Another beat-up old Archie comic today. I've come to realize that they're one of my go-tos when I don't really know what it is I want to read on a particular day. They're reliable, mostly, and the old 70s stuff is some of the earliest comics I ever read, so the nostalgia factor is quite high. Some of the first pretty girls I looked at were Betty and Veronica.
When I'm out at comic shops, the torn covers and dog ears of old Archies in the quarter bin is too much for me to resist. I talked a bit about condition ages ago with an old copy of Black Lightning, about how the scuffs and scratches, the filled out mail-in coupons and the rounded corners, the yellowing paper, all of it is a particular experience of comics that is lost on those who are only interested in the mint edition piece. Reading these old comics is connecting yourself to a lone line of readers. This comic is only one year younger than I am, which means it's been changing hands for 42 years. It shows. The middle pages are missing, the cover is barely hanging onto the staples, and the edges are cracked and crumbling. But it still told me some funny stories, as it has told other stories for almost 4 decades. To be able to actually see those decades is a privilege.
Onward.
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