“By 1965, the superhero revival in American comic books was in full swing, and even the funny guys were starting to get into the act,” noted comics historian Don Markstein. “That was the year Goofy became Super Goof, Herbie became The Fat Fury, and Archie became Pureheart the Powerful.”
Archie Andrews became the caped do-gooder Pureheart the Powerful in Life with Archie 42 in October 1965. That same month, Betty Cooper debuted as Superteen in Archie’s Girls Betty and Veronica 118.
Pureheart activated his powers by sheer positive-thinking mental effort, but lost them when lust tripped him up. Betty became Superteen with a magical twist of her ponytail, making the welfare of Archie her special mission.
“Who came up with this stuff? Fantastic Frank Doyle, that’s who, one of Archie’s most prolific writers and the company’s chief scribe for decades,” noted Michael Eury in Hero-A-Go-Go. “Doyle never altered their personalities — Archie still acted like Archie, whether he was flapping his cape or making a spy cry uncle. Archie artists Bob White and Bill Vigoda were the main pencilers of the Pureheart the Powerful and Man from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E. features, while Don DeCarlo penciled the two Superteen stories in Betty and Veronica.”
Betty did double duty as the Girl from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E. in Life with Archie. “Between these two hero-vs.-villain genres, there seemed to be no end of threats to the previously Norman Rockwellian suburban landscape of Riverdale,” Eury observed. “Supervillains were in high supply, some of them leaping the fence between the Pureheart and R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E. stories.”
Pureheart, Superteen, Captain Hero (i.e., Jughead) and the Jaguar all zoomed around with the aid of belt rockets. They left the business of flying with no visible means of support to Superman, Supergirl and Krypto.
Betty’s amazing exploits were short but sweet.
“Pureheart the Powerful/Captain Pureheart lasted six issues, exactly as long as Superteen’s tenure in Betty & Me,” Markstein noted. “Little Pureheart made only three appearances, the last in Little Archie 44. Evilheart was out of Reggie’s comic after five. Jughead as Captain Hero bucked the trend by hanging on for seven issues, but it too was gone as of November 1967, and the entire ‘Pureheart’ scenario became a fond memory for fans of superhero comics.”
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