Frank Doyle (writer)

Frank Doyle (November 17, 1917 – April 3, 1996) was the head writer for Archie Comics for over thirty years. He wrote over 10,000 stories featuring the Archie characters.^[2] Artist Dan DeCarlo referred to Doyle as "the best".^[3]

Doyle, one of several Archie contributors who studied art at the Pratt Institute, was originally a penciller for Fiction House comics, working on such titles as Planet Stories.^[4] After he was let go from Fiction House, he decided that he was better suited to writing stories: "It was easier," he said. "My mind worked better that way."^[4] In 1951 he joined Archie Comics as a writer. Though he no longer drew stories himself, he continued to write in storyboard form, using a desk that used to belong to Fiction House artist Fran Hopper.^[4]

By the end of the '50s, Doyle was writing the majority of stories for such important Archie titles as Archie and Betty and Veronica;^[5] DeCarlo said that when he joined Archie Comics, most of the scripts he was given were written by Doyle.^[3] In the mid-'60s, he also began writing many of the stories for adventure-themed titles like Life With Archie; he wrote all the stories featuring the Archie characters' superhero alter-egoes such as Pureheart the Powerful.^[6]

According to DeCarlo, Doyle did "all the writing" for the early issues of She's Josie.^[7] Though he did not write the issue where the title was retooled into Josie and the Pussycats, he returned to the title soon after, writing many of the Pussycats-era stories.^[5] Doyle wrote the first issue of the Archie title That Wilkin Boy,^[8] and wrote the debut stories for several Archie supporting characters, including the first appearance of Cheryl Blossom.^[9]

Starting in the late '80s, Doyle became less prolific, but continued to write Archie stories every month until his death. His last story, "Cry Me a River," appeared in Betty and Veronica #104 (October 1996) after his death, with art by DeCarlo.^[10] Archie editor Victor Gorelick called him "just a tremendous writer" who was "responsible for so many things that people don't know about," while Kurt Busiek said that Doyle was "one of the best writers comics ever had."^[10]

Doyle was the 2012 recipient of the Bill Finger Award for Excellence in Comic Book Writing.^[11]