In every installment of “If I Pass This Way Again,” we look at comic book plot points that were rarely (sometimes NEVER!) mentioned again after they were first introduced.

Today, we look at the little remembered nickname that Archie Andrews INSISTED on being used when he was first introduced!

At the start of the 1940s, teenagers were only recently becoming their own thing. Obviously, there had always been teenagers, but it was only in the 20th Century that society began treating teens as a distinct cultural entity distinguished from the two groups that they used to belong to, which was namely "Children" and "Adults." You were either an old child or a young adult, there really wasn't room in our culture for teenagers. During the first three decades of the 20th Century, however, stricter labor laws effectively resulted in the creation of a "protected" class that couldn't really work "real" jobs but were also no longer strictly "kids."

As this new societal group became established, pop culture naturally began to develop to appeal to this new market. One of the biggest cultural developments in terms of the establishment of teen culture in the United States was the series of films starring Mickey Rooney as Andy Hardy. Originally a family ensemble film, the movies began to center on Rooney's teen character. They were a cultural phenomenon and Rooney was soon one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.

MLJ Comics was a superhero comic book company like most every other superhero company when the company decided, in 1941, to try their own version of Andy Rooney. Bob Montana did the heavy lifting in the creation of Archie, his best friend Jughead and the new girl next door, Betty Cooper.

However, check out this bizarre bit from the first issue with Archie in it, Pep Comics #22 (by Bob Montana and writer - likely scripter - Vic Bloom), dude insisted that people call him CHICK!

He gets into some typical Archie mischief...

But then we meet Jughead, and HE CALLS ARCHIE "CHICK"!

So this isn't some thing where he says "Call me Chick" and no one listens! His best buddy listens!

The rest of the story is more of the usual Archie nonsense...

The very next issue drops the "Chick" stuff...

I guess that it was a Vic Bloom addition? That makes the most sense, right?

Imagine if that had stuck!

If anyone wants me to write about an interesting plot point that was introduced and then almost instantaneously ignored, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!