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Offered here is an exceptional 21-page original-art archivefrom Betty and Veronica #133, cover-datedMarch 1999, comprising all four complete interiorBetty & Veronica stories from the issue.
Every page was penciled by legendary Archie artist DanDeCarlo and finished in ink by Henry Scarpelli.The complete group has remained together since at least January 2002and is being offered as one intact set.
Included are:
“Swing Shift” — 6 pages
Script byGeorge Gladir
Pencils by Dan DeCarlo
Inks by HenryScarpelli
“Lucky Breaks” — 5 pages
Script byMike Pellowski
Pencils by Dan DeCarlo
Inks by HenryScarpelli
“The Ins and Outs” — 5 pages
Script byJoe Edwards
Pencils by Dan DeCarlo
Inks by Henry Scarpelli
“Dancing Up a Storm” — 5 pages
Scriptby Kathleen Webb
Pencils by Dan DeCarlo
Inks by HenryScarpelli
Together, these constitute 21 original published storypages from the same issue, an unusually complete survivinggroup of late-career Dan DeCarlo Archie production art.
Each board measures approximately 11.5\" × 17\".The artwork is executed in ink over DeCarlo’s graphite pencils onoriginal Archie Comic Publications Bristol board. Several openingpages retain original Betty & Veronica logos, story-titleelements and production credits. Throughout the set are originalissue labels, page numbers, production notations, editorial markings,tape remnants and Archie copyright stamps on the backs.
The artwork itself presents extremely well. The image areas aregenerally clean, bold and highly displayable, with strong blacks,crisp lettering and classic DeCarlo character work throughout. Betty,Veronica, Archie, Cheryl Blossom and other Riverdale charactersappear across the four stories, with scenes ranging from school andfashion comedy to skiing, dancing and winter-weather slapstick.
As expected for working production art from the late 1990s, theboards show some normal studio and production wear. This includesoccasional edge and corner wear, tape or tape residue,blue-pencil/editorial marks, light handling smudges, scattered agetoning and some isolated stains or blotches, particularly on certainbacks. These marks are generally minor, widely dispersed and typicalof original comic-production boards that were handled during thepublishing process. Please review the high-resolution photographscarefully, as they form an important part of the the fronts remain highly attractive overall,and no major condition issue observed interferes materially with thepublished artwork.
Provenance
The complete group was acquired in January 2002from original-art seller Terry Maltos / digitalMedusathrough transaction #1060757914.
The initial six-page Dan DeCarlo story was won at sale, afterwhich the seller offered the remaining pages from the same issuedirectly to the buyer. Surviving contemporaneous email correspondenceidentifies the additional stories by title, confirms the 11.5\"× 17\" board size, and specifically notes the unusualnature of keeping the issue together.
The seller wrote at the time that the most distinctive aspect ofthe group was that it represented thecomplete 21-page interiorstory artand that it was unusual to see all the pages from onecomic retained together.
That correspondence has been preserved since 2002 and provides astrong, continuous provenance trail for the set.
Why this set is special
Dan DeCarlo was one of the defining visual architects of theArchie universe, and his rendering of Betty and Veronica becamecentral to the publisher’s house style for generations.
What makes this offering particularly unusual is not merely thepresence of DeCarlo artwork, but the survival of all fourcomplete stories from a single issue as one group.
Individual late-period DeCarlo stories do appear on the market.Complete same-issue groupings of this scale are much less commonlyencountered.
The set also offers considerable visual variety: large storysplashes, classic Betty and Veronica portraiture, fashion scenes,dancing, winter and ski imagery, ensemble Riverdale casts, expressivecomedy and complete beginning-to-end storytelling across all fourfeatures.
Recent sale examples show comparable late-1990sDeCarlo/Scarpelli five-page stories selling individually in roughlythe mid-$200 range, but those sales involved isolated stories ratherthan a documented 21-page same-issue archive.
High-resolution pictures provided should be consideredpart of the description.