Thursday, February 23, 2023

Comics Review: Archie Milestones #18 Jughead Guide to Life


I was happy to find this at Barnes & Noble while I was picking up a baseball season preview magazine a couple of weeks ago.  The store doesn’t always carry Archie digests beyond the four regular titles.  I wish they’d carry the Showcase series, along with the Milestones series.  (These two series feature only reprint material.)  Hey!  I just noticed this thing cost $10, a $1 more than the last time I bought a digest.  Oh well, I would have bought it anyway. 



A few years ago, I bought the Bronze Age Archie Collections on DVD.  The Archie disc featured Harry Lucey’s great figure work.  The Betty & Veronica disc featured Dan DeCarlo’s eternal versions of the girls.  I hastily devoured those.  The Jughead disc featured Samm Swartz’s spare drawings that didn’t have the same visual appeal, and I saved it for last.  Not to mention, Jughead by himself didn’t seem like he could carry a solo title.  He was just a supporting character. 



I was wrong.  Of the three 70’s collections, the Jughead one was definitely the best read.  The artwork also grows on you as Swartz may have been the best at portraying physical comedy.  I’m at a loss for words to describe the character’s appeal.  (Literally, I’ve overly pontificated in previous drafts and then came to the revelation that I was writing about an Archie comic, not War and Peace.)  Jughead basically only wants to eat and sleep, but adventures and complications keep finding him.  Not to mention, as an observer to the Archie gang, he creates his own problems at times.  The guy can even join the Time Police and it makes sense.

 


This volume mostly features two of Jughead’s main artists, Swartz and Rex Lindsey.  Lindsey is probably current day Arche’s best artist.  In contrast to Swartz, he has an eye for detailed backgrounds and wardrobe details.          

 


One of Jughead’s other defining characteristics is that, unlike his pal Archie and every other teenage boy, he has no interest in dating (that’s something of a euphemism).  Perhaps it’s the exuberant interest and unattractiveness of his stalker, Big Ethel.  Given his needle nose and proclivities, Jughead’s probably lucky to even have one girl after him.  Strangely, there’s quite a few stories about Jug’s love life in this volume.

 


(Ethel has made a comeback as a Webtoon.  This character doesn’t look anything like the traditional character.  I’ve personally seen a tall awkward girl in school turn into a beautiful model, but this girl doesn’t quite fit that bill.  The strip managed to offend me in the first entry, so I didn’t continue with it.)      

 


Somewhere in the 80’s (90’s?), Jughead picked up not one, but two girlfriends.  I’d seen this story before.  It’s meta, but fun. 



Here’s the other girlfriend, and here’s Jughead macking on Ethel behind that girl’s back.  What the heck? 

 


The centerpiece of the book is this fairly modern story, The Jughead List.  It’s a full floppy issue story where Jughead and Archie are dared to complete each other’s bucket lists (called a “Check-out list” here).  It’s suitably epic (?).  You can imagine what happens to Archie in the end given Jughead’s list.

 

****Spoiler punchline page***    




Occasionally, Jughead becomes trendy in his fashion.  In this case, he grows a mullet.  Yikes!

 

****Spoiler punchline page***    

 

 

At the back of the book are a couple of cute Little Jughead stories.  The volume finishes with Samm Was Here, Lindsey does a warm tribute to Swartz.  It’s a fine way to end.

 

I’m not going to say it’s the best Jughead material or a good retrospective on the character.  The stories don’t even really fit the title, Guide to Life.  However, any slice of Jughead is going to be entertaining anyway.  Of course, I recommend this.  

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