Jughead Jones

Forsythe Pendleton "Jughead" Jones III is a fictional character in Archie Comics, first appearing in December 1941. He is the son of Forsythe II. He has a white sheepdog named Hot Dog, and has a younger sister, Forsythia "Jellybean" Jones.

History and character

Forsythe is known as Jughead, Juggie, or Jug. He stands at 6 ft (1.8 m) and 140 lbs (64 kg) and can be identified by his long nose, half-closed eyes, "S" sweatshirt, and pork-pie hat.

Jughead is typically seen as lazy and obsessed with food, especially hamburgers from Pop Tate's. Unlike his other male counterparts, he also demonstrates very little interest in girls, claiming to like food better. He generally has a very unperturbed and easygoing demeanor, often accompanied by his characteristic wry and sarcastic sense of humor. He is considered a bit of an oddity, but prefers his nonconformism.

Jughead is a very fast runner and is shown to have a few other unexpected athletic talents. His speed is due to his constant evasion of Ethel, as well as his race to be in the front of the lunchline every day. Many of his other athletic abilities are side effects of other such hobbies and activities. Because of this, Riverdale High School's Coach Kleats often tries to recruit him for various school teams, usually without longterm success.

In spite of his reputation as slow and lazy, Jughead is in reality extremely intelligent, and often surprises his skeptical friends (notably Reggie Mantle and Veronica Lodge) with his vast knowledge on a wide variety of subjects, including history, Shakespeare, sports, and science. He is also an extremely good student, second only to Dilton Doiley, which exasperates his teachers because he seems to do well without paying any attention. Jughead is also a talented artist, and refers to his works as his "Dipsy Doodles".

His many quirks make him the butt of teasing and abuse from Reggie, Veronica, and even other classmates and teachers. Many episodes involve Reggie and Jughead trying to outdo one another with pranks and bets, and Jughead almost always comes out the victor. He is revealed to be extremely clever and creative when necessary, often taking advantage of Reggie's and his other tormentors' weaknesses while having fun all the while.

In the earlier comics, Jughead's real name was a running gag mystery, and many episodes involved various characters trying to discover his real name, and Jughead thwarting their efforts. In one story Archie and Reggie attempt to find out Jughead's real first name. They go to the school office, and a woman there tells them that Jughead's real first name is Steve. After Archie and Reggie leave the office, the audience learns that the woman is actually Jughead's aunt and that she has just lied to Archie and Reggie as a favor to Jughead to help him cover up the fact that his first name is Forsythe. He is named after his ancestor who is an American hero. Jughead started to use his given name for a brief time in honor of his ancestor, but after learning that he was married nine times, reverted to his nickname.

Another mystery is the meaning of the "S" on his sweatshirt, which has still not been revealed to this day, though many stories have come close.

He is the drummer of the band The Archies.

Food obsession

Jughead is known for his ability to consume unusually high amounts of food in a single sitting without falling sick and without gaining weight, though he sports a pot belly after particularly large meals. As a consequence of his eating habits, Jughead is also a preferred customer of most of Riverdale's food establishments, especially Pop Tate's Chocklit Shoppe, except when he is unable to pay his very large tabs. In one story, he is given a "Restaurant Club Card," and eats only fine foods. However, when he finds out how much interest the card charges, Pop Tate pays him the money on the condition that he eats only at the Chocklit Shop. His love of food perhaps has helped create his very keen sense of smell (Jughead can identify food in a can without opening it, simply from the smell). He is also a respected food critic who is said to have perfect taste, in that he can taste a dish and tell you exactly what's wrong with it. He is also a gourmet cook. He once dabbled in creative writing and sought out Miss Grundy's help as he tried several genres including science-fiction and melodrama. Grundy's advice was to write about what he knew. The result was his (presumably best-selling) "Forsythe P. Jones Cookbook."

In one issue, in which a gym hired him to show people how to stay as fit as he was, it was revealed that Jughead has a very rare and amazing metabolism, which accounts for his ability to eat so much and not gain weight. This is because he frequently binges. In fact, Jughead once claimed that he weighed 300 pounds after a meal. In another story, Betty asked Jughead to give the owner of the ice cream shop where she worked at some pointers on how to improve the shop's products.

In one story, students from an adjacent town's high school challenge the students of Riverdale to an eating contest, pitting their chubby undefeated champion against Jughead. Jughead handily beats the other guy, but won't stick around to celebrate: he wants to stock up on munchies for watching TV that evening. In another, he is part of a citywide eating contest, having to eat a "Colossal Burger" made up of 16 different burgers. He barely succeeds, then loses the sudden death round, claiming that his failure was due to not practicing enough, having eaten two colossal burgers earlier as practice.

In another story, Jughead set two world records for eating pizza; one for speed-eating a pizza, and one for eating the most pizzas in one sitting — 12. He tied the second record, set by himself earlier that day at another restaurant, where he ate 12 pizzas just to be sure that he could do it.

In addition to his metabolism, another reason for Jughead's incredible appetite is his ability to "train" while eating. The high school whose champion was pitted against Jughead in an eating contest also sent a girl to 'date' Jughead and stuff him so full of food on their dates that he would be too full to beat their champion. Amazingly, after eating enough food for a small army on his dates, Jughead still manages to win the contest with the rival champion. Jughead explains to his stunned rivals that top athletes need to constantly train in order to stay in shape, and when the girl from the rival school had dated him and taken him to every restaurant in town, she was actually helping him "train" for the eating contest.

Jughead has been known to cruise through lengthy homework sessions with ease while eating. Archie once bribed him to complete a school assignment, but to his chagrin, Miss Grundy credited Jughead with it due to the amount of food stains on the paper. When confronted by Archie, Jughead just shrugged and replied, "I never said I was neat."

Jughead also loves penny candy dearly; when a candy store opens in Riverdale, he spends his allowance on a large bag of sweets – only to meet a young boy outside who can't afford any. Reluctantly, Jughead gives the boy his bag, but feels better for it afterwards, when he sees how happy the candy makes the boy.

Jughead's hat

Jughead is almost always seen wearing his trademark gray crown beanie. This type of crown-shaped cap often puzzles modern readers, but caps like this were popular among boys in the 1930s and 1940s. It was made from a man's felt fedora hat with the brim trimmed in a zig-zag and turned up. In the 1920s and 1930s, such caps usually indicated the wearer was a mechanic; Goober Pyle from The Andy Griffith Show (who worked at the local gas station) wore a similar cap. The thug played by Jeff Goldblum in Death Wish also wears a similar beanie. Jughead's beanie was recolored in black when he appeared in the Filmation cartoons. In The New Archies, his beanie was recolored pink.

Jughead is representative of a type of adolescent- the one who has not fully matured yet. That he wears a kid's beanie is thought to represent the fact that, kid-like, he is still anti-girl.

The dot and dash that adorn his hat constitute the Morse code symbol for the letter "A".

On at least one occasion during his high school sports career, Jughead was pulled aside and reprimanded by school principal Mr. Weatherbee for wearing the beanie instead of a proper baseball uniform cap. Jughead complied, but then started performing so badly that Weatherbee was forced to relent.

Family and friends

Jughead's best friend is Archie Andrews, despite their personality difference. Archie was the first person that Jughead met upon moving to Riverdale, and he is often dragged into Archie's schemes and antics. Jughead is usually the first one to bail Archie out of trouble with Mr. Weatherbee, Mr. Lodge, or with Betty and Veronica (though some times he only makes things worse). Jughead, extremely loyal, is willing to do almost anything to help his friend, something which Archie occasionally takes for granted.

Reggie is another one of Jughead's close friends, though his and Jughead's relationship is defined by their constant competition. Reggie never loses an opportunity to insult Jughead ("needle-nose" being his favorite nickname) and Jughead often responds with tricks to aggravate Reggie. Though it often appears they hate each other, and neither will admit otherwise, they really do care for one another.

Besides being best friends with Archie, Jughead also has a soft spot for Betty Cooper. Betty is a great cook, which is one of the reasons that he loves to hang out with her. Jughead also provides a shoulder to cry on whenever Betty has trouble with Archie or Veronica. There has also been one strip where Jughead tells Betty that if he was to ever kiss a girl willingly, it would be her. Writers of Archie comics sometimes make comments on how they want Jughead to hook up with Betty, but that would ruin the formula of the love triangle between Archie, Betty, and Veronica that has been going on for decades.

Jughead seems to have constant arguments or banter with Veronica Lodge. Veronica cannot stand his laid-back attitude and witticisms, and Jughead seems to enjoy teasing Veronica with pranks and clever comebacks. He once told Veronica he was "mad with passion" for her, and began popping up wherever she went, to get her off his back after she criticized him publicly. Even though Jughead seems to dislike Veronica a lot, there was one strip where he stuck up for her, when another boy tried to force himself on her.

Veronica and Jughead were once cast together in a school play, which required them to kiss. Jughead proved to be a "good kisser"; Veronica was caught up in the moment and fell in love with Jughead for a while. But Jughead managed to get her over her crush, with the help of a garlic & onion sandwich. The only time when Jughead and Veronica don't argue is when they are both yelling at Reggie.

Jughead's other friends include Dilton Doiley and Big Moose. Other than Dilton, Jughead probably gets along with Moose better than the other guys because of his non-confrontational attitude.

Jughead's family includes his father Timothy, his mother Gladys and in later comics, his younger sister Jellybean. He also has many eccentric relatives including addled Uncle Herman, or "Doc Jones", a daffy and slightly pompous inventor whose creations usually wreak havoc on Jughead and/or his friends and his lookalike younger cousin, Souphead. Souphead may well be the younger brother of Moosehead, Jughead's other lookalike. Unlike Jug, Moosehead is a snappy dresser and a ladies man, and his unannounced arrival in Riverdale had Archie and gang mightily confused at first. Jughead also tells many stories of his ancestors, who prove to be quite as interesting as himself.

A 1970s "Archie" cartoon episode featured Jughead's grandparents Jones—both of whom resemble Jughead.

One may make the case that Jughead's unofficial "family" includes fellow hamburger-lover J. Wellington Wimpy, fellow beatnik Maynard G. Krebs, and fellow hamburger- (and Scooby Snack-) loving beatnik Norville "Shaggy" Rogers.

In the "Mad Magazine" universe, Jughead's doppleganger is nicknamed Bottleneck. Bottleneck wears a beanie that resembles a broken bottleneck. His best friend (and fellow juvenile delinquent) is Starchie.

Miniseries

Jughead's Fantasy, resulting from Jughead's Folly, lasted for three issues and featured Jughead's dreams of various alter-egos, including "Sir Jugalot", "Peter Goon--Private Eye", and "Son of Hercules".

Jughead's Time Police was a series that began in 1990 featuring Jughead as a hero of the 29^th century and a member of the Time Police, an organization that ensures history to remain the same for the future's sake. In this series, the beanie gives Jughead the ability to time travel by thinking. With his supervisor, Marshal January McAndrews, Jughead repairs disturbances in the past.

In Explorers of the Unknown, Jughead played Squint, a daredevil escape artist.

Jughead starred in Jughead's Diner in 1990, where he runs a diner with an eclectic cast of patrons.

Love interests and relationships

Jughead is well known for his lack of interest in girls, something that sets him apart from Archie and Reggie. Ironically, his apathy, and sometimes downright dislike towards girls often attracts rather than repel them. His most ardent admirer is "Big Ethel", a gangly, awkward, but very friendly girl who chases after Jughead at every opportunity, despite Jughead's constant and blunt refusals. Recent storylines have shown a decrease in her obsession with him, and even show her dating other guys. This makes Jughead surprisingly jealous. It is revealed that Jughead secretly enjoys the attention, although he claims he only puts up with Ethel's company if she offers him food (Ethel is a good cook). (In one episode of a cartoon version of the 1970s Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Sabrina accidentally turns Big Moose into a genius-and it's Moose's "advice" that helps Big Ethel catch Jughead!).

In the story "Phood Phobia", Archie and Dilton Doiley discover another reason for Jughead's immense appetite: girls make him nervous, and he turns to food for comfort, since eating keeps him from having to talk to them. When confronted with this, Jughead is stunned: "You mean I've had this much fun eating because of... GIRLS???" He then declares "No girl is going to make me happy! I'll never eat again!"

Although Jughead usually doesn't seem interested in love, there have been several strips where he semi-enjoys himself with Ethel, and one strip where he professes an interest in Betty. Jughead usually doesn't like any long-term relationships, largely due to the observation (gained from watching Archie's romantic entanglements) that dating complicates a guy's life and deprives him of cash that could be used to buy burgers.

One of the common misconceptions about Jughead is that he is a misogynist. This has been disproved many times; throughout most of his history, Jughead has been depicted as disliking romance and the ways it leads young men to make fools of themselves, but not women. In one story, when he saw how upset Miss Grundy was on her birthday, Jughead rallied his fellow students to cheer Miss Grundy up. In the 1942 Archie #1, however, it states that (Jughead) "hates dames - they keep him awake!"

In current issues of the comics, a brown-haired girl named Trula Twyst appears to drive Jughead crazy with her ability to predict his next moves. In the early 1990s, Jughead had three girlfriends: Debbie, Joani, and January McAndrews. The latter is Archie's descendant in the future, who starred with Jughead in Jughead's Time Police, a short-lived spinoff comic about their adventures traveling through time.

In another story, he describes that the reason why he does not chase after girls is because of a childhood heartbreak, sustained before he moved to Riverdale. Before he moved to Riverdale, little Jughead befriended a girl named Joani Jumpp. Both of them had a puppy love relationship. Jughead's family moved to Riverdale, and he had to leave Joani behind. Determined not to go through any heartbreak again, he swore off girls. He keeps little Joani's picture in his wallet to reminds him about his heartbreak, and vows never to fall in love. That changes when Joani suddenly appears on his door step. Joani is a young woman now, and she tells Jughead that she never forgot him and still has a crush on him. The two shared their first kiss together. Before Jughead decides whether he wants to pursue a relationship with Joani, she leaves him - but with a promise that they will be together again. (Jughead Jones Digest Magazine #81). The comic strip even had Jughead say, "Sometimes life is just more interesting than burgers and shakes."

Another thread that has run through stories in recent years involves a psychic experience he is supposed to have had, caused by an odd pin he wears on his hat. He was seen by various friends hanging around girls; when Moose saw this, he thought he was having "hallusinerations and garages" (hallucinations and mirages). Sure enough, Moose's own girlfriend Midge is captivated by Jughead, too, but Moose leaves Jug alone, sure it's still a "hallusineration."

In Kevin Smith's film Chasing Amy, two characters argue over Jughead's sexuality, with one remarking "Why do you think Jughead wears that crown-looking hat? Because he is the king of queen Archie's world."

Musical interests

Jughead is the drummer for The Archies. In one four-part story which included many flashbacks of Jughead's life, Archie had commented that the reason he'd chosen the position of drummer was that he was too introverted to play at the front of the stage. (The drummer normally has the drum kit at the back of the stage.) Another reason why he may have become the drummer was that he could put food in his drums to eat while he played. He has also professed a love for jazz music, once detailed in an issue of Jughead Magazine where he develops an obsession with an obscure jazz drummer named "Crazy" Willie Jim, much like Lisa Simpson's infatuation with Bleeding Gums Murphy. After collecting all his records, Jughead finally meets Jim (who is at least 80 years old), playing on a street corner with a jazz trio. Jughead convinces Jim that he is trustworthy and they become fast friends. Jughead convinces Jim to play with The Archies at one of their gigs, and he is a hit. Later, Jughead discovers that Jim has died. Jughead takes his place at Jim's drum kit on the corner to play one last, mournful version of "St. James Infirmary Blues".

Special abilities

Jughead possesses a better sense of smell than most normal humans, and can run faster than anyone else in his town. He also enjoys skateboarding. He is an excellent cook, artist, basketball player, baseball pitcher, martial artist, swimmer, dancer, thinker, and gymnast.

File:Jughead jones.gif

Most of the time he is depicted as lazy. In one issue, Mr. Weatherbee tries to cut down on Jughead's food consumption, only to realize that Jughead's brain stops functioning without massive amounts of food. Professor Flutesnoot implies that although Jughead eats an enormous amount, the calories are all burned by his brain activity and that's how he remains thin.

In several issues, Jughead has demonstrated that his IQ is well above average. In one story, he was given an award for being the best student in the school. In a different story in Little Archie, it was revealed that Jughead was the second-best student in the school, Dilton Doiley being the first. His intelligence is displayed by his sharp wit, the occasional deep insight, and the odd chance he gets to upstage or outsmart Reggie Mantle. He also appears to have unparalleled good luck.

Still, he is open-minded enough so that he will even help Reggie, of all people. On one occasion, when Reggie was running from Moose, Jughead was doing some painting and painted Reggie up and messed up his hair and clothing so that when Moose approached he could say, "But, Moose, you already clobbered him!" Moose walks off, bewildered.

In the "Super Teens" stories (where several of the main Archie characters are secretly superheroes), Jughead can become Captain Hero, gaining a caped costume and more muscular physique (varying from story to story; in some depictions, Captain Hero has a stereotypically "buff" superhero build, while in others, he appears to be little more than Jughead with more muscle tone), but retaining his crown-shaped cap. Captain Hero appears when Jughead recites the magic incantation (similar to Green Lantern's oath):

Teeny weeny magic beanie pointing towards the sky; give me muscle, power, vigor - form a super guy!

Captain Hero was arguably the most powerful of the Super Teens, if only because he always seems to possess just the right powers for the problem at hand. Captain Hero's overall powers were never completely defined, but he maintained certain "stock" superhuman powers, such as enhanced strength and resistance to conventional injury. In the earliest Captain Hero stories, Jughead's alter ego was often presented as the most serious and competent of the Super Teens, and the others would defer to Captain Hero's leadership when he was present, in contrast to Jughead's perceived status as Archie's sidekick and a generally lazy individual.

In one story, Jughead also writes a story about his favorite superhero named Captain Wham. He also imagines Captain Wham as his superhero alter-ego and was mostly likely to be called Forsythe rather than Jughead.

In other stories, Jughead has shown the following abilities: control weather (causing rain clouds to appear over his head), give the evil-eye (curse people with bad luck), learn the skills presented in any book he reads (including downhill skiing while reading a book - though the knowledge is lost when he reads a new book), and predict the future.

His eyes are always at least partially closed. Whenever he truly opens his eyes, and makes direct eye contact, he is able to hypnotize people to do his bidding.

Hot Dog

Jughead and Hot Dog

Hot Dog is Jughead's dog, though when he first appeared in Pep Comics # 224 (December, 1968), he belonged to Archie. Because of some confusion between the Archie Comics artists and the Filmation animation studio, Hot Dog switched owners frequently when he started appearing more. Hot Dog was eventually given a permanent home at Jughead's. Hot Dog is a long-haired mutt who resembles a sheepdog. He usually thinks like a human in that his thoughts are presented in voice-over (or thought bubble in the comics) to the audience as asides where the dog's mouth does not move. Hot Dog is lazy, constantly hungry, and has a dislike for Reggie Mantle, much like Jughead. When Jughead's family objected to Hot Dog living indoors because he was covered in dirt, Dilton Doiley built Hot Dog a doghouse full of whimsical inventions, which was the kickoff plot for the miniseries Hot Dog. Hot Dog is usually considered a member of Archie's Gang. He is also the mascot for The Archies . In the Filmation series, he is often seen pretending to "conduct" the band. He is married to Lucretia, Veronica's dog, which makes Jughead and Veronica in-laws. In the 1970s "Sabrina the teenage witch" Hot dog has a sidekick "Chili Dog" who is smaller and red haired; a running gag is the two dogs "battles" with Sabrina's cat Salem Saberhagen

Career

In the TV movie and subsequent comic book To Riverdale and Back Again, which portrayed all of the characters fifteen years after their graduation from high school, Jughead has become a psychiatrist. He has a successful private practice outside of Riverdale, but is divorced and is raising his young son Jordan, who Archie jokingly refers to as Jughead Junior.

Cameos

Jughead has made a cameo reference in Johnny Bravo in the episode Bravo-Dooby-Doo when he asks Shaggy Rogers "What's up with Jughead?" as a rhetorical question, breaking the fourth wall. However, this was technically more of an in-joke by Hanna-Barbera and Cartoon Network than a cameo appearance.

References

Official website

External links

• Archie Universe