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Archie Comics

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Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle, and Forsythe "Jughead" Jones.

File:Archie Cover.jpg
Cover illustration for the Archie Comics No. 58 (click to enlarge)

Archie's first appearance, in Pep Comics #22 on December 22, 1941, was drawn by Bob Montana, and written by Vic Bloom. Archie was conceived by John L. Goldwater, who some believe was influenced by the Andy Hardy movies starring Mickey Rooney.

History

Archie Comics started out in 1939 as MLJ Comics, named after the first initials of its three founders Morris Coyne, Louis Silberkleit and John L. Goldwater.

Early MLJ titles featured generic superheroes, remembered in the lore of comic collector's trivia. The Shield was the first flag-themed superhero, a year before Captain America. The Comet was the first superhero killed in the line of duty. The Hangman (the Comet's younger brother) might be the most brutal superhero of the 1940s. Roy the Superboy preceded Superboy by half a decade, and Steel Sterling was dubbed "the Man of Steel" before Superman. None remained popular.

In 1941, a teenage humor strip, Archie, began as a new back-up feature in Pep, replacing Madam Satan. Striking a popular nerve with emerging youth culture, Archie and his gang were such a hit that in 1946, MLJ changed its name to Archie Comics.

In the 1950s and '60s, cartoonist Dan DeCarlo ceased work on Atlas Comics' Millie the Model, and brought his influential style to the Archie Comics universe. DeCarlo is primarily responsible for the modern look of the Archie characters, and the creation of popular Archie spin-off characters Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Josie and the Pussycats.

The enduring Archie legacy has spanned dozens of Archie titles, including spin-offs, digest collections, and magazines focused on particular characters. Some of the odder series feature Archie and his friends cast as superhero versions of themselves or playing spies in a parody of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. Some series such as Life With Archie and Archie at Riverdale High featured straight adventure and/or mystery stories.

The Archie characters have been continually succesful in other mediums since the comic's inception. The Archie Andrews radio program debuted May 31, 1943 and ran on various networks until September 5, 1953. The "Archie" newspaper comic strip was launched in 1946, and was drawn by Bob Montana until his death in 1975. In 1968, Archie was adapted into a Saturday morning cartoon series by Filmation, The Archie Show. In 1969 the teen's bubblegum pop band, The Archies, earned a gold record with their #1 hit "Sugar, Sugar".

In the 1970s and 1980s, the Archie characters were authorized for use in a series of Christian comic books written and drawn by Al Hartley for Spire Christian Comics.

Several attempts have been made to revive MLJ's original superhero line, without success. Today Archie Comics largely ignores its superheroes, but occasionally some appear in their comics, if only for the sake of maintaining a trademark.

Archie Comics sued music duo The Veronicas in 2005, stating that they had broken copyright laws because of the name of their band. Archie Comics and Sire Records (The Veronicas record company) have resolved their problems.

The Archie "universe"

Archie is set in the small town of Riverdale, California.

Characters

Aside from very basic characteristics, many of the characters' traits and even personalities change from strip to strip, usually depending on the writer. For example, usually Archie is very good at any given sport but sometimes he is the worst player on the team. In one strip, Jughead has a very strong interest in anime, which helps him meet a girl who becomes his friend. Jughead's anime obsession and new friend, however, are gone in all subsequent strips.

In certain strips, Betty does not mind being Archie's second choice as long as she gets a date with him sometimes, but in other strips she is insulted when Archie considers her a second choice and responds with either anger or sadness. In addition, sometimes it's depicted that Veronica dominates Archie's love interests and Betty plays a distant second fiddle, while other times both girls seem to have Archie split 50/50 in a heated love triangle. Even though Archie's main love interests are Veronica and Betty, he often goes on dates with many other girls, the vast majority if not all only appearing once and never again. Veronica and Betty also often go on dates with other boys that only appear once.

There are some similar inconsistencies regarding the source of the Lodge's wealth; some stories depict Mr. Lodge as a self-made man who grew up in a poor part of Riverdale (who thus wants his daughter to study in a public high school to avoid making her a snob) and others depict the Lodge family as "old money" with a long history of wealth and a gallery of pictures of famous wealthy relatives.

Reggie Mantle is usually portrayed as being part of the gang (as a character that's sometimes mean and rude, but deep down is really a good person), but in many other strips he is depicted as an outsider and is an antagonist of Archie and the gang. Each character has numerous relatives that have appeared once and never again. The inside of each character's house is almost always inconsistent. Other details will conflict between any two given stories. In Archie's Double Digest #165, Archie states that it takes a half-hour to drive from his house to Veronica's, which greatly contradicts the numerous previous implications in other strips that Veronica's mansion is only a few miles or blocks away from Archie's house. The complete absence of established canon is an often noted aspect of Archie Comics and may be a turn-off to fans from other comics who are accustomed to an established comic universe with strict canon. See also:

Common themes in Archie Comics

The following are stories or story elements that are often used in Archie comics.

  • The prom is coming up and Archie cannot decide on who his date will be.
  • Archie accidentally invited two girls to the same date at the same time, which he usually does not realize until the last minute. He tries to run between one date and the other without getting caught by either. Sometimes he is caught, sometimes he gets away with it.
  • In a variation of the above, one character may break a date to go with another person, but runs into that person while on the date and has to hide from them. Archie and Veronica are the usual offenders.
  • A cash-strapped Archie attempts to borrow or raise money for an impending date with Veronica. Despite his best efforts, either he cannot pay for dinner or his jalopy breaks down. Veronica vows never to date him again.
  • Moose is jealous because Reggie is talking to his girlfriend, Midge. Moose beats up Reggie. Sometimes, Reggie has a plan that he thinks will help him get past Moose, or out of a beating (ie. Moose states Reggie will pay for kissing "his girl", Midge, and reggie will give him money, or an IOU, but it backfires. Occasionally, it will be Archie who gets caught for some reason talking to Midge (almost always in a nonromantic way i.e. homework) , and chased or beaten by Moose.
  • Archie and his friends help Pop Tate get more business, or they prevent a greedy businessman from shutting him down.
  • Archie is late for school, accidentally breaks something, or disrupts class.
  • Mr. Weatherbee desperately tries to prevent Archie, Jughead, or both from clumsily disrupting or damaging the school when the superintendent visits. As if on cue, the boys accidentally blow up the chemistry lab. A variation on this theme has Mr. Weatherbee so obsessed with Archie not causing trouble, he brings it on himself, i.e. watching Archie's every move, he falls down the stairs.
  • The boys challenge the girls or the Riverdale High faculty to game in various types of sports. The boys think it will be an easy win, but they end up getting defeated.
  • Jughead shows everyone an item that he claims endows him with great luck, and Reggie and/or Veronica are skeptics. But when all sorts of events occur that support Jughead's claim, they do everything in their power to steal it.
  • Archie is at Veronica's house and ends up breaking countless priceless heirlooms. Mr. Lodge angrily kicks him out of the house.
  • An assortment of characters go to the beach. While there, Archie and Reggie love to look at the scantily clad women. Occasionally they organize "girl watching" contests.
  • Archie learns that Betty or Veronica is spending large amounts of time with, say, "Billy," which causes Archie to become enraged with jealously. However, by the end of the strip, we learn that Billy is actually a cousin, neighbor's pet, or some other non-romantic and innocuous subject.
  • Archie (and sometimes Jughead) tries to "make points" with Mr. Lodge by doing chores for him, but fails miserably, causing Mr. Lodge to become very angry and damaging their relationship even further.
  • Mr. Weatherbee, stressed out from Archie's antics, decides to go on vacation or visit a quite, remote area of Riverdale to relax, but ironically ends up running into Archie.
  • Pop, Mr. Weatherbee, Mrs. Grundy, or Ms. Beazley decide to retire, and Archie and the gang persuade them to stay. For members of the faculty, one variation has the person in question in fact retire, but their replacement proves to be so horrible that the gang has no choice but to convince them to come back.
  • Archie is a lifeguard. He has many adventures while saving drowning people and he also flirts with the women on the beach. Sometimes, Reggie is the lifeguard.
  • Jughead eats an incredible amount of food, often in a food-eating contest. People watching him are amazed.
  • Veronica sees Betty and Archie together and develops a plan to separate them. The plan usually backfires on herself. Conversely, Betty attempts, usually without success, to separate Veronica and Archie. Can also happen with Archie and Reggie. One extremely common strip involves Reggie sabotaging Archie's sporting equipment so that he can win first place uncontested or play in the important game and therefore get all the girls. However, the plan backfires on him when the girls opt to take care of the injured Archie rather than Reggie the sporting hero.
  • Archie must cram for a test the next day but gets into a series of hijinks.
  • Veronica's father trys to introduce Veronica to men other than Archie.
  • Archie is assigned to do an errand, but he messes up along the way.
  • Archie and friends go on a vacation together.
  • Archie loses an important document that Mr. Lodge has asked him to deliver to a business associate. However, the document inexplicably still reaches its destination (i.e. via the wind), which causes a confusing moment for Archie when Mr. Lodge thanks him for a job well done at the end of the strip. Some minor variations occur.
  • Jughead runs away from women, especially Big Ethel.
  • Despite the fact that Betty sews her dress by hand and Veronica spends quite a bit of money on her own, they end up with the same thing and have a fight.
  • Reggie mocks Jughead's apparent stupidity or incompetence, then falls victim to Jughead's hidden cunning.

Super heroes

The Archie Comics line published the occasional dramatic action-adventure superhero comic.

1940s
1960s (published as Archie Adventure Comics, Radio Comics, and Mighty Comics)

(Hangman and The Wizard become villains during that period)

1980s (published as Red Circle Comics)

Archie would later license their superheroes to DC Comics for use on the !mpact imprint in the 90s.


Archie spin-off titles

Other series published by Archie Comics

Archie comics in technology

Although the Archie search engine was not named after Archie Andrews, many users made this association; subsequently, the Veronica search engine was named after Veronica, and "Jonzy's Universal Gopher Hierarchy Excavation and Display" is named after Jughead.

See also

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