Hi, I'm Michael Mechanic, a senior editor here at Mother Jones.
In recent years, I’ve noticed pundits, politicians like Sen. Chuck Schumer, and regular folks on social media making derogatory references to Richie Rich or comparing him to morally bankrupt billionaires like Donald Trump. One Bluesky poster even created a parody Richie/Elon Musk mashup doing the Nazi salute, titling it “Richie Reich.”
Lest you’re unfamiliar, Richie is a comic book character created in the 1950s by the late Harvey Comics, which also published family-friendly titles like Little Dot, Little Audrey, and Casper the Friendly Ghost. He was featured in his first solo book in 1960, and Richie Rich comics were wildly successful into the 1980s, basically minting money for their creators, first- and second-generation Jewish immigrants. Excessive wealth leavened by goodness and generosity was Richie’s superpower. His family was absurdly, ostentatiously rich, yet he deployed his vast fortune for good—helping others, solving problems, and bringing his public school friends (!!) on wild adventures.
I loved Richie growing up, and as an author and journalist who covers wealth inequality, I was curious why people seem to have soured on him. So, I tracked down some stats and picked up the phone, interviewing former Harvey Comics creators and family members, academics and comic historians, and even billionaire Mark Cuban, who grew up middle class and “loved, loved, loved Richie Rich,” he told me. Richie was only a fantasy, of course, but as I put it in the piece, “there are important lessons here for grownups, even if you’ve never heard of ‘the poor little rich boy.’”
I hope you’ll agree.
—Michael Mechanic
