Curly Neal

Curly Neal, the real-life Harlem Globetrotters basketball star, crossed into comics when he and fellow Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon visited Riverdale, bringing their signature court wizardry into the world of Archie Andrews and friends.

A real-world basketball legend stepping into the sunny, small-town world of Riverdale, Curly Neal made his comics debut in Archie #204 in 1970 — a Silver Age crossover that brought the Harlem Globetrotters' magic to Archie Comics pages. Created by the classic team of Frank Doyle and Harry Lucey, he turns up alongside the likes of Archie Andrews, Jughead Jones, and fellow Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon, making for some wonderfully spirited company. His handful of appearances across flagship Archie titles make him a genuinely fun piece of pop-culture history — a snapshot of that breezy early-'70s era when Riverdale opened its doors to the wider world.