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The New York Times wades into the Silberkleit/Goldwater legal battle over Archie Comics in a very lengthy story:

At this, the last of the privately run Mom-and-Pop comic book dynasties, Ms. Silberkleit, 59, the daughter-in-law of a company founder, Louis H. Silberkleit, is deadlocked in a court battle for control of the company with Jonathan Goldwater, 52, a son of another founder, John L. Goldwater. Like Betty and Veronica, the two are feuding over Archie’s future, but there is nothing comic — or friendly — about their rivalry. Each accuses the other of endangering the family legacy, Mr. Goldwater by wanting to expand Archie into a megabrand with help from outside investors and the Hollywood uber-agent Ari Emanuel, Ms. Silberkleit by vowing to keep the company’s traditions intact and preserve family ownership, ostensibly leading to stagnation.


By now you know a lot of the wacky details: “Penis! Penis! Penis!”, the restraining orders, the menacing muscle who was only a friend, and so on—but this account adds some dog poop.

As acrimonious as the dispute is, it is now going to mediation:

After a series of court rulings against Ms. Silberkleit that included a $500 fine — for violating the temporary restraining order by twice showing up at the office in mid-December with a former football player in tow — and responsibility for $59,000 in legal expenses accrued by the company, last month the hostile parties agreed to take their problems to mediation. Ms. Silberkleit’s 50 percent share of the company is not in jeopardy, but her job may be.

“The judge was very much against Nancy’s case,” Mr. Simmons, Ms. Silberkleit’s lawyer, said. “Mr. Goldwater defamed her, and Judge Kornreich has gone along with it. But the judge didn’t go to the length of removing Nancy as C.E.O., although that’s basically what Goldwater and his lawyer have been asking for.”

1 COMMENT

  1. Such a shame that the legacy of this company is being tarnished by this ongoing train wreck. Having known the founders, this is a real shame. G

  2. I haven’t been following this case, mostly because of how odious I find the basic premise of Archie. I just don’t see the appeal of a teenaged jerk who has been stringing along multiple girls for the past seventy years, and since both heirs are likely to continue that same theme I don’t have a dog in the fight.

  3. Whichever of these 2 is responsible for the last 2 years of comics should be fired. If it wasn’t for Sonic, there’d be no kid-safe books left in the Archie stable.