In Part 1, we looked at the nascent Sabrina
character. (And that’s only a quarter of
this book and I didn’t cover everything.)
The character was still fairly sketchy in concept.
The familiar classic Sabrina character suddenly came into
sharp focus in 1969 in Archie’s T.V.
Laugh-Out #1. With the success of
Filmation’s 1968 The Archie Show
cartoon, a Sabrina cartoon would follow in 1970. This comic book seemed to be testing out the
cartoon concept. (And the cartoon
version of Sabrina is quite charming, by the way, and has a breathy Marilyn
Monroe-like voice.)
This would be your standard look for Sabrina through the 70’s and 80’s. Aunt Hilda and a new character, Cousin Ambrose, were her family. Sabrina was totally integrated into the Archie Gang and she’s also having to keep her witch heritage a secret.
In the same issue, Aunt Zelda is introduced, she’s not
used a whole lot in these stories, and Harvey, Sabrina’s new regular boyfriend. Harvey is mostly a foil for irritating Aunt
Hilda, like Archie and Mr. Lodge.
In the second issue, Salem, the other regular cartoon cast
member, is introduced. The cat was only
in Sabrina’s first two comic book appearances and then dropped. Salem is a girl in this and mostly teased Hot
Dog in the cartoon show.
Old School Ethel has got issues, especially when you put her next to Sabrina.
Great Archie artist, Harry Lucey, does a couple of stories in this volume. I hadn’t seen this one before.
Two Archie (The Archies band), Sabrina, and Josie and the
Pussycats stories were in Laugh-Out #7. This couldn’t happen in animation at the time,
since Josie was being produced by Hanna-Barbera and the other two by Filmation. The stories were a bit unwieldy, but it’s fun
to see all of the main Archie characters together.
Sabrina was (sort of) given her own title in the Archie
Giant Series. Two issues made an odd
diversion into Gothic-like horror. This only
sort of works when Sabrina forgets she’s a witch and when her powers don’t work
or can’t use them. I think the modern
day Sabrina Horror comic probably showcases this better, but that’s straight-up
horror (and really uncomfortable to read).
I feel like Sabrina works better in lingerie than the other Archie girls. There are three cousins introduced in various stories. (Not pictured.) They’re basically all various shades of hippies. I’m not sure if they were trying them out or just there to make a story. Since they don’t show up again, I guess that answers the question.
Sabrina is featured in a story in Archie’s Christmas Stocking in 1971. In 1972, she’d have her own Christmas special
with Sabrina’s Christmas Magic. She goes off to find Santa Claus in one
story. Another has Aunt Hilda finding
religion at Christmastime.
Oooh, boy. What did
I say about Big Ethel earlier? Here she
falls for Hot Dog, who Sabrina has transformed into a groovy hippie. Yeah, Ethel really got rimmed in these old
comics.
And here’s how Sabrina keeps her shapely figure over the holidays.
Almost needless to say, I recommend this book for any
Sabrina fan. It’s very entertaining and
informative about the development of the character. There’s no Volume 2 of this that I can
see. I don’t know if I’d want that one,
because chronologically, Sabrina definitely enters a dry spell (pardon the pun)
of creativity from the material I’ve seen from the rest of the 70’s and 80’s.
Again, you can check my previous “comprehensive” post about the
history of the character. This book has
been an education in the early days of the character. My post pretty much picks up where this
leaves off.
From reading this, I ask the question, how much do we owe our conception of Sabrina to the 70’s cartoon? I think Sabrina would have eventually been a character with her own title without it. Sabrina had an instant appeal when introduced. She might have had a more varied background, but probably would have ended up in about the same place. Sabrina just got there quicker via the cartoon.
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