Wilbur Comics #5
Wilbur Comics #5 (Summer 1945) is the birthplace of Katy Keene, one of Archie Comics' most enduring and distinctive characters. Bill Woggon's debut feature introduced an entirely new mode of comics storytelling — a fashion-and-pin-up strip in which readers were invited to submit outfit designs that would be drawn and credited in subsequent issues, pioneering a participatory relationship between audience and creator that was genuinely novel for the medium. The issue also marks the first appearance of Sis (Katy's mischievous younger sister), whose scheming antics in that debut story set the comedic dynamic the strip would rely on for years. That a back-up tryout in a teen-humor anthology would grow into its own long-running title, multiple spin-off series, a fanzine movement, and eventually a live-action television series speaks to how much creative ground Woggon broke in these six pages.
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Bill Woggon — a commercial artist who had previously assisted his brother Elmer on the newspaper strip Big Chief Wahoo — pitched the Katy Keene concept to MLJ Magazines as a tryout feature, and the publisher slotted it into Wilbur Comics, one of several teen-humor anthology titles in the MLJ/early Archie line. Woggon drew inspiration from the wartime popularity of pin-up illustration, but his innovation was to make the fashion itself interactive: readers could submit clothing and accessory designs, which Woggon would redraw and publish with the contributor's credit. The issue appeared under the MLJ Magazines imprint (the title would not switch to the Archie imprint until issue #8), and the cover for this issue was by regular Wilbur artist Bill Vigoda, with interior Wilbur stories penciled by Vigoda and inked by Terry Woik Szenics — while the Katy Keene feature was entirely Woggon's work.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Katy Keene, created by Bill Woggon — debuting in a six-page story titled 'Introducing Katy Keene,' in which Katy and Sis go to the beach and encounter men in uniform.
- First appearance of Sis (Katy's younger, red-haired sister), who in the original Woggon run was a mischievous child known only as 'Sis, the Candy Kid' — her comedic scheming anchors the debut story.
- The issue went on sale June 7, 1945, under the MLJ Magazines imprint; the table of contents misspelled the character's name as 'Katy Kean,' indicating the feature was treated as a minor tryout rather than a marquee debut.
- Wilbur Comics was an anthology title featuring Wilbur Wilkin — a teen contemporary of Archie whose regular supporting cast (Linda Moore, Red Wilson) also appear in this issue — published from 1944 to 1965 and running 90 issues.
- Wilbur Wilkin himself predates Archie Andrews, having debuted in Zip Comics #18 (September 1941) — three months before Archie's first appearance — making Wilbur Comics #5 part of the foundational layer of the MLJ/Archie universe.
- Katy Keene's interactive fan-submission format — readers sending in fashion designs that Woggon would draw and credit — was a defining innovation; alumni of this model include fashion designers Anna Sui and Betsey Johnson.
- Katy's popularity as a back-up feature led directly to her own solo title, Katy Keene Comics #1, launching in Spring 1949 and running 62 issues through July 1961, accompanied by spin-offs including Katy Keene Pin-Up Parade and Katy Keene Fashion Book Magazine.
- The character has been revived multiple times: a 33-issue run from 1983–1990 (mixing Woggon reprints with new art by Dan DeCarlo and others), a 2005 Free Comic Book Day relaunch, a 2020 New Riverdale miniseries, and a one-season CW television series (2020) starring Lucy Hale.
Cast · 5 characters
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Wilbur convinces his dad to store the car at home rather than take it someplace for dead storage.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).