It was only 3-issue mini-series and I can’t believe how much trouble it’s been collect these issues. I am a fan of Adam Hughes’ “good girl” artwork, so I certainly wanted to see a series featuring his take on the world’s two most glamorous teenage girls. Cringe. I hate having to admit that Betty and Veronica are under-aged, though they’ve been around for over 80 years. Of course, they’re not real and they’re never drawn looking close to their actual age in their high school stories. (Yes, Betty and Veronica aren’t real. I consider them better than real: they’re iconic.)
I collected all three issues, but in different formats. One was in regular comic book form, one was in a digest, and another was in a Best Of trade. I later got one of the issues as a floppy on Free Comic Book Day as a reprint. Still, I wasn’t quite satisfied and couldn’t find the final issue full-sized. This thin trade suddenly showed up at Zia Comics in their voluminous graphic novel section and I snapped it up. I could question repaying for material I already owned, but it was pretty cheap and scratched the itch.
That prologue makes this review really awkward: I don’t actually like this series that much. I was maybe a bit disappointed reading this three-issue series one-at-a-time in different formats over a couple of years, but reading it altogether, it was just a bit too indulgent.
The plot is overly complex, which doesn’t entirely make sense in the end. Mr. Lodge is bringing in a Starbucks-like coffee chain to Riverdale and about to put Pop’s out-of-business. Betty and Veronica set up a plan to ruin the opening and save Pop’s. Part of the plan is that the girls pretend to be enemies on opposing sides. The deception is only revealed at the end, while the whole series is billed as Betty versus Veronica in a fight to the finish. Maybe if the plan had been more clever, this rouse would have been more fulfilling, instead it falls a bit flat and makes the rest of the story ridiculous.
Really, it’s the dialogue that mostly doesn’t work. It’s trying to be too cute and adult, while not directly saying anything edgy. It’s Whedon-esqe Buffy without being smart. Another example is the narration. Hot Dog, whom we all love, is speaking to the audience. It’s sort of amusing, but kind of unnecessary.
Hughes at least kept himself from trying to do “The Ultimate” Betty and Veronica story with all of the cameos and historical callbacks that made Riverdale historically interesting, if insufferable in every other way. (From reading Batman: Hush and currently The Long Halloween, it’s a bit exhausting reading a story that exists to showcase all of Batman’s rogues gallery.) That CW show did seem like an inspiration for this in the dialogue, though not overwhelming so (thankfully). Hughes was trying to do a funny, slightly dramatic, sweet story in the Archie setting. Saving Pop’s is relatively low-stakes given that it’s been done in other Archie comics to the point of being a trope.
There were critics who were concerned about a cheesecake artist doing a kids comic. These people obviously never read an Archie Comic. Betty and Veronica were always eye-candy. They’ve always been portrayed as the most beautiful, glamorous teenage girls ever. If anything, Hughes overly restrained himself. Apart from one single page where the girls are in bikinis, the rest of the time, they are bundled up in fall attire.
You can’t criticize the artwork, but I have some issues with the inking and coloring. With Betty in particular, the inking was in colors at times, rather than in black. The images were tending to look incomplete. This was an experiment that didn’t quite work. The earth-tone colors used throughout were meant to express autumn, but became oppressive at times, especially with the weak inking. That said, the character-work is brilliantly expressive in faces and poses. It would work so much better with typical Archie slapstick than trying to be “high-brow” in story and dialogue.
I hate being critical of this. I love Adam Hughes artwork. Even with my reservations, this is still probably the best illustrated Archie comic ever. Seeing the Archie gang elegantly portrayed by a master, rather than the house style (which is also great), is something I wish Archie Comics had done a long time ago. I’m sure there are plenty of comic book artists who would have loved to have done a story. (J. Scott Campbell drew an Archie cameo in his Gen 13.) As is, this is a nearly unique artifact in Archie history. For that, I’ll recommend it, but temper your expectations.
Owing to only be three issues, this volume includes an issue of modern Jughead, not to be confused with classic, likeable Jughead. Aside from being poorly illustrated, especially in comparison with the rest of the book, it’s more than weird and not in a good way. The take-away lesson of the story is to not take and post pictures of your friends that make them look “swishy,” especially when they’re not. Part of me is shocked that modern Archie doesn’t encourage this behavior, but this is the correct lesson. Just pretend this part didn’t happen in the book.
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