Over the last few months, I’d noted a couple of Archie comics that I was interested in. I’d sort planned on getting something for Black Friday in November, but then something came up on their website. Then they offered free shipping for $20 orders, like they usually do on a monthly basis. I decided to put the order in now.
Unfortunately, I got what I paid for on free shipping. Unlike my past orders that came in boxes and were in perfect condition, this order came in a cardboard envelope. The items were a bit bent or rolled and one of the items was damaged before it was put in transit.
Betty and Veronica Friends Forever #1 Go to Work (2019)
This was the item that prompted the order. It also got the order to $20 for the shipping deal. I love this cover (though it is a bit rolled). It’s absolute peak pop art. It’s also from 2019 and was listed as a “treasure find.” I thought they might have been limited in number, so I ordered quick.
I don’t think this issue was actually ever released. I wonder why this didn’t make it out the door. Was there a defective printing issue with them, but didn’t throw them away. Mine had a few pages that were joined together at the edges. I separated them and the comic was okay and not really damaged. It’s printed on slick paper, so it’s well preserved, at least.
This is the image from the back page promoting the next issue. Veronica looks more happy here than she usually does. The stories inside might have been all new when this was released. The tales feature the girls getting jobs. Veronica reluctantly enters the job market and predictably isn’t Employee of the Month material. In the last story, she starts selling off artifacts around the house on “MeBay” to earn money, instead of getting a job. Unfortunately, this includes her father’s Picasso painting. He has to quickly outbid others to get it back.
Overall, it’s kind of cute, but nothing special. I did get what I wanted with that cover, though.
Betty and Veronica Friends Forever #1 Spy Girls (2025)
I saw this offered a while back and was interested, but have no local affiliate for Archie floppies. I like Betty and Veronica as spy girls, Agents B and V. Maybe it’s the outfits. I’m not sure what this was originally an homage to (Spy Kids? Batman? I don’t think so), though it certainly has plenty of wacky gadgets like James Bond.
It’s sort of a follow up to the old Archie The Man from Riverdale stories (or Betty as The Girl from Riverdale). I reviewed a reprint volume of them. They really should update the concept. Put the boys in classy suits and the girls in jumpsuits and have them fighting some evil organization.
Once again, I love the cover. There is a strange anomaly on it. The boy on the cover, Chester, isn’t in the comic. Given that there’s one new story and two reprints, I wonder if there was supposed to be another new story in the issue. Unfortunately, in spite of it featuring Tania Del Rio and Holly G doing the story and art, it’s pretty unimpressive. I hate saying this. With only 5 pages to work with, they didn’t seem to be expending a lot of effort.
The rest of the comic is reprints. I already had the Agents B & V origin story from 2009. It is fun and looks great (like the pinup above), but it’s continued. I read the conclusion in a digest, but I don’t currently own it. (I reviewed these issues on MySpace back in the day.) They reappeared in 2011 in issues of the Betty and Veronica solo comics. I only have the Betty issue (#192), which sucks since the two comics together make up a double cover. (They did this bit before with The Prom-Crashers two-part story in Veronica #194 and Betty #180. These I also reviewed on MySpace.)
Finally, there’s a 60’s reprint of Betty The Girl from RIVERDALE. It’s goofy. I don’t know why these RIVERDALE stories are so silly. I’m not saying Agents B & V is realistic. They’re just funnier and make more sense.
With this order, I might be done with new Archie floppies. The new Christmas ones I’ve gotten have been disappointing. This issue was at a discount, but a $5 cover price for 5 pages of new material is too much. They do a good job of teasing these issues with marketing (there’s one coming out in the near future that looks interesting), but they’re not delivering. These floppies really should be all new material like they used to be, otherwise there’s not much point to them. (I guess they’re cheaper than the digests, but without the wide distribution.)
Archie Jumbo Comics #362
This one was the most damaged of the bunch. This one was clearly at the top of a stack of digests from the printer. There are hard strap marks across the cover. They should have put something over the top of it before securing it.
I don’t usually buy Archie digests, except for Christmas and Halloween ones. This one features a Sabrina story as a new story. (I wonder why they put it here instead of in Betty and Veronica.) Oddly, my Barnes & Noble doesn’t stock the Archie titles, so I had to go to website to get it. (They have Betty and Veronica consistently and Milestones with Jughead.)
This was a fun little story with Sabrina going back to the 80’s. I haven’t seen Dan Parent drawing a lot of Sabrina, but he clearly enjoys it. Unfortunately, it is a “little” story at 5 pages. This story works as is, but I’d like another, longer time travel story to the 80’s.
These are mostly summer-based stories and mostly unremarkable. It’s Archie having girl trouble, broken up with stories of him getting into general trouble. Plenty of girls in bikinis, at least.
There’s only two longer stories. One is an adventure story with the gang off on a treasure hunt in Central America. I like this opening panel of Archie and Jughead finding a room full of golden artifacts. Mr. Lodge dismisses this discovery in search of an even bigger find.
The other longer story features Little Reggie, but as his super villain alter ego, Evilheart. Him and Little Archie and Little Veronica run afoul of this hot villain, Black Widow. Reggie keeps sabotaging everyone and himself trying to cause evil and ends up disappointed by the happy ending. I would have saved this villain to fight the teen versions of the kids. Pureheart and Evilheart would have been fighting over her.
If I’d found this on the newsstand, I still probably would have gotten it, though with the same result of being unimpressed. Certainly I would have gotten it in better shape off the newsstand. Unless you really want the Sabrina story, I’d pass on this.
I’m more than concerned about Archie digests in general. For Halloween and Christmas this year, Archie hasn’t offered any traditional digests. They’ve discontinued them in favor of a new format. They’re publishing 96-page digests on pulp paper in a slightly larger format. The regular digests were 192 pages and on white newsprint. It’s hit and miss as to whether there’s a one new story in either style. Both are selling for $9.99. Worse, it seems they’re only putting out one of these larger digests every other month, instead of four digests a month. I’m concerned about Archie Comics in general.
Archie Decades: The 60’s
This one at least came in good shape. I was a bit reluctant to get this, but I was still looking for more stories with Veronica with the short and sassy haircut. I’d already gotten the Betty and Veronica 60’s volume, and I was a bit disappointed with that. The Dan Decarlo artwork was great and so were the fashions. The stories weren’t so good and there were only a few stories with Veronica’s short hair. This time, we got the whole package with Harry Lucey’s dynamic art and Frank Doyle’s comedy writing.
This was my favorite story in the book. There was a similar fourth-wall breaking story in the B&V 60’s book. I showed this one to a co-worker and she giggled all the way through it.
What a panel! Like I said, Lucey was “dynamic” in his drawing.
Without even explaining the context, this is another great action comedy panel.
Just to warn you Betty-lovers, Veronica is Archie’s main squeeze in this book. Some of Betty’s appearances here are of the “Crazy Betty” variety. Of course the joke here is that Archie’s torturing himself trying to get with Veronica, while he could have equally gorgeous Betty with no effort. That is the original love triangle.
Not to say, Betty doesn’t have her moments in this.
Betty’s not the only one who’s crazy.
Sigh. It’s hard to disagree with Archie wanting Veronica, though.
Just don’t leave her alone in the kitchen.
Hard to believe, but sometimes Archie does assert himself. Notice that Veronica seems to be okay with this.
And a man can’t even have a moment of solitude. With two hot girls chasing you, you want to fish? (Jughead is a bad influence.) There are some stories with Veronica in the short hair (and she’s a doll). This style only lasted for a couple of years. You can even see over the stories where it gradually grew back to its usual length.
The boys occasionally get dressed up and look sharp. Maybe about halfway through the volume, Archie stops wearing the bowtie and sweater vest and goes with a casual look.
Of course, not everything looks great from the 60’s. Why is Reggie wearing a suit with fur on it?
It’s a little odd that I didn’t really like the Archie digest and the Betty and Veronica 60’s trade, but did like the Archie 60’s trade. It’s all in the execution, I guess. I will say that this book probably saved the order for me, otherwise I would have totally regretted it. I might put in another order for Black Friday, even though I still have a small stack of digests unread that I got used. It’s hard to stay away.
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