For a couple years, I was really into Archie comics, specifically the digests you find at the super market checkout. Part of it was the price, frankly. 128 pages for $1.50 or 256 for $2.25. You didn't get that kind of value for super hero comics. I honestly couldn't tell you a single story, although it probably involved Archie doing something stupid.
I also liked the characters, although Jughead was my favorite. I didn't understand why Archie had such trouble choosing between Betty and Veronica. Betty was the one you'd want for a girlfriend. Veronica would get you into trouble every time.
At one point, I was so enamored with the Archie books that I taught myself how to draw in that style over the course of a month. As I got older, the shine wore off the penny and I eventually unloaded all of my digests at the used bookstore... or so I thought. I unearthed two that I must have missed while looking for something else in my basement so I figured I'd take a trip down memory lane.
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Publication Date: September 1st, 1990
Creative Team: Various
256 pages for $2.25 sounds like a great deal. Unfortunately, the stories of teen hi-jinx tend to blend together. There's a full page add for the Red Circle super hero characters. Was Archie planning a relaunch that never materialized?
One interesting thing is the variety of titles that seem to deviate from the Archie norm: Archie 3000, Jughead's Diner, Jughead's Time Police, and Archie's Explorers of the Unknown. I wonder how Archie's humor plays in other settings.
The stories are Archie-centric (aren't they all?) with stories focused on other characters thrown in. Sabrina the Teenage Witch gets a couple stories and interacts with the Riverdale gang in one of them. There's also a couple stories featuring Bingo Wilkin (That Wilkin Boy), whom I've never heard of. The dialogue makes me think Archie and the gang inhabit a parallel universe where it's perpetually 1957.
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Publication Date: July 1st, 1991
Creative Team: Various
The stories in this digest primarily revolve around Betty and Veronica, although they're largely the same as every other Archie comic. There's also a Sabrina the Teenage Witch story and two featuring Josie and the Pussycats.
My wife said Archie comics reminded her of Saved By The Bell and I have to agree with her. The humor is pretty simplistic, much like Saved by the Bell.
It doesn't say so in the front matter but I suspect Archie digests are primarily, if not entirely, reprints of older Archie material. If not, it's definitely reprints from different eras, judging by the art. Very little of the art is credited apart from the first story. Dan DeCarlo does the covers in the signature Archie style.
The book also serves as an interesting time capsule, with ads for The Rocketeer and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze.
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Now that I've read two Archie volumes back to back, I feel like digging out Archie vs. The Predator as a palette cleanser. This series has some nostalgia value for me but I'd say it's primarily geared toward teens and tweens. Archie has survived for decades past his sell-by date thanks to placement at the supermarket checkout. Why haven't the big two ever tried to crack that nut? It seems like money in the bank.
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