references but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations . please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations . june 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message archie comics founded 1939 ; 77 years ago 1939 as mlj magazines founder maurice coyne louis silberkleit john l. goldwater country of origin united states headquarters location pelham new york key people john l. goldwater vic bloom bob montana victor gorelick editor in chief 1 jon goldwater ceo publisher roberto aguirre sacasa chief creative officer citation needed mike pellerito president citation needed publication types comic books fiction genres humor romance superheroes horror crime adventure imprints archie action archie horror dark circle comics official website archiecomics.com archie comic publications inc. or shortly known as archie comics is an american comic book publisher headquartered in pelham new york . 2 the company is known for its many titles featuring the fictional teenagers archie andrews betty cooper veronica lodge jughead jones reggie mantle sabrina spellman and josie and the pussycats . the archie characters were created by publisher editor john l. goldwater with their original likenesses being designed by bob montana . they were based in part on people met by goldwater in the midwest during his travels throughout the united states while looking for jobs and places to stay . archie first appeared in pep comics 22 on december 22 1941 drawn by montana and written by vic bloom . with the creation of archie publisher goldwater hoped to appeal to fans of the andy hardy movies starring mickey rooney . 3 archie comics was also the title of the company s longest running publication the first issue appearing with a cover date of winter 1942 . starting with issue 114 the title was shortened to simply archie . the flagship series was relaunched from issue 1 in july 2015 with a new look and design suited for a new generation of readers . 4 archie comics characters and concepts have also appeared in numerous films television programs cartoons and video games . contents 1 history 1.1 mlj magazines 1.1.1 1939 1946 early years 1.2 archie comics 1.2.1 1946 1990s 1.2.2 2000s 1.2.3 2010 present 2 characters 2.1 archie and riverdale 2.2 superheroes 3 titles 3.1 titles in publication as of 2016 3.2 new look series 3.3 reprints 4 honors and awards 5 archie characters in other media 5.1 television 5.1.1 animation 5.1.2 live action 5.1.2.1 1970 special and archie to riverdale and back again 5.1.2.2 sabrina the teenage witch 5.1.2.3 riverdale 5.2 film 5.3 broadway 5.4 painting 6 official site 7 references 7.1 works cited 8 external links history edit mlj magazines edit 1939 1946 early years edit maurice coyne louis silberkleit and john l. goldwater formed mlj magazines and started publishing in november 1939 . the company name was derived from the initials of the partners first names . 5 coyne served as mlj s bookkeeper and cfo . coyne and silberkleit had been partners in columbia publishing a pulp company that published its last pulp in the late 1950s . silberkleit had a college degree from st. john s university was a licensed and registered pharmacist and had a law degree from new york law school . his efforts were focused on the business printing separating distribution and financial ends of the company . john goldwater served as editor in chief . goldwater was one of the founders of the comics magazine association of america and he served as its president for 25 years . the comics magazine association of america is best known to comic fans for its comics code authority . goldwater was also a national commissioner of the anti defamation league . 6 mlj s first comic book published in november 1939 was blue ribbon comics with the first half full color and the last half in red and white tints . in january 1940 pep comics debuted with the shield the first usa patriotic comic book hero created by writer and managing editor harry shorten and designed by artist irv novick . top notch comics was launched in december 1941 . until march 1944 the cover feature of pep was the shield when archie took over the cover . the shield was a forerunner for joe simon s and jack kirby s captain america being published 14 months earlier . 3 7 archie comics edit 1946 1990s edit the andy hardy movies were an inspiration for goldwater to have a comic book about a relatable normal person . teenaged archibald chick andrews debuted with betty cooper in pep comics 22 dec. 1941 in a story by writer vic bloom and artist bob montana . 3 archie soon became mlj magazine s headliner which led to the company changing its name to archie comic publications . siberkleit and coyne discontinued columbia publications . 3 in the late 1950s archie publishing launched its archie adventure series line with a new version of the shield and two new characters . 5 the february 1962 issue of harvey kurtzman s help magazine featured his parody of the archie characters in its goodman beaver story goodman goes playboy which was illustrated by frequent collaborator will elder . 8 a parody of the sybaritic playboy lifestyle the article featured various characters drinking living out of wedlock stealing cars becoming pregnant attending an orgy and selling their soul to satan . citation needed help publisher jim warren received a letter on december 6 1961 accusing help of copyright infringement and demanding removal of the offending issue from newsstands . warren was unable to recall the magazine 9 but he agreed to settle out of court rather than risk an expensive lawsuit . warren paid archie comics 1000 and ran a note of apology in a subsequent issue of help 10 the story was reprinted in the book collection executive comic book in 1962 with the artwork modified by elder to obscure the appearance of the archie characters . archie comics found their appearance still too close to its copyrighted properties and threatened another lawsuit . kurtzman and elder settled out of court by handing over the copyright to the story . archie comics held onto the copyright and refused to allow the story to be republished . a request from denis kitchen in 1983 to include the story in his goodman beaver reprint collection was turned down . 9 after the comics journal co owner gary groth discovered that archie comics had allowed the copyright on goodman goes playboy to expire he had the story reprinted in the comics journal 262 september 2004 11 and made it available as a pdf on the magazine s website . 12 13 in the mid 1960s during the period fans and historians call the silver age of comic books archie switched its superheroes to a new imprint mighty comics group with the mlj heroes done in the campy humor of the batman tv show . this imprint ended in 1967 . 5 in the early 1970s archie enterprises inc. went public . just over 10 years later louis silberkleit s son michael and john goldwater s son richard returned archie comic publications to private ownership . 3 michael silberkleit served as chairman and co publisher while richard goldwater served as president and co publisher . 14 coyne retired in the 1970s as cfo . 3 in the 1970s and 1980s spire christian comics a line of comic books by fleming h. revell obtained license to feature the archie characters in several of its titles including archie s sonshine archie s roller coaster archie s family album and archie s parables . these comics used archie and his friends to tell stories with strong christian themes and morals sometimes incorporating bible scripture . in at least one instance the regular characters meet a christ like figure on the beach and listen as he gently preaches christian values . 15 archie launched a short lived fantasy and horror imprint red circle comics in the 1970s . the company revived that imprint in the 1980s for its brief line of superheroes comics . 5 later in the 1980s archie planned to publish superheroes again with the spectrum comics imprint featuring a number of high profile talents but it cancelled this attempt before publishing a single issue . 16 having licensed archie s mlj superheroes in 1991 dc comics launched its imprint impact comics with these heroes . 17 18 2000s edit on april 4 2003 dad s garage theatre company in atlanta was scheduled to debut a new play by roberto aguirre sacasa archie s weird fantasy which depicted riverdale s most famous resident coming out of the closet and moving to new york . the day before the play was scheduled to open archie comics issued a cease and desist order threatening litigation if the play proceeded as written . dad s garage artistic director sean daniels said the play was to depict archie and his pals from riverdale growing up coming out and facing censorship . archie comics thought if archie was portrayed as being gay that would dilute and tarnish his image . 19 it opened a few days later as weird comic book fantasy with the character names changed . 20 in 2014 aguirre sacasa would become archie s chief creative officer . 21 bill yoshida learned comic book lettering from ben oda and was hired in 1965 by archie comics where he averaged 75 pages a week for 40 years for an approximate total of 156 000 pages . 22 archie comics sued music duo the veronicas for trademark infringement in 2005 over the band s name which archie comics alleges was taken from the comic book character . archie comics and sire records the veronicas s record label reached a settlement involving co promotion . 23 in 2008 archie publications once again licensed dc comics its mlj super heroes for a dc universe integrated line red circle . 17 2010 present edit following richard goldwater s death in 2007 and michael silberkleit s in 2008 silberkleit s widow nancy and goldwater s half brother jonathan became co ceos in 2009 . 14 nancy silberkleit a former elementary school art teacher was given responsibility for scholastic and theater projects and jon goldwater a former rock pop music manager was responsible for running the company s day to day publishing and entertainment efforts . 14 the company sued silberkleit in july 2011 and goldwater filed another lawsuit against her in january 2012 alleging she was making bad business decisions and alienating staff ; she in turn sued him for defamation . 14 as of february 2012 new york supreme court justice shirley kornreich in manhattan had fined silberkleit 500 for violating the court s autumn order temporarily barring her from the company s headquarters and said the court might appoint a temporary receiver to protect the company s assets . 14 as of may 2016 these legal proceedings had been resolved . beginning in 2010 the company partnered with random house publisher services for its bookstore distribution which included trade paperbacks original graphic novels and additional book formats . archie comics saw its graphic novel and collected edition output increase from 11 book titles that year to 33 in 2012 and 40 in 2013 . the company s sales also increased by 410 % for books and 1 000 % for e books since 2010 . 1 beginning in july 2010 the first issue of life with archie was launched . the series featured two different storylines exploring two possible futures a world where archie marries betty and a world where he marries veronica . the series also incorporated more contemporary themes including death marriage woes same sex marriage cancer financial problems and gun control . 24 kevin keller the first gay character in archie comics history debuted in veronica 202 in september 2010 . 25 the character