"Archie" cartoonist Tom Moore dies at 86

EL PASO, Texas -- Tom Moore, the cartoonist who brought to life the escapades of a freckled-face, red-haired character named Archie, has died.

The El Paso native was 86.

Sunset Funeral Home Director Howard Holderfield in El Paso confirmed that Moore died early Monday morning.

The El Paso Times reports that Moore drew Archie Andrews and his friends on and off from 1953 until the late 1980s when he retired.

Moore began drawing cartoons while in the U.S. Navy during the Korean War.

He later used his GI Bill to attend a school in New York for cartoonists. He studied under "Tarzan" comic strip illustrator Burne Hogarth.

Soon after Moore signed up with Archie Comics.

Annual sales of the comic regularly surpassed half a million during the 1960s.

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