Very sad news for the world of comic strips and books; Tom Moore, one of the artists behind the iconic Archie comic characters, has passed away at the age of 86. Moore worked for the comics company from 1953 to 1988 with only a brief gap in the ’60s where he did mostly one-page gags and inking. He also was an illustrator on Mighty Mouse and Underdog.
Moore’s cartooning career began during the Korean War where he did caricatures of his captain and later created the strip Chick Call which was circulated among American armed forces and in military publications. He was later, in the ’80s, brought in to reboot the Jughead series, which featured the exploits of Archie’s best friend and connoisseur of obscure hats (probably someone who’d ask Paul F. Tompkins for a “King Hat”).
Retraction
In an earlier version of this article, we quoted other publications which insinuated Moore was the artist whose artistic style shaped the Archie books and the characters during that period. This, we’ve learned, was not the case. Quite a few artists worked on Archie Comics at the time including Harry Lucey, Dan DeCarlo, Samm Schwartz, Stan Goldberg, and more. Moore’s work was invaluable to the company but was not the only drawing style that made the comics the indelible trademark they are. We apologize for any misleading our relaying of this incorrect information may have done.
IMAGE: The El Paso Times vÃa AP
HT: EW
