Dan DeCarlo is best remembered for his work on Archie Comics, but he played a significant role in 1950s Marvel like Millie the Model as well.
Legendary comic book artist Dan DeCarlo is best remembered for a style that came to define the look of Archie Comics by the end of the 1950s, but he made significant and earlier contributions at Marvel as well. The artist’s sweet, funny, and polished style of drawing beautiful women in humorous situations for Marvel titles like Millie the Model and My Friend Irma earned him a noteworthy role in the publisher’s female character-centric humor titles throughout the 1950s. Along with the iconic style that to this day informs the way we think of Archie, Betty, Veronica, and the rest of the Riverdale gang, DeCarlo is also remembered as the creator of characters like Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Josie and the Pussycats and Cheryl Blossom. But his impact on 1950s Marvel is also undeniable, particularly on the character who is likely the publisher’s most famous name outside of its superhero universe: Millie Collins, better known as Millie the Model.
After World War II, DeCarlo tried his hand at contributing cartoons to magazines and joke books without much success. In 1949, a fellow cartoonist told him there was more money in comic books. “I went to Marvel on my lunch hour,” he told Cartoonist Profiles in 1971. “I got a job with them. Inside of one week my income jumped from $100 a month to $75 a week. I couldn’t believe I was making all this money.”
His earliest contributions at Marvel/Atlas include work on Millie the Model Comics and Venus for issues cover-dated April 1949. Throughout that year, DeCarlo continued to contribute to various titles, including Lana Comics, Joker Comics, Gay Comics, and Tessie the Typist Comics. Per GCD data, he began getting cover assignments after just three months, with Millie the Model #18 and Gay Comics #39 among his earliest covers for the publisher. By the end of 1949, DeCarlo had contributed material to nine different issues for Marvel.
This pace would quickly increase through the early 1950s, with his Marvel output peaking in 1952 and 1953, where he contributed to 24 issues each year, per GCD data. He became a regular contributor to the Millie the Model Comics series, with his work featured on the covers of up to 61 of the 63 issues he contributed to. DeCarlo’s art became a defining characteristic of the series, helping to shape its visual identity and charm.
In addition to Millie the Model Comics, DeCarlo also contributed significantly to other Marvel series such as My Friend Irma, Homer the Happy Ghost, and A Date with Millie. Throughout the 1950s, DeCarlo’s cover art could be seen on 42 issues of My Friend Irma, 18 issues of Homer the Happy Ghost, and 16 issues of A Date with Millie. Over the course of the decade, he also lent his artistic talents to several other Marvel titles, including Hedy of Hollywood Comics, My Girl Pearl, Georgie Comics, Sherry the Showgirl, and Showgirls. While his contributions to these series may not have been as extensive as those mentioned earlier, his work on these titles further solidified his status as a key artist on Marvel’s humor titles during this period.
Along the way at Marvel, DeCarlo and Stan Lee created the short-lived comic strip Willie Lumpkin. DeCarlo also contributed to the popular Adventures of Big Boy promotional comic book, which Marvel produced for the Bob’s restaurant chain. And leaning into his classic pin-up girl style, he drew one-page gags for Martin Goodman‘s Humorama cartoon pin-up girl digests.
By 1959, DeCarlo’s contributions at Marvel had decreased considerably. While he had maintained steady stream of Archie Comics work through much of the mid-1950s, his volume there increased significantly beginning in late 1958. But Dan DeCarlo’s work at 1950s Marvel had an underappreciated impact on the humor titles of that period and far beyond, and can certainly be seen as helping him develop the style that is now famous via his Archie Comics work. His 1950s run on Millie the Model Comics in particular is underappreciated for its role in shaping a beloved Marvel character. There are several issues featuring the beautiful, whimsical, and hilarious artwork of Dan DeCarlo’s work on Millie the Model Comics in the 2023 April 20 Timeless Good Girl Art Comics Featuring Dan DeCarlo Showcase Auction #40221 at Heritage Auctions.
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