Archie Comics Review: Used backlog Part 3

What is Reggie doing here on the cover?

 

Archie 80-th Anniversary Jumbo Comics Digest #2

I bought the first issue of this year-long series in 2021 off the newsstand (3-5-21).  I wasn’t very impressed with it at the time, but I got three of the other four issues of the set used at Coas Books. (Number 3 wasn’t there.)

This issue starts with a Kennedy Brothers illustrated story featuring multiple versions of Archie. The previous issue opening story featured different Archie concepts. This one is just the different standard versions of Archie.

Unfortunately, most of the rest of the stories are just sort random and not that great. Then we have this story with Little Archie taking a blow to the head and suddenly seeing the future. He foresees Veronica getting hit by a car and manages to save her. Some of these Little Archie stories are a bit dark, but wait for an upcoming story.

We have this Pureheart the powerful superhero story. Archie is a superhero, but still a klutz. There’s also a Hot Dog solo story.

In the older material section, there’s a selection of “Crazy Betty” stories, where she’s trying to snare Archie. Why is he resisting?

Finally, Jughead tries out some candy that makes him fearless, as he takes to the gridiron. I just like these Samm Swartz action panels. Okay, this volume is a bit disappointing.

Archie 80-th Anniversary Jumbo Comics Digest #4

The opening story features the Archies.

Veronica imagines herself as a lounge singer, admittedly a great look.

This startling panel begins another story where Archie takes a blow to the head and starts seeing the future. I wonder if you could do a whole digest full of stories that all have a similar, wacky premise.

The Archies win an “NTV” music award, only to be upstaged by “Kenny East” taking over their acceptance speech. The Archies get him back by playing Sugar, Sugar over his musical number. I like when Archie is being topical, but still being Archie.

A beautiful Dan Parent fashion layout. I’m a sucker for these. I don’t know why.

Autumn Daze is a long, multi-part story with a statue of Riverdale’s first mayor watching the kids prepare for fall. He enjoys the spectacle.

There’s an Archie 3000 trade in the Archie store that I’ve thought about getting, but the stories I’ve seen haven’t really sold it to me. It does take until the Year 3000 for the mullet to make a comeback.

The girls meet a creature like the Loch Ness Monster. Of course, he falls for them.

Reggie dresses up as a Jughead robot and starts kissing all of the girls. (It’s high concept, I know.) Betty seems to be okay with it. Moose is not okay with him kissing Midge and disassembles him. Again, this volume isn’t exactly a “greatest hits” parade.

Archie 80-th Anniversary Jumbo Comics Digest #5

The final volume begins with the Kennedy Brothers drawing a story going back to the first Archie story.

Archie and Jughead go back in time and accidently disrupt the first Archie story and have to make things right before they can make it back to their present. It’s clever and frenetic.

Finally, we get a Jingles story in this series. The Sugar Plum Fairy is with him, along with a cameo by Sabrina. There are several Christmas stories in this issue.

This is a long story I’ve seen before. Archie loses the big game, but gets some counseling from Principal Weatherbee and gives Archie the motivation to keep trying. It’s good to see the Bee being more than just a disciplinarian to Archie.

Okay, I warned you that Little Archie was dark. This might be the darkest Little Archie tale ever. If it isn’t, I don’t wanna read it. In this tale, Archie’s dog, Spotty, gets shot! Oh, my God! Don’t worry. A raccoon that Little Archie had been kind to gets help and Spotty saved. I actually took this work and told a friend there to read it. He had exactly the same reaction I did. What did this story do to children who read it?

In the 40’s section, Archie runs afoul of twins again. I saw a similar story from that era in the Archie Jumbo Magazine (6-15-26).  It’s a different set of twins, but the same result.

The series finishes by reprinting the first Archie story. Archie meets Betty and tries to impress her. Instead, he gets in trouble with her dad. Archie and Jughead end up helping out the circus trying to get back into his good graces. It’s a small beginning and silly, but it struck a chord that’s still playing the same tune 80 years later.

This series was a great idea, but not well-handled with the material they reprinted. I’m not the sure what the criteria was for picking the stories. There didn’t seem to be any. The new stories added that called back to the history of Archie were the best part. If I find the other issue, I’ll probably still get it.

Archie Comics Review: Used backlog Part 2

This batch is a group of small, 96-page digests.

Sonic Super Digest #8

I’d always been curious about Archie’s Sonic titles (and their other licensed characters, like Mega-Man). They looked well-produced, especially compared to the regular Archie comics. Unfortunately, this probably wasn’t the title to get. This digest series focused on the various side characters in the Sonic universe. There were also a couple of continued stories that pointed readers to an online app to finish. That was a dirty trick.

I really don’t know much about the mythology of the character, though I have watched some Sonic cartoons. These were produced with Sega’s direct oversight, so I assume they approved of them and kept them in line.

These were definitely for kids. They’re adventurous, but thoughtful. The stories are usually trying to impart life lessons.

There wasn’t that much of solo Sonic in this comic, except for the last story. I didn’t quite understand it, but I loved his Mach 5 bed. Getting this small digest used was a cheap way of finding out about title. It’s not for me, but kids and Sonic fans might like them.

Tales from Riverdale Digest #11

This is a smaller 96-page digest from the early 2000’s. It starts with a Fernando Ruiz story where a group of freshmen idolize Archie and want to be like him. So they end up unintentionally screwing up a bunch and end up in the detention with him. Mission accomplished.

Next, Veronica wears a shiny vinyl skirt. (If only she was real.) It’s a two-part story where Ronnie tries to promote herself as a teen superhero and accidentally foils a crime. A caption at the end asks the readers if they want to see more of Powerteen.

There’s a couple of pinups, including this cool one of Cheryl Blossom.

There’s a story with the young animated Sabrina. Then there’s a section of reprints from Archie’s Madhouse. They’re kind of goofy, but harmless.

This kid with elastic powers looks like he’s dating a blonde Josie from the 60’s.

There is a section with Josie and the Pussycats. Melody is wearing a dress made of money. A very glam-looking Alexandra is, of course, jealous of the attention she’s getting. Alexandra ends up wearing a similar dress made up of 100’s and she ends up upstaging Mel. (Okay, this story is non-canonical. Nobody could ever upstage Melody.) The digest finishes with a Cheryl story. There’s quite a bit a variety in this little volume.

World of Archie Digest Free Comic Book Day #1

This is the 2013 FCBD edition. I never got one of these for a Free Comic Book Day. These are a pretty good giveaway, especially compared to most of the other offerings.

In the opening story by Fernando Ruiz, Archie wins a date with his pop music crush, Ashlee Simpleton. However, dating a celebrity is too fake for Archie and he ends up dumping her. (It’s not like Archie is having any trouble getting a date with a beautiful girl whenever he wants.) Okay, what’s Fernando got against Ashley Simpson, whom this is obviously inspired by. She comes off like a jerk in this. She’s a nice girl (relatively to the rest of the entertainment industry).

There’s a pretty good variety of characters featured, including Betty and Veronica, Chuck, Josie and the Pussycats, and Sabrina. Here she is looking really dangerous. Sabrina’s concerned that Harvey is lying about going out with another girl. Some magic gets him to confess. In fact, he’s scared enough to confess about dating several other girls. This honesty does not please Sabrina, at all. (And hey, Harvey, you’re already going out with a doll, albeit with an irritating aunt and some strange supernatural experiences, but wise up.)

The book finishes with several Jughead tales with a couple by Rex Lindsey and a couple by Samm Schwartz. Here’s Jug not enjoying himself with Miss Riverdale, who’s likely been re-colored from the original. This would have been a great item to pick up for FCBD.

Archie Digest Free Comic Book Day #1

Here’s the 2014 FCBD giveaway. The digest begins with several Archie stories. I like the last one, where he has to take the bus to school and he’s like a celebrity amongst the underclassmen there.

It’s not a Josie and the Pussycats section; it’s a She’s Josie section, the predecessor to the Pussycats from the 60’s. Alexandra and Alex are drawn in their original incarnations here. There’s a Scooby-Doo-ish mystery story, as the kids disrupt a gang of art thieves. They’d revisit this concept in the Pussycats cartoon later.

Fernando Ruiz does a long story with Archie and Reggie competing as ventriloquists with dummies. In the competition, Hot Dog ferrets out a thief with a midget in his lap. The book again finishes with some Jughead. This isn’t quite as great as the previous one, but still a great giveaway.

Archie Comics Review: Used backlog Part 1

This has been far too long in coming. I bought these over probably over a year ago. They’ve been sitting in a pile in my living room all this time, mocking me. These digests are all from Coas Books. Their supply of Archie digests ebb and flow and I picked these up when they had a bunch over a couple of trips. I’ve mentioned before that Archie Comics has stopped making traditional digests. (Now they’re sort of miniature magazines.) I haven’t decided what I’ll do with this batch, since they’re likely not going to be around in used bookstores much longer.

Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics #242

This is not a “double digest.” This is truly a jumbo-sized digest with maybe 30 more pages. I might not have picked this up but for the size just to get a look at. This one will keep you busy for a while.

It starts off with Archie trying to date Ginger, but her cat keeps getting between them, including getting Archie stuck in a window. Finally, the cat ends up falling for Archie and approves of him. There are then several Betty and Veronica stories, including Veronica doing some matchmaking for her butler, Smithers.

There’s a Sabrina section featuring stories by Holly G. In the first one, she meets Jay and Silent Bob as ghosts in a haunted house. They quickly make nuisances of themselves, just like in the movies. This was an odd crossover for a kid’s book with an R-rated movie, but there was an actual official crossover with Archie a couple of years ago.

Sabrina also twins herself in another story to go out with Harvey and her magic school schoolmate, Shinji, at the same time. This was more a romance story than Sabrina usually is and it has continuity. Holly G. also draws Sabrina’s aunts more pleasant and normal-looking than they ever are elsewhere.

Lots more Betty and Veronica, including a shower scene. Various Archie artists love putting the girls in the shower. There’s a long Veronica story with her researching the Revolutionary War with the aid of a ghost.

There’s section of 50’s Archie. They seem slightly embarrassed by this material for some reason and even put a disclaimer on it. The girls are all-out fighting over Archie in this era. Betty is “Crazy Betty” here, but also sort of Hard Luck Betty, who has trouble getting a date.

The girls are pretty fashionable. In this story, Betty gets knocked on the head and insists she’s actually Veronica. It turns out to be a scam on her part, but Mr. Lodge sets her straight. This material, I guess, could be shocking to someone only familiar with Nice Girl Betty.

There are further stories with Veronica getting help from her cousin Marcy and the computer Geek Patrol, she becomes a glamorous teen detective to solve a mystery at school, and joins the circus as a clown.

Isn’t this a sweet pinup by Dan Parent? This was a pretty good volume. Certainly, it was big enough that some of it had to be good.

Betty and Veronica Halloween Annual #237

This Halloween digest begins with a rather un-Halloween story of Archie on a talk show being confronted by all of girls he’s going out with. That could be horror story, but all of these girls still want him.

This is by no means a complete list. It even includes an out-of-season Noelle, Santa’s daughter. It’s actually not much of a confrontation, as everyone agrees to adore Archie. I’m so jealous, but not angry enough to stop reading his comic books.

This more in spirit with a Halloween party with the gang. Betty manages to scare everyone with an elaborate prank. Who would have suspected her?

There’s a good-sized Sabrina section. There’s a couple of Gravestone Heights era stories, though I wonder if there’s only a couple of stories from this era, since that’s all I’ve ever seen.

Sabrina then introduces a warlock to the concept of love. I’ve seen these Sabrina stories before, though.

It’s an ad from the Good Old Days of 2015, when Archie was publishing a bunch of digests and putting new stories in them.

Ronnie in a tie. So 80’s. So fashionable. Sigh. So cute.

Okay, it’s not Melody from Josie and the Pussycats. She’s Betty’s Fairy Godmother, sort of. She ends up stealing Archie from her and Veronica. We’ll add her to Archie’s girlfriend list. (This does seem to be about as close as Archie has ever gotten to dating Melody. How are these two immune to each other’s attractiveness?)

This is cute with Betty imagining herself as a flapper with the rest of the gang in the Roaring 20’s. The short hair style doesn’t look good on Veronica here, not like it does in the 60’s. There’s also a story with Betty Cooper, Girl Detective. She gets her man, the criminal, but loses her man, Archie, to Veronica.

Great Rex Lindsey drawn story with Mr. Lodge explaining that he’s spoiled his daughter, but she’s not a bad kid thanks to her relatively normal friends. There’s a Little Betty and Veronica Halloween story and a couple more Halloween stories in the back. It’s a fun digest, but I’ve read a bunch of the material inside in other digests. Archie’s been around for over 80 years, but they’re not drawing on enough older material and keep just recycling the newer stuff.

Betty and Veronica Holiday Annual #248

A couple of stories about decorating start this Christmas digest, including Betty’s grandma reminiscing about falling in love with her husband. Betty then does some shopping for Veronica, who’s out sick. Betty makes the mistake of haggling on the prices of the high-end gifts on Veronica’s list. “Veronica Lodge does not pay ‘reasonable’ prices!” Veronica insists on being billed for the full amount.

Great Dan Decarlo drawing of Veronica unhappy at a party. The Sugar Plum Fairy tries to help her and Betty get time with Archie, but they just ending up fighting each other before finally making up and agreeing to share him. What is it about this redheaded kid?

A holiday section with Sabrina follows, but its 70’s Sabrina. Nothing to get too excited about. Various random Betty and Veronica stories follow. There’s one with Veronica dressed in disguise with a wig. In another, Betty thinks Veronica has had a nose job. Then, Veronica goes snooping in Betty’s room to find her diary.

You just have to love this panel with the chickens. There’s a Little Betty and Veronica Christmas story, along with a Little Sabrina story with a snowman brought to life. More Christmas stories with the girls follow, including a two-part story where Veronica isn’t sure what to get her parents before she goes to Jamaica for the holidays. She decides on canceling her trip to spend it with them.

Unfortunately, I’d read most of these stories before, so I didn’t get much out of this. Still, it’s an Archie Christmas digest and it’s great for the season.