Multiversity’s history column returns with three new items plucked from the annals of the comic industry. First, discover the sensation that was Richie Rich. Next, imagine the excitement of a recorded message telling you about upcoming comics! Finally, visit a museum!
November 1960
The character of Richie Rich, the poor little rich boy, debuted as a backup feature in “Little Dot” #1 in 1953, as part of Harvey Comics’ successful humor line for children. There was no fanfare around this first appearance, and he continued to be a minor supporting character who didn’t even rate a cover appearance until 1957, when he appeared as the main feature of the third issue in the anthology “Harvey Hits.” He received a second try-out issue a year in issue nine in 1958, which was a collection of reprints.
It wasn’t until November 1960 that Harvey dedicated a title to him, “Richie Rich” #1. Even then, he was overshadowed by Harvey’s other new title and bigger hit, “Sad Sack.” Richie was popular enough for a 64-page special reprint spin-off in 1961 with the title “Richie Rich Millions” #1. The second issue came out a year later, but it was monthly after that. In 1964, the 25-cent “Richie Rich Success Stories” was the only new kid comic from Harvey, who was building up its “Sad Sack” family of titles as the Vietnam war built interest stories about soldiers, including the goof Sad Sack.
Richie Rich came into his own in the 1970s, securing his position as Harvey’s most popular character. Between August and November 1974, the publisher launched seven new ongoing Richie titles. It seemed kids couldn’t get enough of him, and there were so many spin-off titles that in one particular 60-day period, 32 different Richie Rich books went on sale. That number doesn’t include previous releases that newsstand retailers hadn’t taken down yet, and it would have been higher if schedules had aligned better – counting books with a less-than-bi-monthly schedule, there were 38 Richie Rich comics being published at one time.
Unfortunately, the success of Richie Rich wasn’t enough to buoy Harvey comics forever in a declining newsstand market. In 1981, the company canceled everything that wasn’t Richie Rich or Hot Stuff, then limped along for another twelve months before closing shop entirely in 1982. This left a void in the comics market that Marvel tried to fill in 1985. When Harvey tried for a resurgence in 1986, it was with a “Richie Rich” digest meant for supermarket checkout lanes.
November 1, 1976
In the Fall of 1976, DC hired Mike Gold as their first public relations representative. His job was to promote new projects, creators, and formats to both mainstream press and fan press. He was also their point of contact to confirm or deny unofficial rumors.
As part of his outreach, DC created a toll-free telephone service offering a prerecorded message that was changed weekly. It went live on November 1, 1976. The line was often overwhelmed in the hour or two after school let out, and fans heard a busy signal more often than they heard the message. Although redialing could be punishing in the era of rotary phones, many readers felt it was worth it to (maybe) hear their favorite creator’s voice.
In the first month, the hotline was successfully dialed 24,000 times. It grew in popularity, hitting and surpassing its intended load of 60,000 calls per month. By March 1977, it was receiving over 88,000 calls and a second line had to be installed. When the two lines exceeded the 100,000 call-per-month mark in August 1977, it had to be discontinued because it was beyond the phone company’s technical capacity.
November 2018
When Steve Geppi decided to close down the Geppi Entertainment Museum after 12 years of using it to display his personal collection of memorabilia, he wanted to find a way to keep it available to the public. In May 2018, he donated over 3,000 pieces to the Library of Congress, which already had extensive collection of comic books and was fully capable of preserving the items while also keeping them available to the public.
To celebrate the multi-million dollar gift, the library ran a special display of the pieces from November 6, 2018 to February 11, 2019. If you missed that event window, you can still enjoy the exhibit virtually.
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