It’s time for another story of Richie exploring the mansion, hurrah! As the years go by, I have never forgotten this story, it always lingers in the back of my mind. See what you think…
Interesting isn’t it? How he would not have been discovered in twenty years in what appears to be an empty attic is beyond me. And how she was just hanging out in the same attic? A closet? A drawer? Who knows? and clearly also stealing food each night, yet they never saw each other seems odd. One would also think that with all the clothes Regina Rich throws out, Lydia could have borrowed some new clothes in twenty years, but I guess she is a bit skinny for Regina’s current clothes. Although Mrs. Rich looked quite foxy in the green dress in the olden days. Ah, true love! And look, there are more servants than just Chef Pierre, Nurse Jenny, Bascomb, Cadbury, Mr. Woody, and Irona! Apparently, there is an old dude named Skadds hanging about. Who knew? What did you think?
And here it is again, recolored from the reissued Valentine’s Gems:
RichieRichcomicsfanclub 
This is a strange story on several levels, It moves almost too fast to be a 5-pager. First of all, Baked Alaska is an ice cream/cake dish so it wouldn’t be kept in a pantry or it would melt, LOL!
Second of all, it is implied that Cadbury and Romeo are around the same age (although Romeo already has white hair in his appearance at the party). However if he is a “cousin” to Richie then that means he’s the child of one of either Richard or Regina’s siblings… but Romeo is obviously in his late 50s or 60s which would make his parents 70 yrs or older… then either Regina or Richard seem to be about late 30s early 40s, their parents must have been having kids for about 35 years LOL!!
Third, like you said, Lydia has also existed in the Rich mansion as a hermit and nothing else went missing? She’s also still wearing an evening gown and the same necklace- she’d had to have been pilfering Ms. Rich’s feminine products and hair grooming as she still looks rather coiffed for being a hermit! I guess the Rich mansion alarms aren’t working as well as they should!
And lastly, Regina looks a lot like ZsaZsa Gabor when she was younger 😀
Thanks for posting this… it was a great read and Ernie Colon’s artwork is magnificent as always.
I did not think about the Baked Alaska cold aspect, excellent sleuthing! And you are right, Regina looks exactly like ZsaZsa! I am thinking for the timeline to make logical sense, Romeo must be a silver fox like Anderson Cooper and be white from a young age. Or Cadbury has amazing beauty products. On a side note, I am really looking for a situation where I can say something like, “I’m going to the store…with Vic Van Snyde!”, but I don’t know who would get it. Thanks for your awesome comment!
In one story, Cadbury mentioned having a staff of 600.
Wow, that recolor is terrific! I love both versions, but seeing two really makes you appreciate the art in different ways. I particularly love the look on Richie’s face when he gets a whiff of that ghost-chasing miasma.
I agree with Larry, the story really ought to have been longer or had fewer elements. (I vote the former. No way should they cut out old Skadds!)
I don’t just adore Colon’s art, I am sometimes haunted by it. That image in the attic and the swoop of the staircase in the panel before it are AMAZING! My very favorite RR stories are the ones with hints at just how unimaginably vast the Rich mansion is. As a kid, of course, the notion of a house that always has new rooms to explore and secret passages that lead who-knows-where is like feeding your imagination caffeinated sugar. And Colon drew such fascinating geometric art to convey it. In some story, Richie found a secret passage right near his room and the clean, simple lines of the receding hallway have been etched in my memory as a sort of visual shorthand for “infinite possibilities and adventure”.
And I’ve tended to think of Colon as a very straight-linear artist, like Carmine Infantino doing The Flash. But the curves on everyone’s hair in this story (and that staircase!) show he really uses both to best effect.
I am SO going to use “To dance with Vic Van Snyde!” the next time someone asks me where I think I’m going.
Love hearing your thoughts and I learned a new word, “miamsa”! I love the different views of the house too, I so wish they had done a Richie Rich Mansion series where every issue was exploring the house. I listed all of the Richie in the house stories that I’ve posted here: https://richierichcomicsfanclub.wordpress.com/2015/08/14/2-year-anniversary-woot-woot-and-richie-gloria-discover-the-art-room/
Maybe the one you’re looking for with the hallway is one of them? Perhaps this? https://richierichcomicsfanclub.wordpress.com/2015/02/02/richie-finds-a-stowaway-in-the-mansion-plus-some-richie-dollars-and-census/
And now I’m off to run errands…with VIC VAN SNYDE!