Editing Dan DeCarlo (section)

==Atlas and Archie==
[[File:SherryShowgirl1.jpg|thumb|left|''Sherry the Showgirl'' #2 (Sept. 1956). Cover art by DeCarlo.]]
DeCarlo was married, with a pregnant wife, and working as a laborer for his father when he began to pursue a professional art career.<ref name=trades /> Circa 1947, answering an ad, he broke into the comic book industry at [[Timely Comics]], the 1940s iteration of [[Marvel Comics]]. Under editor-in-chief [[Stan Lee]], his first assignment was the teen-humor series ''Jeanie''.<!--spelled with one "n" as per covers shown at Grand Comics Database entry at http://www.comics.org/series/505/--> DeCarlo went uncredited, as was typical for most comic-book writers and artists of the era, and he recalled in 2001, "I went on with her maybe ten books. They used to call me 'The Jeanie Machine' because that was all Stan used to give me, was ''Jeanie''.... Then he took me off ''Jeanie'' and he gave me ''[[Millie the Model]]''. That was a big break for me. It wasn't doing too well and somehow when I got on it became quite successful."<ref name=trades />

He went on to an atypically long, 10-year run on that humor series, from issues #18–93 (June 1949 – Nov. 1959), most of them published by Marvel's 1950s predecessor, [[Atlas Comics (1950s)|Atlas Comics]].<ref name=millie>[http://www.comics.org/series/417/ ''Millie the Model''] at the [[Grand Comics Database]]</ref> DeCarlo and Lee also took over the ''[[My Friend Irma]]'' comic strip, spun off from the hit Marie Wilson radio comedy.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://cartoonician.com/everybodys-friend-remembering-stan-lee-and-dan-decarlos-my-friend-irma/ |title=Everybody's Friend: Remembering Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo's 'My Friend Irma' |first=Tom |last=Heintjes |work=[[Hogan's Alley (magazine)|Hogan's Alley]] |issue=16 |year=2009 |access-date=March 19, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130319184704/http://cartoonician.com/everybodys-friend-remembering-stan-lee-and-dan-decarlos-my-friend-irma/ |archive-date=March 19, 2013 |url-status=dead |df=mdy}}</ref> For a decade, DeCarlo wrote and drew the [[slapstick]]y adventures of Millie Collins, her redheaded friendly nemesis Chili Storm and the rest of the cast. He also contributed the short-lived ''Sherry the Showgirl'' and ''Showgirls'' for Atlas.<ref name=gcd>{{gcdb|type=credit|search=Dan+DeCarlo|title=Dan DeCarlo}}</ref> In 1960, he and Atlas editor-in-chief [[Stan Lee]] co-created the short-lived [[print syndication|syndicated]] [[comic strip]] ''[[Willie Lumpkin]]'', about a suburban [[mail carrier]],<ref>[http://www.lambiek.net/artists/d/de-carlo_dan.htm Dan DeCarlo] at the [[Lambiek]] Comiclopedia</ref> for the [[Chicago]]-based [[Publishers Syndicate]].<ref name=trades /> A version of the character later appeared as a long-running minor supporting character in Lee's later co-creation, the [[Marvel Comics]] series ''[[Fantastic Four]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbr.com/comic-book-legends-revealed-184/2/ |title=Comic Book Legends Revealed #184 |last=Cronin |first=Brian |date=December 4, 2008 |website=[[Comic Book Resources]] |access-date=March 19, 2013}}</ref>

As well during this period, DeCarlo created and drew [[Standard Comics]]' futuristic teen-humor comic book ''Jetta of the 21st Century''. Running three issues, #5–7 (Dec. 1952 - April 1953), it featured red-haired Jetta Raye and her friends at Neutron High School.<ref name="toonopedia-jetta">[http://toonopedia.com/jetta.htm ''Jetta of the 21st Century''] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]. [https://archive.today/20240527234957/https://www.webcitation.org/6l6FCViT7?url=http://toonopedia.com/jetta.htm Archived] from the original on October 8, 2016.</ref>

In addition to his comic-book work, DeCarlo drew freelance pieces for the magazines ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]'' and ''[[Argosy Magazine|Argosy]]'', as well as Timely/Atlas publisher [[Martin Goodman (publisher)|Martin Goodman]]'s [[Humorama]] line of [[pin-up girl]] cartoon digests.<ref name=nytimes />

DeCarlo first freelanced for [[Archie Comics]], the company with which he became most closely associated, in the late 1950s while still freelancing for Atlas. He said in 2001,
{{Blockquote|I was looking for extra work. I went down to see [[Harry Shorten]] [at Archie] and he gave me a job. The pay wasn't too good, but I did it and he liked it – but I didn't go back right away. Finally after two or three weeks go, he called me up and wanted to know what happened, why I wasn't around. I said, 'Well, you know I'm very busy.' ... I had ''Millie the Model'', I had ''[[My Friend Irma (radio-TV)|My Friend Irma]]'', [and] ''[[Big Boy Restaurants#Adventures of the Big Boy comic book|Big Boy]]''. ... I told him, 'The people that I'm working for now let me do my own thing. But when I do work for you, it's "Draw like [[Bob Montana]]." And it's hard to look at your reference, and then back at your own page. It's very slow, and very tedious and I didn't like it too much.' He said, 'Come on in, and you can draw any way you like.' That made me go back with him.<ref name=trades />}}

DeCarlo is tentatively identified with Archie as early as the Jughead story "The Big Shot" in ''Archie Comics'' #48 (Feb. 1951),<ref name=gcd /> with his earliest confirmed credit the 3 3/4-page story "No Picnic" in ''Archie's Girls Betty and Veronica'' #4 (published in September 1951).<ref>[http://www.comics.org/issue/222065/ ''Archie's Girls Betty and Veronica'' #4] at the Grand Comics Database.</ref> His art soon established the publisher's house style.<ref name="cbr-defined">{{cite web | url = http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=688 | title = Dan DeCarlo Dead at Age of 82: Artist Defined Archie Comics Style for Decades | website= Comic Book Resources | date= December 20, 2001 | access-date = March 19, 2013 | archive-date = October 10, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121010073114/http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=688 | url-status = live}}</ref> As well, he is the generally recognized creator of the teen-humor characters [[Sabrina the Teenage Witch]], [[Josie and the Pussycats (comics)|Josie and the Pussycats]], and [[Cheryl Blossom]].<ref name=uk />

===Josie===
DeCarlo created Josie on his own in the late 1950s; his wife, named Josie, said in an interview quoted in a DeCarlo obituary, "We went on a [[Caribbean]] cruise, and I had a [cat] costume for the cruise, and that's the way it started."<ref name=nytimes /> DeCarlo first tried to sell the character as a syndicated comic strip called ''Here's Josie'', recalling in 2001:
{{quote|text=When Publishers Syndicate in Chicago got interested in ''[[Willie Lumpkin]]'' ... I was also hustling my own strip and trying to get it published. Before we got to Publishers Syndicate, I went to [[United Feature]] in New York City with two strips — ''Barney's Beat'' and ''Josie''. [United Feature] told me they liked them both, and they'd like to see more samples, because I didn't bring much. I brought maybe six dailies of ''Barney's Beat'' and six dailies of ''Josie''. That posed a problem for me. I knew I couldn't handle both strips and still keep up with the comic book work, because a syndicated bit was very risky. So, I decided to shelve ''Josie'', and concentrated on ''Willie Lumpkin''. [When that strip ended after] a year, maybe a year and a half[,] I quickly submitted the Josie strip back to the publishers and Harold Anderson, and he sent it back and said, 'It's not what we're looking for, Dan, but keep up the good work,' or words of that kind. Then is when I decided to take it to Archie to see if they could do it as a comic book. I showed it to [[Richard Goldwater]], and he showed it to his father, and a day or two later I got the OK to do it as a comic book.<ref name=trades />}}
[[File:Lapick inking decarlo archie.png|left|400px|thumb|Original art panels from "The Reformer" in ''[[Archie's Girls Betty and Veronica]]'' No. 157 (Jan. 1969), featuring (l. to r.) [[Veronica Lodge]] and [[Archie Andrews (comics)|Archie Andrews]]. [[Penciler|Penciled]] by DeCarlo, [[inker|inked]] by [[Rudy Lapick]].]]
Josie was introduced in ''[[Archie's Pals and Gals|Archie's Pals 'n' Gals]]'' #23. The first issue of ''She's Josie'' followed, cover-dated February 1963.<ref>[http://www.comics.org/series/12919/ ''She's Josie''] at the [[Grand Comics Database]]</ref> The series featured levelheaded, sweet-natured Josie, her [[Blonde bombshell (stereotype)|blonde bombshell]] friend Melody, and [[bookworm]]ish brunette Pepper. These early years also featured the characters of Josie and Pepper's boyfriends Albert and Sock (real name Socrates); Albert's rival Alexander Cabot III; and Alex's twin sister Alexandra. Occasionally Josie and her friends appeared in "[[fictional crossover|crossover]]" issues with the main Archie characters. ''She's Josie'' was renamed ''Josie'' with issue #17 (Dec. 1965),<ref>[http://www.comics.org/series/12920/ ''Josie''] at the Grand Comics Database</ref> and again renamed, to ''Josie and the Pussycats'', with issue #45 (Dec. 1969), whereby Pepper was replaced by Valerie and Albert was replaced by Alan M. Under this title, the series finished its run with issue #106 (Oct. 1982).<ref>[http://www.comics.org/series/12921/ ''Josie and the Pussycats''] at the Grand Comics Database</ref> Josie and her gang also made irregular appearances in ''[[Pep Comics]]'' and ''[[Laugh Comics]]'' during the 1960s.
[[File:Dandecarlomens.png|thumb|right|300px|1956 example of DeCarlo's cartoon work for men's magazines. "Allan, are you trying to pull the wool over my eyes?"]]
When [[Universal Pictures]] was preparing the live-action movie adaptation ''[[Josie and the Pussycats (film)|Josie and the Pussycats]]'' in 2001, DeCarlo and Archie Comics became involved in a lawsuit over the character's creation, leading the publisher to terminate its 43-year relationship with him. A federal district court ruled in 2001 that Archie Comics owned the [[copyright]] to the Josie characters; this decision was affirmed by the [[Second Circuit Court of Appeals]].<ref name=supreme>Dean, Mike.{{cite web|url=http://www.tcj.com/aa02ws/n_decarlo.html |title=Supreme Court Rejects DeCarlo Appeal |access-date=December 19, 2005 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091004155455/http://www.tcj.com/aa02ws/n_decarlo.html |archive-date=October 4, 2009 |work=[[The Comics Journal]]|issue=240|date=January 2002}}</ref> On December 11, 2001, the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] rejected an appeal filed by DeCarlo's attorney, Whitney Seymour Jr., who had argued that the issue was a matter of state [[property law]] and not federal copyright law.<ref name=supreme />

DeCarlo was listed as a creator in the end credits of the film ''[[Josie and the Pussycats (film)|Josie and the Pussycats]]''. He received credit as co-creator of the live-action television show ''[[Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996 TV series)|Sabrina the Teenage Witch]]''.<ref>{{cite news |last=Oliver |first=Myrna |date=December 25, 2001 |title=Dan DeCarlo, 82; Cartoonist Drew Archie, Josie and the Pussycat Comics |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-25-me-17888-story.html |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=March 19, 2013}}</ref>

Among DeCarlo's final works were a story for [[Paul Dini]]'s independent comics series ''[[Jingle Belle]]'', and stories for [[Bongo Comics]]' ''[[The Simpsons]]'' TV tie-in comic, ''[[Bart Simpson]]''.<ref name="cbr-defined" />

===Death===
DeCarlo died in [[New Rochelle, New York]], of [[pneumonia]].<ref name=nytimes /> Comics creator [[Paul Dini]] said upon DeCarlo's death, "It was tragic that when he was at an age when many cartoonists are revered as treasures by more beneficent publishers, Dan felt spurned and slighted by the owners of properties that prospered greatly from his contributions."<ref name="cbr-defined" />