Congrats to ADDTF for one solid year of reading comics naked.

Also, welcome back ADD and In Sequence.

Did I miss anyone?

 
Weekly Archie Review #1



One of the most common complaints I hear about my beloved Archie comics is that all the stories are very repetitive. I can partially agree with these sentiments, and consider the variations on a theme to be one of the strengths of the Archie line. The base premises that make up the Archie Mythos are so entrenched in the public consciousness that even a reader who has never read an Archie comic, or hasn't read one in years, can slip comfortably into Riverdale. Only the length of Betty and Veronica's skirts seem to change.

However, this viewpoint isn't necessarily true. There are treasures among the stock situations inherent in most Archie digests, all too often jarring to our complacent enjoyment. The first example I use when challenged on this is the infamous race between Archie and Reggie when they had pizza boxes strapped to their heads. Unfortunately, that digest is at my grandparents' cottage, along with all the rest of the greatest comics I ever read. Today, I refer you to The Jughead Jones Comics Digest, No. 18, Sept., 1981, with its lead story, Up We Go.

In six concise pages, we see Jughead and Archie take a gigantic novelty ball to the beach and mistakenly inflate it with helium. The story is weak, and the art is pedestrian, but its all worth it for that one panel. Like the album with one good song, or the movie with the one amazing scene you still can't bear to recommend, this story's appeal lies solely in its first page. Without warning, the tranquil town of Riverdale is inexplicably disrupted by a giant, yellow ball. This is the missing link, the kind of story that doesn't draw on any of the stock situations of other Archie stories, but could happen to any character in any story. Up We Go is non-Archie specific, making it all the more contrary to our previous experiences in Riverdale where everything happens for a reason, and is all the more humourous for it.

For the first page, anyway.
posted by Steven at 2:29 AM