Another Humorama mainstay was Dan DeCarlo, best remembered for his prodigious 40-year career drawing and shaping the look of Archie Comics. DeCarlo was also responsible for creating some of the sexiest cartoon women ever to grace the pages of Goodman’s Humorama titles.
Daniel Santos DeCarlo attended New Rochelle High School, New York before heading to Manhattan’s Art Students League in 1938. Three years later he was drafted into the army and stationed in the U.K., where he worked in the motor pool and painted company mascots on the noses of airplanes, echoing the work of pin-up artist Alberto Vargas.
DeCarlo met his future wife, Josie Dumont, in Belgium after the Battle of the Bulge, and the two returned to the States after the war. DeCarlo struggled to find work cartooning and ended up hanging storm windows for a living. Tensions between Josie and the artist mounted and the homesick mother of two returned to France with their twin boys Dan Jr. and James.
In 1947, one of DeCarlo’s sisters pointed out an advertisement stating that Timely Comics (later Marvel) were looking for artists. Dan went along, despite wanting to work in magazine illustration, and editor Stan Lee gave him a job on the spot. DeCarlo was paid $75 a week on staff and Josie returned with the boys.
DeCarlo drew many sexy strips for Timely including Jeanie, Millie the Model, Sherry the Showgirl, and My Girl Pearl. He was incredibly fast and managed to squeeze in work for Archie Comics and other publishers.
It was Stan Lee who finally got DeCarlo into the “gags ’n’ girls” market when he introduced the artist to an editor at Humorama (Timely’s sister imprint)—for a 10% fee from any work that resulted, of course!
“It won’t do any good to call your mother—I forgot to pay the phone bill this month!”
Sherry The Showgirl #2 (1956), one of the many covers that DeCarlo drew for Marvel Comics.
DeCarlo often reworked gags for different magazines. Here, the door sign has been clearly altered from “Peace Corp. Recruiting Office” to “Speach Corp. Office.” This was probably done in the Humorama production offices. The caption reads: “I’m leaving my job because I was told to do something I didn’t like—I was told to look for another job.” The cartoon originally appeared in Romp, and then Laugh Digest.
DeCarlo produced between five and 10 cartoons a month, on top of his regular comic work, yet the quality never wavered. DeCarlo signed his art DSD (his initials) to differentiate his work, but his style was so distinctive it was pretty obvious that this was the same man who drew the more innocent Archie titles.
DeCarlo’s women looked like they could suck the chrome off a bumper, yet butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths. He managed to draw completely naked strippers bumping and grinding, and they still looked like you could take them home to meet mom.
Unlike many of his colleagues, DeCarlo stayed with his strong, delineated black outlines—even when adding gray wash tones— rather than forsaking them for the softer, full-color watercolors that Jack Cole and Bill Wenzel would eventually adopt.
When Humorama’s sales started falling toward the end of the 1950s, DeCarlo moved onto the more wholesome Archie titles and helped define the adolescent’s wet dream fantasy with the two Riverdale honeys—Betty and Veronica—as well as Josie and The Pussycats. As wife Josie explained, “We went on a Caribbean cruise, and I had a [cat] costume for the cruise. That’s the way it started.”
When a film version of Josie and the Pussycats was planned, DeCarlo fought for recognition and remuneration for creating the characters. Despicably, Archie Comics fired DeCarlo in May 2000, after 40 years of service, and the battle obviously took its toll on the artist. The movie was released in August 2001 and Dan DeCarlo died four months later.
DeCarlo’s legacy lives on in his twin sons, Dan Jr. and James, who also worked for Archie Comics. Their father’s work has continued to inspire countless creators, including Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, and Jaime Hernandez.
“What do you mean you’re not wearing a costume?!” Note the (unintentional?) phallic nose on the tramp. The original caption read: “Let’s go back to my place and slip out of these costumes!”
“Oh I wouldn’t mind marrying him—but as a date, he’s a terrible bore!” DeCarlo’s women always wore the latest fashions.
