Bill Golliher talks about Archie
Archie: Were you an Archie fan growing up?
Bill Golliher: Yes. My sister was the Archie fan first, she is three years older than me, and I became familiar with Archie by reading her comic books.
Archie: What attracted you to the Archies?
Bill Golliher: I would say the humor in the stories and the artwork. I would spend hours redrawing images from the comics. Also, the Archie cartoons and music really helped to bring the characters to life for me.
Archie: You graduated from the Joe Kubert School, what do they teach writers about comedy?
Bill Golliher: I would say the Joe Kubert School basically concentrates on art but the faculty would compliment good comic storytelling when they saw it and critique bad storytelling if they thought there was a problem. As far as comedy there was a humor class but it basically concentrated more on humorous spot illustrations. My first year lettering teacher at the school was Hy Eisman, who was at the time penciling for Archie. I did a few Archie pages which he critiqued for me and offered improvements on.
Archie: How did you join Archie Comics?
Bill Golliher: In my third year at Joe Kubert School Victor Gorelick, the Archie Managing Editor, came in to review portfolios. I had done some Archie pages to show him which he critiqued. I really wanted to work with Archie, so I made the changes Victor suggested and wrote up a script and went to the office to show my pages to him again. He was great and offered some changes on the script which I did, and he bought the story. I still remember the name of my first story "It Came From the Cafeteria." It was a story about how some of Ms. Beazley's rank leftovers came to life and wreaked havoc in the school. Stan Goldberg penciled it. Soon I was writing more stories for Archie and even penciling, which had been my dream.
Archie: What are the elements of a good Archie story?
Bill Golliher: I would say the element of a good Archie story or any story is conflict. There has to be something a situation, or a miscommunication that gets things moving. It works especially well if this incident is something you can continue to build on to make a story wackier and wackier. All the classic old Archie stories I remember always start out with a simple premise and wind up getting out of control by the end.
Archie: Where do you get inspiration for your stories?
Bill Golliher: I get many of my ideas from real life. I remember one time complaining that the holes in my favorite donuts were getting larger and the price was staying the same. That means less donut for the money. Well, it turned into the perfect Jughead story. He began to picket his favorite donut establishment when the same thing happened to him. I also get story ideas from current events and pop culture. I also have three children of my own, so they are a constant source of inspiration.
Archie: You were part of one of Archie's most popular stories “The Love Showdown”. How did that story come about?
Bill Golliher: There were a lot of big things going on in comics at the time to sell books. Superman died, and I think the Marvel universe had a shake up. They would print the books with different covers and collectors would snap them up. We all got together in Richard Goldwater's office one day to talk about what Archie could do to join in on the fray. Dan Parent had always been a big Cheryl Blossom fan from her introduction in the 1980's and subsequent disappearance. We talked it over and decided that bringing her back would be the way to go and have her break up the love triangle that the whole Archie series is built on for a while. I think it did the trick.
Archie: You have been with Archie Comics for about 20 years. How have the stories changed over the years?
Bill Golliher: I think Archie has been pretty constant. I think the stories still strive to represent an upright moral character while delivering first rate humor at the same time. I think comedy is pretty timeless. "I Love Lucy" and "The 3 Stooges" still crack me up. The fashions change and so does the jargon, but I think funny is forever.
Archie: Have you had to adjust your writing style to accommodate this generation's abundance of gadgets?
Bill Golliher: Yes, but that just gives us more story ideas to work with. Cell phones, I-pods, Wi-Fi, computers, and video games all make life more interesting. Although one problem is that today's instant communication with cell phones and IM-ing can make some plotlines a little harder to be plausible since miscommunication is always a good fodder for a story.
Archie: You have written stories with all of the kids from Riverdale. Which kids are the most fun to write?
Bill Golliher: Jughead has always been my favorite character to write for. I think it might be because we have some things in common and his personality can lend to some pretty funny situations. He's also the only one who can get away with giving it back to Veronica which makes for some fun character interaction.
