There have been a lot of Richie Rich comics over the years. Some with titles referring to his great wealth like Billions, Zillions, Gems, etc. and others about the supporting cast like Cadbury the Butler, or Dollar the dog, as well as team-ups with other characters like Casper and Wendy. But the one title I enjoy is Vault of Mystery (#1-5) and later Vaults of Mystery (#6-30). In these issues you get Richie Rich versus a variety of Pulp style villains and concepts.
The plots of these comics immediately remind me of characters like Doc Savage, The Shadow, The Avenger and the comic strips that were little different including The Phantom, Mandrake the Magician and others. Tapping into that Pulpy vibe, the notoriously uncredited creators (I recognize Ernie Colon occasionally, and no doubt, Warren Kremer is here too) channeled the Pulpy adventure of yesteryear into this comic.A select group of these old-style comics reach back to the Gothic and give us Richie as ghostbreaker. The solutions won’t always be the false monsters of Scooby-Doo but that’s part of the fun. You never know until the end.
Most of these stories are two or three-parters. I have only used the title of the first segment.
“Something Funny Is Going On” (Vault of Mystery #1, November 1974) has the Rich family home under the curse of a haunted statuette. The figure was given to them by the father of Richie’s cousin, Little Lester. Soon bad things are happening and it is up to Richie to figure out what is going on. Little Lester likes to loosen things. He has caused all the damage. A slow start but at least it appeared to be supernatural.
“The Frankenstein Gang” (Vault of Mystery #2, January 1975) Universal’s classic monsters (Frankenstein, Dracula and Wolfman) form a gang of criminals.Out of work actors, they rent an old theater and have to scare off Richie and Reggie. The plan is to tunnel into the Rich vaults. Richie has the police waiting when the thieves break through.
“The Ghost of Rich Castle” (Vaults of Mystery #6, September 1975) has Richie going to the castle of his ancestor, Heathcliff Rich. The castle is haunted by the ghost of the Red Knight, sworn enemy of Heathcliff’s. He gained immortality from Mervin the Magician. The Red Knight has a two-headed, fire-breathing dragon. Richie and his friends drive the two away with their tweenie costume party. This one is unusual in that the supernatural is not explained away, only circumvented.
“The Voodoo Menace” (Vaults of Mystery #10, May 1976) features two villains, Snidley Knavely and Doc Rotter. The two try to blackmail Mr. Rich by using a voodoo doll of him. It is humorous to see Richie’s dad flying all over the place. Rich stops them by splitting them up and paying Doc Rotter to make a Snidley doll. The power of the voodoo doll is never discredited but considered real. Snidley Knavely is such an obvious villain, dressing like a bad DC super villain.
“The Seance at Spectro Castle” (Vaults of Mystery #13, November 1976) starts when Richie and magician, Neil Aster, go to Spectro Castle for a seance. The seance is given by Dr. Spectro (who has a henchman named Hugo). The group includes Professor Korda and Madame Nanette. The spirit of Richie’s Uncle Silas appears and tells him to give all his money to Neil for safe keeping. The man protests but is secretly working with Spectro. A little investigating with Cadbury and Richie figures out he has been scammed. He shows up with the police in time to catch the con men. I liked this one, first because it freaks me out to think of a Richie Rich comic with seances but also because RR does some actual investigating. For more on comic book seances, go here.
“Lord Kookly’s Castle” (Vaults of Mystery #15, March 1977) has Richie and Reggie going to Kookly’s castle to find a treasure. Reggie plans to keep it for himself so he hires actors to play ghosts. There are phantoms and secret passages but Richie ends up with the loot, a trunk full of old manuscripts. Reggie tells the actors he will pay them back in the States. As he and Richie walk away, the actors admit they never did the job. They had been scared off by real ghosts.
“The Great Museum Robbery” (Vaults of Mystery #17, July 1977) has a new museum built with a curator named N. Teek. Richie and Reggie get trapped in the building with two robbers and play Home Alone. Reggie even dresses up as a mummy. In the end, Richie learns the men were actually movers, relocating painting from one wing to another.
“The Haunted Room!” (Vaults of Mystery #22, May 1978) has Richie learn that the Rich Mansion stands on the same ground as a previous mansion belonging to a greedy miser named Gregory Grasp. He passed and the house was reputed to be haunted. Richie and Reggie investigate an older portion of the building and find Gregory Grasp in the basement, chained up. He is actually a descendant of Grasp and plans to steal a fortune. He has invented a triple vacuum to suck up all the money but it sucks up him instead.
“A Night of Terror” (Vaults of Mystery #27, March 1979) is a Gothic novel in a comic. Rich is all alone at home when the power goes out. He has to use a candlebra to wander the dark mansion where he sees an old painting of a woman. She shows up and disappears in Uncle Lenny’s old couch. Later four dark and sinister men come looking for her. She traps three in a vault. The fourth ends up in the couch that swallows people. It turns out she is Princess Mayagasa. The men are agents of a dictator that she opposes.
“The Haunted Fortune” (Vaults of Mystery #38, February 1981) begins with a tall stranger appearing out of the rain. He is Carruthers, the chauffeur of Richie’s British uncle, Sir Richly. The man takes Richie to Castle Rich to face a money monster. The ghost proves to be an accomplice of the butler, Cunnings (Yes, the butler did it!) Richie scares the thieves off by posing as Richard Rich the First, his ancestor. This one finally gives us the traditional Scooby-Doo plot and solution. (I seem to remember this same story was done on I Dream of Jeannie in an episode called “My Master, the Ghostbreaker” (February 20, 1968.)
Conclusion
Richie never goes into the business of professional ghostbusting but his place in the home of one of the world’s richest men does bring plenty of spooks and goblins his way. These ten stories are the ones that most focus on Horror imagery, use old Gothic tropes and even steal from the movies.The rest of the Vaults of Mystery issues are more like old Science Fiction with plenty of gadgets and even robots. There are any number of weird villains and plots to steal the Rich fortune.
Harvey Comics were always directed to children so the terrors are going to be pretty tame. Richie may not have been as esoteric as Doctor Spektor or working the mean streets like Constantine, but he did have his small place in the world of the occult investigation. Wherever there are men and women (and boys and girls) willing to look into the outre secrets we can use that term: ghostbreaker!
