Six embattled employees of Archie Comics are asking a Westchester County court to act like a superhero and save the iconic American publication from demise at the hands of a bully boss.
The employees, including longtime editor Victor Gorelick, say the suit is a “last ditch effort” to eject co-CEO Nancy Silberkleit from the Mamaroneck-based firm.
“While World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan did not stop the publication of Archie Comics, the war-like attitude and approach of [Silberkleit] may destroy Archie Comics unless the court intervenes,” says the $32.5 million suit filed this week in Westchester Supreme Court.
“In a destructive, deceitful and deliberate manner, [Silberkleit] seeks … her self-promotion as the effective ‘Dictator’ over Archie Comics or in default of that, the demise of this iconic publication in American culture,” the suit alleges.
“In a destructive, deceitful and deliberate manner, defendant seeks…her self-promotion as the effective “Dictator” over Archie Comics or in default of that, the demise of this iconic publication in American culture.”
The employees say the brutal boss even accused a cancer-riddled child visiting with the Ronald McDonald Foundation of stealing comic character Betty Cooper’s wig, when in fact the staff had gifted it the young girl whose hair was falling out.
Ironically Silberkleit runs an anti-bullying foundation called “Rise Above Social Issues” while she allegedly stalks employees and their families, tried to get a Hell’s Angel to come to headquarters to intimate her underlings and hired a spy to dig up dirt on them.
But the spy, former assistant Jim Paget, has switched sides and is a party to the lawsuit.
Paget, now an archivist at Archie Comics, said his ex boss “didn’t deserve loyalty.”
“This woman is trying to kill the company for her own purposes. It’s the worse job experience of my life,” Paget said.
The suit says Silberkleit uses “gender as her personal weapon of choice” by singling out an attractive female coworker and by saying “Oh, a pretty one” then sashaying away and telling male employees “All you penises think you can run me out.”
The not-so-comical antics appear to stem from a lawsuit that Silberkleit’s co-CEO Jon Goldwater brought against his business partner in 2011. The suit was eventually settled with the hiring of a go-between to ease tensions between Goldwater and Silberkleit.
Silberkleit has also brought sexual harassment claims against her coworkers and is involved in litigation in Westchester Surrogate’s Court over the will of her late husband Michael Silberkleit, son of Archie Comics co-founder Louis Silberkleit.
An attorney for Silberkleit, who’s running for mayor in her ritzy hometown of Rye, NY, declined to comment.