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by
Mark Arnold
If you’ve read The Best of The Harveyville Fun Times! (2006) or Harvey Comics Classics, Volume 2: Richie Rich (2007), you would have discovered that Richie Rich was created as a backup feature in 1953 for a new title that Harvey Comics was debuting, Little Dot. Richie appeared in a simple five-page backup story called “The Dancing Lesson,” and from that first appearance it would have been difficult to predict that Richie would have become one of Harvey’s best-known and best-loved characters, rivaling its own Casper, the friendly ghost, in popularity. The growth of Richie Rich as a property was a very slow one. He appeared in backup stories in both Little Dot and Little Lotta throughout the 1950s and had two separate tryout issues as part of the Harvey Hits series before finally landing his own series in 1960. Most of these stories were simple five-page affairs that usually concerned the Rich family’s abundance and abuse of wealth in gags featuring the dollar sign ($) as a punch line. Richie’s friends were few, and the hired help in the Rich mansion were referred to by anonymous or generic names such as “Jarvis” or “Jeeves.” As the Richie universe expanded, so did the number of characters, and the number of titles. During the 1960s, a few giant-sized issues were added to the line: Richie Rich Millions, Richie Rich Dollars and Cents, and Richie Rich Success Stories. Most featured reprints of earlier stories, but “Success” went out on its own with new stories, many with expanded length, featuring tales of international intrigue similar in vein to Hergé’s Tintin, of which prominent Richie Rich artist Ernie Colón was a fan. Although Colón wasn’t the only Richie artist, he was the one who helped solidify Richie as an adventure hero. Many of the other Richie artists included animator Steve Muffatti, Harvey premier artist Warren Kremer, Ben Brown, Dom Sileo, Sid Couchey, and Howard Bender, among others.
Everything’s Rosie with This Robot Maid Richie Rich’s steel servant. © 2009 Harvey Entertainment.
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Meanwhile, the Rich family staff members were made more concrete and consistent. Added to the cast were Cadbury, the perfect butler; Bascomb, the chauffeur; Mr. Cheepers, the cash custodian; Nurse Jenny; Mr. Woody, the repairman; and Professor Keenbean, head of the Rich Laboratories. Keenbean would and could create literally anything and as such, it was only natural that the Rich family wouldn’t just have any old maid, but literally a robot maid! Christened “Irona,” she made her debut in Richie Rich #100 (Feb. 1970). Strangely, Irona made her debut five years before Keenbean’s, which was in Richie Rich #137 (Dec. 1975), so no mention was ever made of who created Irona in the stories. She just was. In real life, Ernie Colón reveals that it was Harvey writer Lenny Herman who created Irona and Keenbean because “Lenny, Sid [Jacobson, longtime Harvey editor], and I felt Richie needed more characters around him. I always held Peanuts up as a model—an ordinary boy surrounded by extraordinary characters.” Irona’s design changed a bit before settling on the final version. In the earliest Irona stories, her design changed a few times before settling in on the standard design of a silver robot with a black maid outfit. One version even has her gold! The initial version had pictured her as a silver robot sans clothing! (You can see that version in the aforementioned Harvey Comics Classics book or in Richie Rich #100.) When asked whether he was told how to draw the character or had free rein, Colón responds, “I was given a free hand in her design.” Although Colón worked on the design, he did not create the final model sheets for Irona or any of the other characters. “Warren was the only one who did model sheets,” he says. “No one paid any attention to them, but me. Howie Post was in his own alternate universe— a very funny one. His Hot Stuff was the best. Ben Brown didn’t have the talent or the interest. He was a ‘serious’ painter and barely condescended to draw the Harvey characters.” It was only a matter of time after a number of Irona and Keenbean appearances that a title featuring the exploits of the Rich Laboratories would make its way to its own title with Richie Rich Inventions (1977–1982). “Again, Lenny, he created Professor Keenbean,” says Colón. “Lenny also created Chef Pierre and Dollar the Dollarmatian. Len was very creative and very funny. He used to make the Wednesday rounds with all the other gag cartoonists in the magazine heyday. When they folded, he still made a living selling gags to esoteric publishers—Farmer’s Guide to Good