Posted above is an Archie daily comic strip that once graced my collection, but was passed on to a friend on his birthday. Archie has a special significance to me as one of my first professional jobs in animation was storyboarding interstitials for Filmation’s Archie cartoons. I’ve always had a fondness for Bob Montana’s creation.

Bob Montana, born Robert William Montana on October 23, 1920, in Stockton, California, was a renowned American comic strip artist. He created the original characters of Archie Comics and the Archie newspaper strip. Montana’s life was steeped in the performing arts from the beginning, as he was born to a vaudeville family, which included his mother Roberta Pandolfini Montana and his father Ray Montana  .

Montana’s education included time at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (1932-1933), the Phoenix Art Institute of Chicago (1943), and the Art Student’s League in New York City (1946). Despite describing himself as an “art school dropout,” Montana’s artistic talents led him to create the syndicated comic strip “Archie” in 1942. He drew the first Archie comic book in a rented cottage on Lake Waukewan in Meredith, New Hampshire. Over the years, Montana incorporated landmarks and personalities from the Lakes Region and his high school friends and surroundings in Haverhill, Massachusetts, into the comics  .

In addition to his creative work, Montana held the position of Vice President at both Village Gallery, Inc. (1966-1975) and Archie Comic Publications, Inc. (1965-1975). His dedication to the Archie comic strip was profound, as he continued to draw the newspaper strip from its inception until his untimely death at age 54 on January 4, 1975, due to a heart attack while cross-country skiing  .