That Wilkin Boy

The other day I was on Wikipedia trolling through the list of Archie Comics characters when I came upon the description of a comic published by Archie titled "That Wilkin Boy". Something in the description of the title character's girlfriend caught my eye right away.

Her name is Samantha Smythe, and she is described as " a vivacious squash-blonde-haired 17-year-old" and also as "Bingo's steady girlfriend". The next part is what really got my attention. It read: "Due to the influence of her father, she has built up her strength to the point where she is stronger than Bingo (a fact often humorously referenced in the comics)."

Whoa! I read a lot of Archie comics during the era when "That Wilkin Boy" was being published. How did I miss this?

The next day I went down to my local comic shop and picked up a copy of TWB #6. There is one brief reference to Samantha's strength in one of the stories. In the story, Bingo picks up a package for Samantha, but it's so heavy that Bingo and his father together can barely carrying it. In the last panel, Samantha lifts the package and carries it off with one hand.

ANYWAY, what I'd like to know is, does anyone know if there are any issues of TWB in which Samantha's superior strength is the major focus of a story. I figure that there must be a story in one of the first few issues in which her superior strength is established. Does anyone out there know? Any help would be great appreciated.

In fact, if anyone knows of any comic book stories that feature very strong attractive girls showing up men in humorous ways, I'd love to know about them --Little Lotta notwithstanding.

I don't recall this series either, but your post prompted me to check it out at the Grand Comics Database (www.comics.org). Most of the 52 issues are catalogued in detail, with story synopses, author and artist credits, etc.

Bingo's chronic embarrassment over his girl-friend's superior strength appears to be a recurring theme. These stories might be up your alley:

Issue #2: "Bingo is depressed because Samantha is so much stronger than he is ... "

Issue # 15: "Samantha uses her martial arts skills to protect Bingo from a bully ... "

Issue #21: "Bingo decides that he's breaking up with Samantha because he can't bear the shame of everyone knowing she's stronger than he is."

Issue #31: "Bingo is depressed [ again! ] because Samantha is so much stronger than he is ... "

Issue #32: "Tired of going with a girl as freakishly strong as Samantha, Bingo threatens to dump her ... "

Issue #36: "Samantha tries to help Bingo get over his inferiority complex about his lack of strength ... "

I'll have to see if any of these are in the back-issue boxes at my local comic-book store.

A fun find. Thanks for bringing this to our attention!