| Li'l Jinx | |
|---|---|
| Archie character | |
| First appearance | Pep Comics #62, 1947 |
| Created by | Joe Edwards |
| Hometown | Riverdale, CA |
| Information | |
| Occupation | Riverdale Elementary student |
Li'l Jinx is a fictional comic book character published by Archie Comics since the late 1940s. A high-spirited little girl who has humorous misadventures with her neighborhood friends, she was created by cartoonist Joe Edwards, first appearing in Pep Comics # 62 (July 1947).[citation needed] She appeared in backup featurettes before landing her own title from 1956 to 1957. During her peak period, Jinx's stories ranged from three-panel blackout gags to seven-page stories. Jinx was normally depicted as a lovable but mischievous little girl, engaged in a comical battle of wills with her long-suffering father. Like most of Archie Comics' strips of the period, Jinx offered insights into family relationships and children's perceptions of the adult world.
Jinx was the daughter of Hap and Merry Holliday, earning her unusual name by virtue of being born on Halloween. Creator Edwards based Jinx's adventures on his own experiences as a parent. While "Li'l" is not part of her given name, everyone always calls her "Li'l Jinx" in the comics' dialogue, similar to the title character of Little Archie.
Jinx's friends included:
- Charley Hawse (later called Fat Charley and then just Charley) who sometimes played the role of a bully,
- Greg, who sometimes was a childhood boyfriend of Jinx.
- Gigi, who was rich and a bit selfish, but still a good friend, and
- Mort the Worry Wart, who was known to have an inferiority complex.
Following the civil rights movement, Li'l Jinx's friends also included African-American kids Russ and Roz.
Besides having appeared in two of her own series (Li'l Jinx, 1956–1957; Li'l Jinx Giant Laugh-Out, 1971–1973), Li'l Jinx also appeared in numerous Archie titles, including the double-sized Little Archie, and Archie Giant Series Magazine .
Li'l Jinx strips have been reprinted in the various Archie-published digest magazines (both single-page strips and 5- to 6-page strips) at least since the 1980s. One That Wilkin Boy story reprint featured Li'l Jinx crossing over briefly (though the artwork was actually edited so that Li'l Jinx replaced an unnamed child that appeared in the original printing of that story). She also made a cameo appearance in the 2007 story, Civil Chores Part 3, in Tales of Riverdale # 24.
Life with Archie[]
Startting with "Life with Archie: The Married Life" #7, A bonus story-line showing, Jinx Holliday starts her first day at high school. Along with all her friends.
"Jinx" and follow-up comics[]
In 2012 Archie Comics decided to publish stories with a grown-up version of the character. The first graphic novel, named simply "Jinx", was published in April 2012 and had J. Torres and Terry Austin as writers and Rick Burchett as artist;[1][2] a follow up, "Little Miss Steps", is expected for June 2013[3][4]
References[]
- Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Li'l Jinx
- The Lambiek Comiclopedia: Joe Edwards
- Lil Jinx at MyComicArtCollection.com
- Associated Press via The New York Times (Feb. 20, 2007): "Joe Edwards, 85, Artist for Archie Comics, Is Dead"
- CBC (Feb. 20, 2007): "Archie Comic Artist Joe Edwards Dead at 85"
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