§ March 14th, 2005 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on

Archie’s T.V. Laugh-Out #100 (April 1985) – art by Dan DeCarlo


Thought maybe you all would like to see Archie Comics’ tribute to the King of Pop – by whom I mean Michael Jackson, not Glenn Scarpelli (whom I’ll discuss in a moment). The lead story revolves around the Archie gang encountering “Jackie Maxon,” a Jackson-a-like who shares Jackson’s love for animals:


At any rate, as Jackie is thanking the Archies for performing as the opening band at his show, he accidentally drops and leaves behind what appears to be his private diary, which, apparently just like the real Michael Jackson, he carries with him everywhere. Eager to keep this journal from falling into the wrong hands (i.e. “Ed Sleaze,” a tabloid muckracker), the gang treks to Maxon’s spacious estate to return the book. After a series of misadventures, they finally reach Maxon…who reveals that it’s not a diary, but a book of “special food formulas for the different animals” in his zoo!

The second story stars Glenn Scarpelli, one of the stars of the sitcom One Day at a Time. If that seems like an odd person to be featured in an Archie comic, all becomes clear once you realize he’s the son of longtime Archie cartoonist Henry Scarpelli. And yes, Henry is responsible for this story, where Glenn’s car has broken down and he has to hitch a ride:


Fleeing from these girl groupies (uh…what?), Glenn finds himself lost in the forest, facing off against a bear, and finally, after hiking through the woods all night, happens upon a remote gas station. Unfortunately, the attendant doesn’t believe that this disheveled mess could possibly be the real Glenn Scarpelli:


Poor Glenn is stuck in a nightmare, where no one recognizes him! Not the attendant, not the dad ‘n’ daughter who take pity on him and give him a ride, not even his faithful butler Otto whom he manages to call with the quarter the gas attendant gave him. Luckily, it turns out that it really was a nightmare, as Glenn wakes in his own bed, back in a world where everyone recognizes him as the famous Glenn Scarpelli.

Anyway, inspired by something pal JP mentioned to me as we were talking about this comic a couple days ago, I did a Google search on Mr. Scarpelli. Of course, there’s the inevitable Internet Movie Database entry, and here’s an article from last year about Mr. Scarpelli’s latest TV project.

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