In 1962, DeCarlo was both the lead Archie Comics artist and a favorite cartoonist for risque humor magazines. The two jobs nearly collided when he did this piece for Archie based on a joke he frequently did in his other job (Thanks to John S. Lucas for this insight). What he originally drew and what Archie published differed. I have examined the original (the full version as published goes under the name “Betty Grail Surprise” in my gallery and also appears on My Lowry) under backlight, under a magnifying glass and have produced this reconstruction of what he actually drew before the censors got their hands on it. To your left is Betty as she appeared in the published version.

The tush cleavage, the shading under Betty’s left cheek and the line showing the right cheek extending below the bottom of her bikini panties are all actual lines plainly visible on close examination. The line showing the extra bit of cheek under the panties is not a simple line or an extension of Betty’s nether cleavage, but actually begins as shown just under the bikini bottom and has an angle on top end and three short rays at the opposite end, details too small to ever reproduce in a comic. This shows that DeCarlo put more effort into this than could be justified by anything other than his love for doing it.

Betty’s original bust line was erased to the point where the board is shaved. However, magnified examination reveals the remnants of a line corresponding to the one you see here. Although this might be an artifact of the erasure, it is consistent with the rest of the lines and with the original bottom of the bra which is also clearly visible. When he reduced the breast, he also raised the bra so that it stayed in proportion. The bust line I show is the absolute smallest Betty’s chest could have been originally.

Different ink, interference with preexisting lines, etc, there is no question whatsoever that the zebra striping was added later and that Betty’s bikini bottom was raised a lot. As to which of the zebra lines was the original bikini top; only the one I chose and the one below it make sense (email me, if you want a full explanation) and the lower one leaves Betty with plumber’s crack, very unlikely. Additionally, at least from the left edge to the arm, the line chosen is distinguishable from the rest of the stripe. This is also consistent with the amount of fabric DeCarlo depicted as being in bikini bottoms in other Archie pictures.

The triangle at the small of the back is obviously hiding something but I can only make an educated guess as to exactly what. I tried out various possibilities and settled for what you see, a line at the base of the spine showing the transition between Betty’s back and Betty’s tush.

There are other lines (in the pony tail, behind the arm, etc. that have been whitened out, but none of them make the picture any less risqué and I presume that DeCarlo took them out himself because they detracted from the picture.

At last, Betty as DeCarlo intended. I welcome your comments.

Social/Sharing