Betty and Me #16
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeBetty and Me #16 is one of the most recognizable covers in Archie Comics history, a Dan DeCarlo double-entendre gag that sailed through the Comics Code Authority unchallenged in September 1968 and has since become a touchstone example of how visual wordplay could sneak adult humor into all-ages comics. The issue also features an appearance by Betty Cooper in her superhero persona Superteen, a product of the mid-1960s superhero boom that gave the entire Riverdale cast costumed alter-egos. Decades after publication, Archie Comics selected this issue to launch its inaugural Facsimile Edition reprint program in 2024, a distinction that signals how deeply the cover has embedded itself in the publisher's cultural identity. Taken together, the cover's comedic notoriety and the Superteen subplot make this a genuinely representative Silver Age artifact — funny, self-aware, and emblematic of the era's experimental energy.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The issue was produced by the core creative team that defined mid-period Archie: writer Frank Doyle, penciler Dan DeCarlo, and inker Rudy Lapick handled the main stories, while cartoonist Joe Edwards contributed backup features including a Lil' Jinx one-pager. DeCarlo, already the studio's premier cover artist, drew the now-famous cover gag, and the Comics Code Authority stamp of approval appeared on the finished issue without objection — an editorial oversight that collectors and historians have pointed to ever since as a small but telling illustration of the Code's limitations. The Betty and Me series itself had launched in August 1965 as a vehicle spotlighting Betty Cooper, and by issue #16 it had settled into the anthology format of short humor stories that characterized Archie's Silver Age output.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published September 1968 by Archie Publications; cover price 12 cents; 32 pages, full color.
- Cover penciled and designed by Dan DeCarlo — a visual double-entendre that passed Comics Code Authority review without alteration.
- Interior stories written by Frank Doyle and Joe Edwards, with art by Dan DeCarlo, Rudy Lapick, and Joe Edwards; lettering by Bill Yoshida on credited stories.
- Story contents include 'The Dating Game' and 'In Hot Water' (both by Doyle/DeCarlo/Lapick), plus backup features including 'Wrong Numbers' (a Lil' Jinx strip by Joe Edwards).
- Betty Cooper appears in her Superteen superhero persona — an alter ego introduced during the mid-1960s superhero craze that also gave Archie the Pureheart the Powerful identity, Jughead the Captain Hero identity, and Reggie the Evilheart identity.
- Characters appearing in the issue include Betty Cooper, Archie Andrews, Veronica Lodge, Jughead Jones, Pop Tate, Hal Cooper, Alice Cooper (Betty's mother), Reggie Mantle, Dilton Doiley, and April May (Betty's country cousin).
- Interior stories were reprinted in Betty & Veronica (Jumbo Comics) Double Digest #272 and B&V Friends Double Digest Magazine #268.
- Archie Comics chose this issue to launch its Facsimile Edition reprint line in August 2024, reproducing the original cover, stories, letter columns, and period advertisements.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Archi #391 (1970), B&V Friends Double Digest Magazine #268 (2019), Archie Giant Comics Gala #[nn] (2019), Betty & Veronica (Jumbo Comics) Double Digest #272 (2019), Archie 1000 Page Comics Jubilee #[nn] (2019), Archie Facsimile Edition #1 (2024)
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