Comics Review: An Archie Halloween Summer Part 1

I was looking for a specific new Archie digest at Barnes & Noble a couple of weeks ago and came up empty. However, I looked at the digests there and couldn’t resist two of them. I guess this is my birthday present this year, instead of the new iPad that I had my dad take back. I went to three other places that used to sell Archie digests still looking for the one I was after, but they had none. (That’s discouraging.) I could maybe still get it online sometime.

Archie Showcase #24 Halfway to Halloween

How many old, spooky, abandoned mansions are there in Riverdale? This digest attempts to answer that question. Well, by my count, there are nine in this volume alone along with two abandoned mines. I assure you from reading other Archie Halloween comics that that is by no means a complete listing.

Up front is a Rex Lindsey drawn story. In this one, someone moves into the abandoned mansion behind Archie’s house. See, there’s haunted houses everywhere in Riverdale. I think they could do a horror TV show based on this concept. Oh wait, they did: This Old House. (It was usually a horror show for the homeowners.) Archie thinks a vampire woman has moved in. He consults Chuck Clayton about his fears. Chuck is sort of ghetto in this story. I kind of like it. They should stick with that.

In the next story, there’s a commentary on how Halloween is almost more of an adult holiday than one for kids. It’s about as much social commentary as you can expect from Archie, but they’re not wrong. Next up, Archie and a non-ghetto Chuck go to a museum in a haunted house and encounter vampires again. For two horror stories, amazingly, the black guy survives to the end.

I’m having too much fun with this review. There’s a couple of Fernando Ruiz drawn stories. This one seems like an Archie’s Weird Mysteries story. It involves an abandoned mine, a monster, and a reveal that the monster is a masked villain. You know, I’ll bet you could make a cartoon based on variations of that premise. Fernando obviously wants to do a Scooby Doo comic so bad. There was an additional reveal at the end possibly explaining the Lodge families’ wealth.

Reggie then does some myth busting and destroys some cherished myths. Happy Halloween.

In another story, Betty’s big sister, Polly, makes an appearance. See, she is not a myth.

There are a few old Madhouse stories in this digest. They are weird. This is the least weird example.

Into another old, creepy Riverdale mansion an ersatz Adams Family moves in. Archie is immediately taken by their attractive niece, who is a redhead and does not look like Marilyn Monroe, unlike in the Adams family.

Archie helps to recover the family’s fortune and gets his reward. Honestly, Rex Lindsey draws this girl more attractively than he usually draws Betty and Veronica.

Fernando Ruiz next draws an epic two-part Weird Mystery story. The first part recaps an episode of the cartoon series featuring Scarlet, an attractive female vampire, who turns out to be “The Ender,” the girl who hunts vampires.

Archie does not turn into a vampire in the follow up story in spite of this splash page.

Scarlet returns as a vampire. She gets redeemed by . . . Reggie? It’s sort of Buffy. The character could be an Archie spin off title, but only in fan fiction, though. Weird Mysteries was a pretty fun concept for Archie. Too bad, it’s only back in reprints. (They could do a full series reprint volume of these stories. I’d probably buy it.)

There’s a Little Archie Scooby Doo-like story with an actual ghost with a somewhat surprising reveal at the end. Little Archie always had way more hard core adventures than he did as a teen.

Lastly, Reggie and Jughead get pranked. I just like Hiram’s reaction to the spectacle.

Overall, this was a lot a fun. Maybe Archie is going to the well too often publishing out-of-season Halloween and Christmas stories, but it’s hard to complain when it’s entertaining.

Part2

Wave Adoration Post

I simply love Wave the Wonder Dog.  He retrieves the tee at New Mexico State Football games.  Regardless of how the team is doing, the dog will get a big cheer from the crowd every time.  I've run into him and his agent a few times, including three times this season.

The university has marketed Wave well.  Below is the latest item.  This is a Wave statue given out to football season ticket holders.  I don't have one of those tickets (it'd be nice if I did), but a nice co-worker had an extra one and gave it to me.  (I wish I had somewhere to put it.) 

Here's the Wave shirt I couldn't resist after seeing it at the merch trailer at Aggie Soccer.

This is this year's football schedule poster.

Here's a Wave plushie.  I won't take credit for suggesting this item, but they did start stocking it at the Pan-Am merch kiosk after I asked if there was one.

There was a Wave hat giveaway.  I think this was from Women's Basketball.

And here's last year's football schedule.  They did produce a poster with a player on it, too (unnamed).

We'll be on the lookout for more items.  As much as I love the Wave posters, I do hope we get some star players here for football to put them on a poster, as well.  

Baseball and Sports Journal August 2025 Part 6

8-22-25

It was another Free Weekend on MLB.TV.    We know that that means: lots of the baseball tonight.    If work suffers, so be it.    First up was the Rockies at the Pirates.    The Rockies announcer was reading lineup and mentioned Nick Gonzales was a first round draft pick from New Mexico State.    (Warmed my heart.)    Nick got a hit and was driven in by Andrew McCutchen.   

To give you an idea about how the Rockies are doing, the Rockies announcers spent a lot of time talking about Pittsburgh.    (And it’s not like the Pirates are doing well, either.)    Clint Hurdle, the Rockies current manager, was the last successful Pirates’ manager.    The crowd there still loves him.    The Rockies’ color guy grew up in Pittsburgh.    He understands the desperate desire for a winner there.    It wasn’t much of a game on the Rockies’ behalf.    The Pirates won 9-0.    I did see Nick and catcher Henry Davis, a fellow first rounder, team up to catch a runner stealing.

The Nationals were at the Phillies.    The Nats now have a sleeve sponsorship from AARP.    I’m sure the Philly fans found that amusing and let them know about it.    The Phillies new closer, Jhoan Duran (gotta love the alliteration on that name), came in with a one run lead.    There was a whole ceremony with the stadium lights going out and just lights coming on in the stands.    The music plays.    The video board shows the graphics.    And he blows the save and loses game, 5-4.    Booo!!

Meanwhile in Baltimore at the Orioles and the Astros’ game, the O’s broadcasters were showing off their Boog’s BBQ sandwiches.    Yikes!    They were huge and gorgeous looking.    The guys estimated they were 2 lbs. of meat each and needless to say, they’d sold out at the stand.    The field reporter came on and wondered where his was.    They said come on up, they had plenty to share.

The big O’s news was that they’d just given a huge 8-year contract to a rookie catcher, Samuel Basallo, who’d only played a couple of games in the bigs.    Umm . . . What about Adley Rutchman?    He’s injured and probably out for the year (and probably going to be traded).    Astros win 10-7.

The Red Sox at the Yankees was scoreless until the seventh.    I tuned as the Red Sox scored.    That one run held up.    Aroldis Chapman came in for the save and left Aaron Judge standing on deck.    1-0 Red Sox.

In Arlington, the Rangers were down 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth to the Indians.    Wyatt Langford led off with a hustle double.    On the next pitch, Corey Seager doubled him in.    On the next pitch, Joc Pederson doubled him in.    Rangers win, 4-3.    It was literally that quick.    The Indians didn’t even get an out.    They’re are still trying to find a closer after losing Emmanuel Clase to that betting scandal.

More late inning dramatics.    The Brewers blew the save in top of ninth to the Giants on a “run thrown in” wild pitch that brought in the tying run from third.    No problem.    William Contreras hit a massive home run in the bottom to win it, 4-3.    In the postgame interview, William was speaking incredibly fast in Spanish.    I was impressed that the blonde field reporter was apparently fluent and could keep up with him.

I checked out the Chihuahuas at the Rivercats.    Not because it was a close game, it was 12-0 Chihuahuas in the sixth, but rather because there was a no hitter alert on game.    Jackson Wolf was pitching for the pups.    Broadcaster Tim Hagerty sounded intense on the game call.    He was talking about the no-no, heedless of the Broadcaster’s Jinx.    Wolf lost it on a hit to the first batter in the eighth.    It was a great effort, though.   

The Rivercats threw out a position player to pitch in the top of ninth.    Tim called it, “Throwing in the towel.”    This player hit Tim Locastro.    The two know each other and were smiling afterward.    The guy pitched a scoreless inning.    The Chihuahuas win, 12-1, and are a half game out of first.

The Padres were up, 2-1, over the Dodgers at a controlled riot in Petco Park.    The San Diego fans were going crazy.    In the ninth, Shohei Ohtani gave one a ride to center, but it was just a long first out.    The second out was a strikeout.    Padres’ play-by-play guy Tony Gwen Jr. called it, “That was a fastball middle-middle, but he was tardy to the party.”   

Mookie Betts did get on.    Freddie Freeman came up and was serenaded with a Tomahawk Chop chant, but he singled Betts to third.    Finally, Robert Suarez struck out Teoscar Hernandez to end it, 2-1 Padres.    The crowd was chanting, “Beat LA!”    The Padres were now tied for the NL West lead, after they got swept by Dodgers last week in LA.    Lastly, the Mariner’s beat the A’s, 3-2.    The A’s left the bases loaded in the ninth with 1 out.    Lots of drama tonight.

8-23-25

I got home from Aggie Volleyball and tuned into the Indians versus Rangers on the radio.    It turned into Ranger batting practice.    Cody Freeman hit his first MLB home run for Rangers to make it 2-0 in the second.    Josh Jung hit a three-run homer to make it 5-0 in the third.    Ezekiel Duran had a two-run double in the fourth, 7-0.    Adolis Garcia snuck in a two-run homer to make it, 9-0 in the fifth.   

On the mound, Jack Leiter was having a great performance with 10 strikeouts through 7 innings of work.    10-0 Rangers was the final in a tidy 2 hour, 11 minute game.    The Indians had a highlight in Steven Kwan stealing a double away from Freeman at the wall in left.

I finally got to see another NASCAR Cup Race this year.    It’s The Whatever They’re Calling It 400 at Daytona.    (Is it still the Pepsi 400?    I wasn’t paying attention.)    The prerace was amusing.    Tyler Reddick was driving the McDonald Land car and was dressed in a Ronald McDonald firesuit.    He had more pressing issues to worry about.    Him and Alex Bowman were the last two potential entries into the playoffs and this would be the final race to decide it.

The Big One happened with 8 to go in first stage.    Bubba “Noose” Wallace was maybe the instigator and was knocked out of the race along with 6 other cars, including Bowman.    Reddick was in a wreck before that, but still in the race.   

Cody Ware was leading most of Stage 2.    Who?    Road course specialist Shane Van Ginsberg then got the lead, but Ross Chastain won the stage.    Joey Logano led much of the third stage.    With 13 laps to go, Logano had an aero disrupted spin.    He didn’t hit anything, but it took him out of the race.    Ryan Blaney was the shock winner coming from 13-th to first in two laps.    It was four across the line with a couple other guys behind him trying to win to get in playoffs.    Bowman and Reddick made it in.    Yeah, that race ending was pressure packed for me for a different reason, as we’ll see.   

College Football season started off this weekend with some random match ups.    There were a couple of games on TV Saturday night.    One was Southern versus NC Central.    This would only be interesting if there was a battle of bands at halftime, which there was actually.    NCC won the game, though.    Stanford at Hawaii was the other game that I was more interested in.    The Rainbow Warriors are still playing at a large high school stadium.    Hawaii had issues before the big fire.   

In the first quarter, Stanford got a field goal.    Hawaii then made a fair catch on the kick off at their own 1.    This led to a sack in endzone and a fumble for a Stanford TD. Hawaii came back with a nice touchdown pass and they blocked a field goal.    Stanford did convert on another field goal chance, but Hawaii got the ball back with 3 minutes left in the half and scored a second touchdown.    14-13 Hawaii at the half.

I got distracted for the third and most of the fourth quarter by the race.    Unfortunately, both events finished at the exact same time.    I mostly picked the race, but kept flipping back and forth.    At the football game, it was 20-20 with 1:30 left.    Hawaii had the ball, but their quarterback was out on the field on a leg and a half and could barely move.    He got them into field goal range.    The team had a Japanese kicker, who’d learned the skill from watching Youtube video, but he got it done.    23-20 Hawaii wins.

On the radio, the Chihuahuas were facing the Rivercats.    After six scoreless innings, I wasn’t entirely paying much attention.    Randy Vasquez was making a rehab start for the Padres and gave the pups 6 shutout innings.    Luis Campusano broke it open with a 400+’ home run.    Tirso Ornelas also homered to make it 2-0 in the seventh.    However, RC did score in the bottom.

In the ninth, the Chihuahuas scored on a wild pitch to make it, 3-1.    Ron Marinaccio came in to close.    He gave up a home run to start the inning.    With no outs and another runner on, Marinaccio was called for a balk and the runner went to second and the pitcher was unnerved.    He got a fly ball out, but a double brought in the tying run.    The stadium lights went off thinking it was a home run.    The bases were loaded with the winning run at third, but they were all left there.

In the tenth, the RC pitcher was called for a balk trying for a pickoff, but the pups didn’t score.    In the bottom, RC moved the automatic runner to third.    Two Chihuahuas outfielders brought in as infielders and it worked.    RC had 2 outs and 2 on, but didn’t score.

In the 11-th, the fans were getting antsy for their fireworks.    Even with no scoring for six innings, two extra innings have dragged this game out.    The Chihuahuas scored on a single by Yonathan Perlaza, though the runner nearly missed the plate coming in.    It was 4-3, but in the bottom RC sac’d in a run and then a single drove in the winning run, 5-4 Rivercats.    The Chihuahuas drop to a game and a half out of first and lowered my spirits with that loss.   

8-24-25

I woke up late and didn’t really wake up for the rest of the day.    I started listening to the Rangers playing the Indians at noon.    No one had scored by the time I left for dad’s apartment to watch the Little League World Series between Nevada and Taiwan.    I kind of wish I hadn’t gone, since I wasn’t into it.    Maybe I’d had too much sports yesterday.    The game wasn’t good either.    Taiwan won in a runaway.   

I didn’t try listening to the Ranger game while I was there.    Disappointingly, the MLB.TV free weekend wasn’t available on Amazon Prime to watch it.    I got home just in time to hear the postgame begin.    The Rangers won 5-0.    That was a sweep of the Indians.    I flipped over to the Chihuahuas versus the Rivercats already in progress.    They were in the fifth and pups were up big.

I took off for the mall to get an early dinner.    It was a questionable decision and so was the hot dog I got at Deputy Dawgs.    Such nice people there, but even a bacon-wrapped Nathan’s dog wasn’t that great.    I got back home in the top of the seventh.    The Chihuahuas were still running up the score and had a 12-batter inning.    The best play by the Rivercats was a foul catch by a fan with a glove keeping a scorecard.    Broadcaster Tim Hagerty was impressed and the fans gave him a smattering of applause.

In the ninth, the Chihuahuas hit their sixth home run of the game.    In the bottom, the Rivercats scored and loaded the bases.    Tim tried to work out the threat level, but the score was so lopsided, he couldn’t do the math on it.    “Hey, it’s been a long game at the end of the 13-game road trip.”    The Chihuahuas win 16-5.    They went 2 and 4 in this series: two blowout wins and four one-run losses.    There’s a big series coming up this week with the team they are chasing for the league lead.

Baseball Journal August 2025 Part 5

8-14-25

Getting back from Aggie Soccer, I checked out the Rockies’ game.    I only heard some of the postgame with a very weak signal.    They were defeated by the Diamondbacks, 8-2.   

I flipped over to the Chihuahuas playing the Aces.    It was the seventh with the pups up 7-3.    I gathered that the Chihuahuas had batted around in one inning.    The Aces loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom, but only got one run off a sac fly, 7-4.    In the bottom of the eighth, the Aces brought up the tying run again.    They only got another sac’d in run, 7-5.    That was their chance.    In the ninth, Luis Campusano homered as part of a multi-homer day.    The pups scored 3 and won, 10-5.   

8-15-25

There was some interesting MLB news tonight.    The Orioles lost out on a perfect game in the eighth with 2 outs.    They still beat the Astros, 7-0.    Meanwhile, the Brewers won their 13-th in a row.

I was too busy at work to pay much attention to baseball tonight.    The Giants and the Rays were playing for the MLB.TV Free Game.    It was 6-6 in the bottom of the eighth.    The Giants loaded the bases with no outs.    A line out, and two fielder’s choices ended the frame with no runs.    In the top of the ninth, the Rays had runners on second and third with no outs.    There was an FC play at plate with a rundown, but a single finally drove in a run for a 7-6 Rays win.

The Chihuahuas were still playing the Aces in Reno.    In the fourth, Will Wagner hit a three-run homer to make it, 5-2 Chihuahuas.    The Aces came back and tied it at 5 in the sixth.    The pups scored two runs in the ninth for a 7-5 win, their fourth-in-a-row.

8-16-25

Saturday, I went to the Aggie Volleyball Scrimmage in the afternoon.    I listened to a Cowboys preseason football game after I got home.    The starters weren’t playing, but they look kind of hopeless.    For whatever reason, I enjoy listening to the radio broadcasts.    (It’s Brad and Babe.    They’re like listening to a baseball broadcast.)

I started listening to the Chihuahuas playing the Aces.    The pups were a half-game out of first.    A 25mph wind was blowing out in Reno.    In the first, Yonathan Perlaza homered 400’+ for a 2-0 Chihuahuas lead.    The Aces scored 1 in the bottom, but had loaded the bases.    Then the station powered down and reception became too bad to listen to.

I flipped around on the radio and briefly picked up a Diamondbacks game, but lost it just as quick.    The Broncos were playing on KOA, instead of the Rockies.    I thought about listening, but they had just gone into halftime.    (I have no idea who’s playing for the Broncos these days.)

I tried the Chihuahuas’ broadcast again and it was a little better.    It was 5-1 Chihuahuas in the fifth.    In the seventh, Mason McCoy hit a two-run homer into a truck displayed beyond the outfield wall.    It was there for a promotion, rather than somebody having to call their insurance agent about the damage.    Broadcaster Tim Hagerty wasn’t sure (and reception was still kind of bad), but if a player hit the truck, they’d win it.    Unfortunately, visiting players were not eligible.    Regardless, it was a 408’ two-run homer for an 8-1 lead.

The Aces came back with two in the bottom to make it, 8-3.    In the bottom of the ninth, the Aces scored two to make it, 8-5, and had two more on with one out.    The Chihuahuas brought in a new pitcher.    He got the second out on a strikeout and a fly out ended it.    That’s an 8-5 win and five in a row!

8-17-25

The Rangers’ affiliate wasn’t carrying the game again today.    I wouldn’t have been able to have listened anyway.    I basically missed the Chihuahuas playing the Aces to go to Aggie Soccer, but I was interested in the result.    I had some things to do after the game and couldn’t go home to listen.    I was catching bits of the game in the car.    It was a very tight from what I was hearing.    The Chihuahuas prevailed via a three-run homer by Nate Mondou in the eight to win, 4-2.    That’s a sweep in Reno and a six-game winning streak.    I’m not sure where they are in the standings, but they’re either close or tied for first.

8-19-25

There wasn’t any baseball at all yesterday for me.    Tonight, the Chihuahuas started another away series in Sacramento against the Rivercats.    The pups are currently in first place in the PCL thanks to their sweep in Reno last week.   

The game certainly started off well.    In the first inning, Tyler Wade homered.    This was followed by Luis Campusano hitting a monster 400’ line drive shot just under Sacramento championship banner.    Then Nate Mondou homered and it was 3-0 Chihuahuas.    Unfortunately, that’s all the cheering I’d be doing for the evening.

In the bottom of first, the Rivercats loaded the bases with one out.    There were three challenged ball and strike calls early on that created some (artificial and unnecessary) drama.    (Just use ABS to call the darn game.)    The Rivercats sac’d in one run and drove in another on a broken bat single, 3-2.    That could have been worse.    Broadcaster Tim Hagerty mentioned that Sacramento was carrying 6 catchers right now on their roster.    That’s even weirder than the Aggie Volleyball team carrying 6 setters.

The MLB.TV Free Game was an audio-only Diamondbacks/Indians game (6-5 Dbacks), but I chose to listen to the Chihuahuas.    That may have been a mistake, since the MLB game looked pretty good, whereas nobody scored for the next seven innings in Sacramento.    Granted, nobody scored in tonight’s Astros/Tigers’ game, but that one finished in the tenth with a 1-0 Tiger victory via a bases loaded walk.    Tarik Skubal pitched 7 scoreless innings.     

Extra innings coverage came up between the Orioles at the Red Sox and I switched over to it.    The O’s won 4-3 in 11 innings.    In the bottom of the eleventh, the Red Sox had tying run at third with one out, but he didn’t run home on a short sac fly.    The postgame show wasn’t pretty.    The Sox left 13 men on base, had left bases loaded in three late innings, and went 0-13 with runners in scoring position.

Back in Sacramento, the Rivercats tied it in ninth 3-3.    The Chihuahuas didn’t score in the tenth.    The Rivercats loaded the bases in the bottom.    The Chihuahuas brought their centerfielder to the infield.    There would be a play at the plate on a grounder, but the runner slid in for a 4-3 Rivercats’ win.    I don’t know where the standings are after this loss.   

8-20-25

Somehow, though I wasn’t that busy at work, I barely listened to tonight’s Chihuahuas versus Rivercats’ game.    That’s too bad, because the game was a dramatic back-and-forth battle.    The pups went up 7-5, but the Rivercats tied it in seventh and then scored two more in the eighth.    In the top of the ninth, the Chihuahuas got two on with one out.    They managed to score 1, but a strikeout followed.    With two on in scoring position and two out, the next batter went to a full count.    Finally, there was a liner to the outfield.    The fielder made a sliding catch on it to end the game, 9-8 Rivercats.    Tacoma hasn’t been able to capitalize on these losses yet to take the lead in the PCL.

8-21-25

With the day off for Aggie Soccer, I tuned in at noon for a Rangers game on the radio.    This time, I don’t know if they carried it, because the station was powered down and I couldn’t hear it at all.    This has been kind of annoying this month.    It gave me plenty of time to go out and do other things, I guess.

After the Soccer game was over, I started listening on my car’s radio to the Chihuahuas and the Rivercats.    It was the sixth and pups were down 4-3.    They managed to tie it before I got home.    In the eighth, Bryce Eldridge, the Giants’ top prospect, hit a two-run homer on a pitch described as being right in the middle of the plate to make it, 6-4 Rivercats.   

Next inning, I’m not sure I heard this right on the coverage with a weak signal, but the ump had an argument with the Sacramento dugout while on a hot mic.    Broadcaster Tim Hagerty didn’t think that was an accident.    The Chihuahuas scored in the ninth and had a chance, but they lost, 6-5.    This was their third one-run loss in a row.