Archie

[Kromm]

...Die.  Long live Archie!

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2014/04/08/archie-comic-book-death/7457699/

[Wilowy]

So... Afterlife?

 

At FCBD this series was all I heard about. Everyone is saying how gorgeously scary and well-written it is. Everyone from little tattooed hipsters to 40+ dads with their kids were nodding in agreement. 

 

I grew up addicted to Archie, outgrew it as most of us do. What's the consensus here? Worthy?

[Monty]

It's great! I know it sounds unlikely that a comic book would simultaneously be a good zombie story and a good Archie story, but they're pulling it off.

[Wilowy]

Sweet. Well, that's good enough for me, I'm checking it out. 

 

Monty, IYO, should we nominate for a future book club?

[Monty]

Maybe once it's collected into a trade paperback. It seems so primitive to ask people to read individual comic books.

[Chip]

Amazon says it will be released June 10. I've read the first issue and thought it was great. We should read it.

[discorules]

I had just about every Archie series release from 1970-1978. My favorites were Betty & Veronica and their Spectacular, Summer Fun and Christmas Spectacular issues. Of course, Dan DeCarlo was my favorite illustrator.

[starri]

So, the big, earth-shattering reboot dropped.

 

I am sure there will be a chorus of "You just destroyed my childhood!" that cries out and then is suddenly silenced.  But the thing is, in an industry as risk averse as comic books are, it takes a very brave company to roll the dice this hard, but boy did they pull it off.

[benteen]

Archie Comics has been very bold these past few years and I give them credit for it.

 

Archie #1 wasn't bad.  Nothing great but having Mark Waid as a writer will make me continue to follow it.  I'm a huge fan of Waid's DD run, which showed that the character could be fun again while still producing amazing stories.

 

Afterlife with Archie has been absolutely hampered by endless delays but the most recent issue #8 was EXCELLENT.

[Chip]

I thought Mark Waid and Fiona Staples did a great job with Archie #1. It's a lot more of a realistic take on Archie than the past or the current Afterlife/Predator titles.

I'm genuinely curious about the #lipstickincident.

[Miss Dee]

Any chance Betty isn't such a doormat when it comes to Archie in this reboot? I always thought she was a worse role model than Veronica for the way her life revolved around Archie. Which is why I'll be pissed if the reboot turns an unhealthy obsession on her part and a really degrading attitude of "you're enough until I find something better" on his into "true love".

Any links to reviews or discussion of the reboot?

Edited July 20, 2015 by Miss Dee

[Kromm]

As I recall...

-Archie would date Veronica, Betty and because he was a total man-whore, Cheryl, Ginger and a few others.

-Veronica would primarily date Archie, but use Reggie to make Archie jealous.

-Betty mooned after Archie, but would settle for dating Reggie if she couldn't date Archie.

-Reggie wants Veronica, settles for Betty, but also dangerously sometimes dates Midge, Moose's usual girlfriend.

I do think they introduced various other boys (outside of Archie and Reggie) for Betty any number of times. They just never stuck because the continuity would eventually reset to the core love triangle.

[Kromm]

"CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA" looks like a kind of neat take on another Archie comics character.  Kind of hand in hand with the zombies thing, but not exactly.  Plus she's a witch already, so why not Horror it up?

 

[RodLu]

<===== Used To Record Himself With A Tape Recorder For Years Whilst Doing All The Riverdales Voices {Reading Comics Outloud}.....

XD


Or Richie Rich/Wendy Witch/Hot Stuff.....

Or Spider Man.....

Or Whoevah....... XD


#ChildhoodDreamsOfBeingProfeshnulCartoonVoiceActorLater.

Ha.......

Edited October 24, 2015 by RodLu

[starri]

I'm not a big zombie fan, but I somehow got sucked into Afterlife recently.  And I'm glad.  

I honestly got choked up when Archie's dog basically sacrificed himself to save Archie, and then again four pages later when Archie had to kill his zombified father.

[Lantern7]

I read the Waid/Staples TPB. It's worth picking up, even if it's from the library. And it comes with Jughead #1, which fleshes out Archie's BFF.

[benteen]

It might take forever for Afterlife with Archie to be released but it's a GREAT series.  Issue 9 was no exception.

I'm also enjoying the Sabrina series, as well as the Waid/Staples Archie title and Jughead has been a lot of fun.

[Kromm]

I've read the new-style Mark Waid Archie issues now (it's like 10 issues now as I post this), and I have to say I'm curiously impressed.  I mean they certainly aren't novelties like Afterlife with Archie or the weird Archie Teamups they have every few years with non-Archie properties. These reboot books really are what they promised--something that takes a lot of the classic Archie elements, updates the art, but also the kinds of relationships and stories being told.

A big surprise is that some stuff actually DID manage to stay the same. You can see a ton of classic Archie in everything involving Mr. Lodge.  And a decent amount of classic Archie with Mr. Andrews. And of the core Archie characters, Archie himself actually does in many ways adhere to a lot of aspects of the "original". There are great scenes in several of the issues I've seen showing Archie's clumsiness and screw up nature that other than the updated art could  have come from any classic issue (in fact even moreso the really early ones). For all the fears that an update might simply mean melodrama, there's actually still a ton of comedy, 

Jughead seems to be a lot less stupid. He's more kind of world weary and cynical, albeit that he's still wearing a weird crown, has the nickname "Jughead", is Archie's best friend, is a little hostile towards the female sex, and loves to swallow tons of food. I'd say he's kind of like if you take classic Jughead but merge him with a really well done "hero's best friend" character from a good 80s teen film. He's more of a smartass now than a punchline, is what I mean.  It's kind of a new route to the same destination. Jughead needed to seem like he'd make sense as Archie's friend, so some of the sillyness of the old version had to be removed (although far from all of it). 

Veronica was always going to be the hardest to deal with I think. What Waid wound up doing is interesting. Rather than resist the fact that she could come off as totally a rhymes-with-witch in a more modern version, the book kind of embraces it. But the remarkable thing is that while it clearly also need to show there's more to her, Waid is REALLY patient with the reveal of that. In fact, the biggest strength of the whole reboot is that it's pretty patient about everything. We don't even MEET Veronica until late in Issue #2 for example, and she doesn't get any dialogue until the next issue (which isn't a complaint--it's perfect how we're first introduced to her and better that she doesn't speak). And it's only slowly doled out in no hurry the things that are really good about her. That although she's initially shown treating Archie like a servant, maybe even moreso when they're dating, she also somehow really notices things about him that totally surprises Betty. And in the outright brilliant Issue #9, a remarkable piece of work, we cross a line where Waid makes Veronica totally lovable. Generous, sweet, and vulnerable. Not deleting her other rhymes-like-witch qualities permanently, mind you, but showing a three dimensionality in her that's really economical in how it's unveiled in that issue, and totally effective. 

Betty is a series of subtle but interesting little changes, I'd say. While there were always elements of her of the Tomboy, I'd argue it's made far more overt here. Betty is also a lot stronger willed than I recall her from most of the classic stories, and while they've left the base motivation that she's in love with Archie even if he's not "with" her, they've redone the situation so that Betty and Archie were a couple pretty much from Kindergarten to shortly before Issue #1.  It's made pretty clear that Archie won't be playing that game where he's on a date with either the blond or the brunette depending on the day of the week... it's played more as Betty and him being a relationship that totally dissolved over something silly, but that he moved on from when Veronica showed up. Betty suddenly (in silence) regretting that breakup definitely has to do with another girl showing interest in him, and it's definitely practically melodrama straight out of a CW show (which it will in fact be soon), but Waid isn't TOO obvious with the string pulling, so it doesn't feel like bad TV cliches. 

Reggie doesn't have more than a token appearance until Issue #4, but then Waid did some interesting stuff with him. Again, like Jughead, he's a lot smarter. And also like Jughead, Waid finds a slightly different way to the same result as the original. It's hard to express but... Reggie's brand of villainy is kind of updated. Reggie in the classic stories was kind of hard to peg. At times he came off like a BMOC who was also just a jerk.  At other times he came off as someone nobody really liked. And at yet other times they just... accepted him into their group. Here Waid isn't walking that tightrope--at least yet (only 10 issues in). Reggie was the richest kid in town until the Lodges showed up, but he's also kind of this greasy loser.  While it's certainly made clear, for example, that Reggie has a nice car (although one that doesn't impress the Lodges at all) and Archie a piece of shit, there's really not that imperative "old Reggie" always seemed to have in a lot of stories to project snooty rich kid as his core characteristic.  Reggie is clearly not on top of the Riverdale High social ladder, even when the series starts. It's hard to describe, but I'd say that NuReggie is both more realistic, but at the same time more in line with a more TV-show-like sensibility of what a trouble-maker should be like.  He's more like a Troll than a Snoot.

There are other characters floating around the periphery (Moose, Midge, Dilton, a tiny bit so far of the Blossom siblings, but also at least three or four characters who seem brand new), but the book is (rightfully) staying pretty focused and not wasting time or that many panels on them yet. 

Edited August 25, 2016 by Kromm

[starri]

They've got a new, kind of fascinating miniseries called Archie 1941 that started a few weeks ago.  I guess it was probably planned as an 75th anniversary comic, but said anniversary was two years ago.  Anyway, we follow Archie and the gang in the titular year, as they graduate from Riverdale High and try to go off into the future.  Archie is honestly kind of depressed, not able to figure out what he wants to do with his life.

All of this, of course, is in front of a backdrop where everyone is worried that the United States is about to be pulled into the war in Europe.  There's a rather heart-rending moment where Pop Tate looks at the four of them sitting in a booth together and prays "Please not these kids" under his breath.  And, in what I hope is going to be a runner about war profiteering, Ronnie mentions going to Vichy Paris with her father, who was there for a business deal.

I don't understand some of the reviews.  They seem to be taking points off because it's not a lighthearted romp.  Well, no, it's about WWII.  And the art, which is a mashup of Norman Rockwell and pinup art is terrific.