’s the latter.

Doom’s plan is deceptively simple:
1) take over a department store
2) ???
3) world domination!

What, did you think I was kidding?

It’s at this point that we meet our hero Archie. Who is still a child in this series, which acts as a prequel to his regular adventures.

Which makes the chronological placement of this story a bit difficult.
Archie was already a teenager, either 15 or 16 I’d imagine, when he met the Punisher in 1994.
This story is set about 8 years earlier than that, so it’s not a stretch to think that this DOES take place immediately after Doom’s first appearance.

I could review that particular crossover at some point; if you can get past the ridiculousness of the idea, it’s not a bad story. Although I know next to nothing about Archie and the gang, so for all I know they’re wildly out of character there.
Also, that is FAR from the most absurd crossover Archie has done.
These are all REAL comics, by the way.

But back to the story, which sees Archie getting stuck inside an armor’s helmet.

Just as Doom’s robots hypnotizes the customers of the store.

By the time Archie takes off the helmet, he’s the only one free from mind control.

Ah, now I see there must be another reason for why Doom never uses this particular device again, aside from his general reluctance to recycling plots: they have a limited range.

I’m not TOO familiar with Archie, but I was under the impression he was a regular human… but would a child be able to throw a bowling ball THIS hard!?

Then again, I’m not entirely convinced Doom built these robots himself: they look like they were purchased at a Latverian convenience store.
No wonder DoomShack closed years ago.

Soooo… is this a toy for kids, or is this a tractor-plow for little people?
How surprisingly progressive for 1962.

Archie eventually finds his mother. I know she said she went looking for a new dress, but did she also dye her hair?

No wonder this kid eventually grows to fight crime. Or whatever it is that Archie does, which based on his crossovers I assume is basically everything imaginable.

He even sabotages the robots by exposing them to water.

Doom should really, REALLY waterproof his robots. This isn’t even the only time his creations were defeated by regular water!

I’m not entirely sure the general public ever learns that Doom was behind this, since the robots never speak his name and he never meets Archie.
But he decides to return to Latveria just to be safe.

And so we end with Doctor Doom swearing to get revenge on Archie.

He will, MORE THAN ONCE, but that’s a story for another time.

Doom significance: /
As mentioned Doom develops a very minor rivalry with Archie.

Silver Age-ness: /
Those are some weak robots!

Does it stand the test of time? /
It’s quite clear that, at the time, Doctor Doom wasn’t considered yet to be a world-class threat. It is interesting, however, that he pre-dates any other villain in an inter-company crossover; he even pre-dates every other hero crossing over into another publishing company!

It was a Doombot all along
It’s a possibility.

Take over the world: 2
This is just Doom’s second attempt.

Number of superheroes who have fought Dr. Doom: 6
I would place this immediately BEFORE Fantastic Four #6: in that story Doom is at sea looking for Namor, and where is Doom at the end of this one? On a ship at sea!
Coincidence? I think not!
As this precedes Fantastic Four #16 where Doom met Ant-Man, it means that Archie is the first hero to fight Doom after the Fantastic Four and Batman.

Number of supervillains created by Dr. Doom: 1
Since this predates Fantastic Four #23 by a few years, his assistant Chester qualifies as the first villain he creates.

Crazy tech
Honestly? Those are some crappy robots.

I may not be familiar with Archie, but in case you’re questioning my decision to classify him as a supehero: the cover story shows us that he shares Batman’s origin.
Yes, even if Archie comics have the reputation of being squicky-clean, there IS crime in Riverdale.