ARCHIE comics

[AnthonyO'Brien]

Anyone care to discuss the good, the bad and the downright weird of over 80 years of Archie and related characters?

We can discuss:

Dan de Carlo and his awesome good girl art.

Those DRAMATIC Little Archie stories where little Arch would face muggers, bears and wolves...

AL Hartley's stressed out versions and his Christian comics

Other stuff?

[seismic-2]

My main comment about Archie comics would be to bemoan the sad way in which the flagship title, Archie, came to an end. In its final year it had introduced a big plot twist - Archie had finally decided between Betty and Veronica by choosing... Sabrina! Several issues were devoted to this deepening romance, then the story took a diversion to introduce a short arc about Katy Keane (as a preview to her short-lived TV series), then at the conclusion of that diversion, the book simply ended its over 50-year run. The Archie and Sabrina romance was really heating up, and we have no idea what would have happened next. Was the plan in fact to make them a permanent item, with B&V as just secondary characters? How would Archie have reacted to Sabrina's use of magic? (He seems to have been only dimly aware of it in the stories we saw.) Was this pairing meant to be only temporary, and the long-term plan was to restore the status quo ante? We shall never know.

[AnthonyO'Brien]

Thanks. Liked the Nick Spencer run. Did the publishers hit a snag due to COVID? There was a Superduck relaunch that folded after one issue that may be a covid casualty as well.

LOVE the DeCarlo/Hartley stuff and would love some more tpbs.

Dislike Bob Bolling and Harry Lucey. Especially the way the noses turn out!

Got lucky at a garage sale a few years ago. Found a 70's issue of PEP featuring the debut of Nancy (Chuck's girlfriend). She deserves to be seen more. Marvel has Shuri and Riri, DC Naomi and Nubia, so why not a mini or a bunch of teen novels featuring her? Suggested title - Nancy of Riverdale High. Stories could include Nancy imagining herself as great African American women of history and Chuck drawing her as different kinds of super ladies...

[ed2962]

One thing I enjoyed was the Married Life collection...half was what if Archie married Betty and the other was what if he married Veronica. It leaned a bit into soap opera but I thought it was fine for what it was. I never got around to reading the arc where Archie gets shot though.

[AnthonyO'Brien]

There's some great obscure stuff that turns up in the digests. Last Halloween there was a BaV digest featuring spooky Dan Decarlo stuff from "Bats" magazine. It had a femme fatale cat woman.

Other digests feature stuff like Superduck and the adventure heroes...

[SquirrelMan]

Jeff Parker's Batman/Archie mini was good fun.

[Zauriel]

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Dan de Carlo and his awesome good girl art.

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Dan de Carlo was the definitive Archie artist. I still fondly remember his stories.

I enjoyed reading Archie Marries Veronica/Archie Marries Betty. It was quite entertaining.

Afterlife with Archie was a very excellent story to read. In addition, I have read Archie 1941, Jughead: The Hunger and Vampironica comic book series. They were all great, awesome and creative ideas. especially, Afterlife with Archie.

[AnthonyO'Brien]

I see jinx has become supernatural as well..

Man, Decarlo was an odb long before Wu-Tang!
He did pin-up girls in men's mags would squeeze b.v into bikinis every chance he got, then cut off shorts in the seventies, aerobics outfits in the eighties. Not that I'm complaining!

Stan Goldberg was the best of the Decarlo impersonators but could never quite top Dan's girls

Ever read the early 200's realistic B&V or the manga style Sabrina's?