Longtime comic book artist Henry Scarpelli has died at the age of 79. Scarpelli was best known in the field for his work for the Archie company, including a long stint drawing the Archie newspaper strip, and for occasionally replicating that art style on other companies' comics. In the late sixties, for instance, he drew Swing with Scooter and other DC comics that tried to get that "Archie" look. Working in other styles, he drew many TV and movie adaptations for Dell Comics in the sixties (The Beverly Hillbillies, for one) and even dabbled once in a while in adventure-type comics.
My favorite work of his was the Abbott & Costello comic book which he and writer Steve Skeates launched for Charlton in 1968. It was much funnier than the Hanna-Barbera cartoon show on which it was based and probably funnier than Abbott and Costello, themselves.
Scarpelli was a Korean War vet, a graduate from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan and the proud father of actor Glenn Scarpelli. He was well-respected by his peers and was honored for his work by the National Cartoonists Society.