Beloved fans of Archie Comics all know the main character, Archie, but his first appearance revealed that he never really liked the name Archie (he hates it actually) and asked readers to call him “Chick” instead. Archie despised his name so much that he threatened to beat anyone up who calls him Archie. Fans were, understandably, left scratching their heads after seeing a post of one of the pages from Pep Comics #22 on Twitter last week. For as long as they could remember, Archie was just Archie.
As an enduring pop-culture icon, Archie Comics is one of the most well-known comic series in history. Archie is so recognizable that even non-comics fans likely know of him. More recently, CW’s show based on the comic, Riverdale, has exploded in popularity. Despite this, Archie wasn’t really even the main character of his origin comic at first. 1940's Pep Comics #1 by Harry Shorten and Irv Novick introduced The Shield, a superhero who sported a patriotic red, white, and blue costume long before Captain America who would debut a year later. It’s said that The Shield was created as a way to boost American morale and patriotism before the United States entered World War II. Archie and his friends Betty and Jughead were all introduced in Pep Comics #22, while Veronica didn’t show up until Pep Comics #26. But the teen friends became so popular that Pep Comic's original publisher, MLJ, evolved to become Archie Comics Publications, Inc. So, with Archie having been known as Archie for so many years (in fact, 2021 is Archie’s 80th anniversary) it’s hard to understand why he had ever wanted to be known by any other name.
A post on Twitter shows a page from Pep Comics #22 where Archie is introduced to the world, the first caption’s second sentence says, “He hates Archie, so if you value life and limb, call him ‘Chick.’” Readers see Archie trying to impress his pretty, blonde neighbor Betty Cooper by standing on a bicycle seat. Not long after, he officially introduces himself as Archie, but he immediately directs her to call him “Chick.” According to fans, the nickname “Chick” doesn’t seem to catch on in the following issues, and some suggest an editorial dispute as the reason. Others guess that the name “Chick” never really left. Charles Cooper, Betty’s older brother’s nickname, “Chic” appears to be just a truncated version of the name and seemingly pays homage to Archie’s old name.
It seems that fans will never really get to know why Archie wanted to be called “Chick” in the first place. His affinity for the nickname could simply be a product of the time period. One commenter noted that the name “Chick” was pretty popular back in the 1940s. In fact, Archie was born in the Golden Age of Comics (which lasted from 1938 to 1955), a time where comics started to introduce superheroes. In the midst of that superhero content, maybe fans wanted someone to connect with and that person was Archie. It’s likely this small-town teen just seemed to resonate with readers.
If the name “Chick” was so popular back then, maybe it was just nice to see a fictional Chick in your favorite comics. But, honestly, it seems like readers will never really know why Archie liked the name Chick—so much that he'd kill for it. Fans will just have to continue to wonder.
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