Date with Debbi #1

History

The series was published by National Periodical Publications (the corporate name behind the DC brand) and launched with a January–February 1969 cover date, one of a cluster of new DC humor titles that debuted that year. Artist Samm Schwartz — veteran of many humor comics — handled both the cover and interior art for this first issue, lending it a clean, Archie-adjacent visual style. Writer Steve Skeates contributed scripted stories to the opening issues; per his own recollection documented in the Grand Comics Database, he wrote roughly five or six Debbi stories that were likely spread across the first three issues. The series explicitly drew from an older DC template: the title echoed A Date with Judy (1947–1960), and covers and plots from that earlier series were recycled into the new one.

Trivia · 7 facts

• First appearance of Debbi Anderson and her core supporting cast: boyfriend Buddy Baxter, best friend Desdimona 'Mona' De Wolfe, younger brother Rockwell 'Rocky' Anderson, and her parents Mr. and Mrs. Anderson.
• Art and cover by Samm Schwartz; lettering on at least one story by Gaspar Saladino. Steve Skeates is credited (with a question mark, per GCD) as probable scripter of multiple stories in this issue.
• The issue contains three main stories: 'Detention's the Thing!' (Debbi meets new boy Tod Frazier and gets sent to detention), 'Training Blacks and Blues' (a Binky crossover segment in which Binky's argument with Sherwood leads to a football tryout), and 'Eeeek — It's a Heap!' (Buddy picks up Debbi and Mona in a Jeep for a trip to the Country Club).
• The issue includes an in-house advertisement for DC Special #2 and for Batman #208, illustrating how DC cross-promoted its superhero line to humor-comic readers. Batman and Green Lantern are referenced in back-matter feature pages ('You'll Never Guess… Batman'; 'A Year to Remember… A Year to Forget!') — they are not story characters.
• The Binky story segment within the issue crosses over characters from DC's Leave It to Binky series, featuring Binky, Peg, and Sherwood alongside Debbi's cast.
• The series ran for 18 issues (1969–1972) and immediately spawned a concurrent spin-off, Debbi's Dates, which ran 11 issues (1969–1971) — both titles were cancelled as part of the broader shutdown of DC's entire humor line in 1971–1972.
• Cover compositions for the series, including this first issue, consciously reworked covers from DC's earlier teen-humor series A Date with Judy (1947–1960), a deliberate editorial act of institutional continuity.

Cast · 23 characters

Full credits