All In Color For $2.95: Riverdale in the Comics

[MarkHB]

Archie Comics is going to bring us a series of comics set in the Riverdale reality as opposed to their main canon, starting with this week's oneshot.  This is your place to discuss those (and if you want to compare-and-contrast the show to the comics old and new, you can do that here, too)!

[feverfew]

Interesting. I've never read Archie - I was always more of a superhero gal myself - but I understand (from several articles on last week's episode) the Riverdale-adaption is somewhat controversial. Especially in regards to Jughead's sexuality. On one hand erasure is a terrible thing, but as I understand it, Jughead only became an ace in 2016. Is that correct?

[Miss Dee]

Officially, I think so, and that's just in one particular comic. But ever since his inception he's been portrayed as someone who was not interested in girls or dating. They relaxed that a bit in the late 80s/early 90s and wrote it more like he was just a late bloomer in that regard, but he was never a field player; he was just interested in a few girls. They went back to Jug being more or less uninterested in dating after a few years of that, and with the inclusion of Kevin they were able to establish that his attitude towards dating extended to men as well.

Therefore it can be soundly argued that the character of Jug fits an asexual orientation and has done so for 70 years, so when one particular Jughead comic went ahead and made that official, it certainly wasn't jarring or unacceptable. Other comics have just left him as uninterested, with the insinuation being he might be more so if the right person came along. In any case, whether he's ace or just kind of low-key straight/gay/bi,  he's never, ever been portrayed as hormonal the way the rest of the Riverdale gang have been. Not once, to my knowledge.

To honour the full comic history, I think Riverdale would be best advised to make it clear that he's truly in love with Betty (therefore not aromantic), but that he can't make himself be sexually interested in her and therefore discover his asexuality that way. I'm not asexual myself, so I could be wrong on this, but it strikes me that it might take longer for a person to realize that they're just not interested in anyone sexually. Mostly for 2 reasons: 1, we don't really see it in pop culture or hear it talked about, so it's not like it might be the first possibility to come to someone's mind; 2, it's difficult to prove a negative, so it might be easier to believe first that you're just waiting for the right person or whatever. It might take finding a "right person" and then still not be able to feel sexual desire for them, for some people to consider the fact they might be ace. So I can buy such a storyline for Jug...and that would explain why they set him up with a "true love" storyline so early in the series run.

Edited March 6, 2017 by Miss Dee

[starri]

For the majority of the book's run, Jughead was uninterested in girls.  "Asexual" as an identity wasn't a thing for most of Archie's 75-year existence, but for all the bleating since they announced it last year, it really wasn't something that was out of left field.

They've kind of tried to pair him with girlfriends over the years, like Ethel, Midge, and and in one bizarre story, a time-traveling descendant of Archie.  Nothing's ever really clicked.

Let's just say he's a burger-sexual and leave it there.

[dwmckim]

<Re-posted from different thread - before this thread was created specifically for discussing such matters:>

To give a further history of the question of Jug's sexuality, the comic's been around for 75 years and has had a number of different writers, all of them probably had their own ideas on the character and these views probably changed as the decades progressed.  It was always established that he was a "woman-hater" (obviously before misogyny became more of a social concern).  For many MANY years, readers - and probably a fair number of the writers - interpreted this as the closest they could come to being able to say Jughead's gay during times when they wouldn't have been able to explicitly state this in a comic.  (I know for me, Jughead was a great role model as a gay kid growing up who didn't have much others)  But around 1988, in response to antigay backlash hysteria prominent at the time due to the rise of HIV/AIDS, the comics started trying to make it known that yes, Jughead was most assuredly NOT GAY by giving him love interests - establishing that he doesn't date because of a broken heart sustained when he was a little kid.  His childhood sweetheart returns, and he also has some other love interests thrown at him which were quickly dropped when they proved to be unpopular (and having accomplished their mission of establishing that "Jughead gay? No no, nothing to see here...")  Aside from Big Ethel who was been chasing him since the early 60s, the only other female pairing that has stayed around (and has yet to appear in the newer reboots) is Trula Twyst, a psychology expert who's obsessed with attracting Jughead's attention through all manner of psychological trickery and manipulation.

Then by 2010, where gayness was not only no longer a taboo, but having a gay character in Archie comics seemed way overdue, rather finally establishing Jughead as a gay character, the character of Kevin Keller was created.  Of course, Jughead was his first good friend upon his move to Riverdale  they bonded over their love and food and eating contests.  While this disappointed many people (including myself) that they couldn't finally open the closet door on what most likely many of the writers thought privately behind the scenes was a coded gay character, this was probably ultimately the best choice since Jughead himself had too much backstory and established traits that might not make him the best Positive Role Model for younger readers coming to terms with their own sexuality (plus all those decades of being known as a "woman-hater" could have sent the message "gay"="misogynistic")

It's still fun though to read older stories and imagine whether or not the author at the time felt in their own head was a gay character.  My favorites in this light are the stories centered around the U.G.A.J., a group of girls who feared that Jughead's attitudes might spread to other boys and who declared it their mission to try to lure Jughead into a female romance.  But Jughead always won out in the end.

[Honey Bear]

New Archie Horror Comic Delivers Werewolf Jughead

[feverfew]

Thank you all for some great in-depth replies. Now I don't know...what to feel. So far, Betty/Jughead is the only pairing that has clicked for me, romantically, and I have very little faith in the CW to handle a sensitive subject* like asexuality - let's face it, the show is quite like the character of Archie himself: Lovely to look at, but quite dumb - but representation is SO IMPORTANT.

*The dumpster-fire that was behind-the-scenes of season 3 on The 100 has made me very, very weary.

[SVNBob]

For anyone on the fence about picking up the comic, here's a preview gallery from Nerdist, including all the variant covers available.  There's just a couple pages from each of the 4 stories, so it doesn't get too deep into "spoiler" territory.  Actually, I think the covers might make up more of the gallery than the pages....

[peachmangosteen]

I've been meaning to ask, where can this be bought?

[starri]

7 hours ago, peachmangosteen said:

I've been meaning to ask, where can this be bought?

Your local comic shop or the official Archie Comics app.

[peachmangosteen]

Thank you! I highly doubt I have a local comic shop, so I'll check the app.

[starri]

If you want some other suggestions, I cannot recommend Afterlife with Archie more.  I hate zombie stories, but love it.  Might be worth the cost of the first issue to see if you would too.

[dwmckim]

I'd also recommend Life with Archie (37 issue run in the 2000's, not to be confused with the comic from the 70s-80s).  I'd make the case that that book had the greatest impact on laying the groundwork for a live-action drama series that we're enjoying now.  LwA was a more drama-centered take on the characters showing them as adults (with two timelines - one showing "what would have been" if Archie married Betty and the other one with him married to Veronica.)  Every time i'd read an issue, i'd think "you know, i'd really love to see this on television".  Now i'm enjoying Archie-meets-Twin-Peaks and i'm very happy! 

 

Oh and that Archie app - only currently good if you have Android or Ios.  But if you're not in that group, Comoxology is your next best bet. 

[PeekaBoo]

Just read that one-shot Riverdale/Archie comic, pretty good to know the backstories of the characters, although I wish there was more!!! Wish they could write from like a year before Jason got killed and more in-depth... Nevertheless, worth every penny

[peachmangosteen]

Riverdale: Get Your Hot Shirtless Archie Fix With This Comic Exclusive

[starri]

The Riverdale comic (which featured multiple panels of shirtless Archie) was actually...decent-ish.  It was two separate stories, one with Archie, Reggie, and Moose being hazed by Chuck (sigh), that I probably would have liked more save for all the criticism we've gotten from the portrayal of Chuck.  The Betty half, where she's being hazed by Cheryl, is much better.  If for no other reason, because it really highlights Betty and Ronnie's friendship, which has kind of been backburnered on the the actual show.

[PeekaBoo]

On Monday, April 03, 2017 at 11:25 PM, peachmangosteen said:

Riverdale: Get Your Hot Shirtless Archie Fix With This Comic Exclusive

I cannot believe I actually bought these comics and they were surprisingly good. I think its meant to be a series, no?? Cant waitnfor the next one. Would recommend to any riverdale fan. 

[starri]

The second issue of the Riverdale comic came out this week.  It's a fairly solid Breakfast Club homage with Archiekins, Betty, Ronnie, Juggie and Josie all getting stuck in Saturday detention because Mr. Weatherbee thinks one of them started a food fight.  Archie pulls out a piece of paper so they can write up a statement about what happened, and Juggie's first words are "Watcha writing there, Arch?  Another dirge about how sad your life is?"

It's really charming.  Also handles Josie a lot better than the actual show has.

[PeekaBoo]

The comics are pretty damn good I have to say... loved that they showed some dark betty... 

[The Crazed Spruce]

Little bit of comic trivia for you guys. Archie Comics for a while had a line of superhero books that at one point was called Red Circle Comics. And one of the titles from that line? The Black Hood.

[starri]

Red Circle is still around, just rebranded as Dark Circle, and sporadically publishing a few titles, including Black Hood.

[The Crazed Spruce]

Oh, they've been published under a lot of names (Archie Adventure Comics, Dark Circle, and even Impact Comics when they published 'em through DC back in the 90's). I was just pointing out where The Red Circle came from.

(And for what it's worth, The Black Hood's look in the show is a lot like the Dark Circle version.)

[phoenics]

So the Bughead breakup is making me wonder (after seeing past media about Jughead's Ace status in the latest Archie comics in 2016) if they might still go that route?

It's complicated for me because Bughead really resonated with me and none of the other couplings do - KJ Apa just can't carry a show like Jug can... thus it feels like a loss to shelve Bughead due to Jug being asexual.  But then again, erasure.

Ugh.

[Eneya]

OK, people have gone on and on about the asexuality of Jughead but... come on, one comics series, one separate universe of quite a lot other. Considering how many versions and worlds and universes of Archie comics exist, this attitude as if Jughead asexuality is cannon in ALL the realities somewhat irritates. The tv show is a separate universe. Why should it go by any of the existing other universes? Why not go into a new direction? Gay? Bi? Demi? Pan? So many more options. OK, he can easily be asexual in the TV universe too but let that be natural and to happen gradually and for god sake, let us see him handling it and accepting it in a pace different than "done in 1 episode" or something.

[Enginerd]

5 hours ago, Eneya said:

OK, people have gone on and on about the asexuality of Jughead but... come on, one comics series, one separate universe of quite a lot other. Considering how many versions and worlds and universes of Archie comics exist, this attitude as if Jughead asexuality is cannon in ALL the realities somewhat irritates. The tv show is a separate universe. Why should it go by any of the existing other universes? Why not go into a new direction? Gay? Bi? Demi? Pan? So many more options. OK, he can easily be asexual in the TV universe too but let that be natural and to happen gradually and for god sake, let us see him handling it and accepting it in a pace different than "done in 1 episode" or something.

I agree...it isn't like all the other characters are just like their comic versions. I also think it would be nice to have a prominent asexual character, but there are many ways to get there, even with Jughead. I have some friends who are asexual, and according to them, it's quite common for asexual people to not realize for a long time that this is the case. They start out in childhood, when no one is sexual, so that's normal...eventually their peers start taking an interest in sex and romance and they figure maybe they're late bloomers...maybe they try out dating and kissing and stuff just because that's what the other kids are doing...maybe it isn't that appealing but they figure they're just not ready for it...or haven't found the right person...maybe that was just awkward because they aren't experienced enough to be good at it or to relax and enjoy it...etc. etc.

Some kids are more self-aware and informed than that, or have such revulsion toward sex that it's obvious,  but asexuality is a spectrum and lots aren't that clear on the matter. They don't have any firsthand experience of the sexual feelings other people are experiencing to compare to, so they may keep trying sexual and romantic things thinking eventually they'll find out what everyone else is so into, before realizing they just don't have that programming.

 

But maybe Jughead will eventually decide he loves Betty as a close friend but doesn't want the romance and sex stuff. Or Archie will be the one who realizes he's asexual or demisexual. I like that option.

[Affogato]

On 11/13/2017 at 5:50 PM, Enginerd said:

 

But maybe Jughead will eventually decide he loves Betty as a close friend but doesn't want the romance and sex stuff. Or Archie will be the one who realizes he's asexual or demisexual. I like that option.

Frankly that one scene in the trailer? Jughead came across not only sexually aroused but sexually experienced. 

[Enginerd]

2 minutes ago, Affogato said:

Frankly that one scene in the trailer? Jughead came across not only sexually aroused but sexually experienced. 

Maybe he's been secretly hooking up with Cheryl and the public disdain is a ruse.