Who doesn't like Jughead? Of all the characters who appear in Archie comics, he's the one that is most likeable and least "teen" of the bunch. He's zen, he's relaxed. He's Jughead.
Except in this series he's completely losing his shit over girls, which is probably the least Jughead thing I can think of. My son and I had a conversation recently about Jug actually being one of the first asexual characters in comics. Yes, he was mocked for it, yes he was painted as a woman-hater for a long while, but in actual fact, he basically just doesn't (or didn't) have much interest in the hormonally driven sexual facets of being a teenager.
So why shift things in this series? Not that he shouldn't be given every opportunity to develop meaningful relationships, regardless of the gender of the person, but his concern in this issue, and others in the series, over them being relationships with girls is very much out of character. Jug likes hanging out with people because they're people, not because of the gender.
Now, all this said, I still enjoyed the comic because it's a comic about Jughead. This new, and questionable, facet of his character aside, he still evinces all of the qualities that make him my character du choix of Archie comics. We could all stand to learn a thing or two from this nascent North America Buddhist.
Onward!
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