Every now and again I need a break from the extended stories and the angst of the superhero. And Archie Comics are always a good fix. I'm a big fan of the Archie Giant Series series, though after a certain point they're not actually "giant," but regular sized comics. I get the suspicion this happens as the publisher decides to go with digests. The upside of this is that I think the stories in this series start to be originals after the shrink in size, rather than reprints, as most of this issue is. The lead story (actually one of my favourite Archie stories, about a pool table and a warlock) is, according to the GCD, an original, with art that looks like it's by Jughead genius Samm Schwartz. The lack of credits in older comics drives me nuts, btw.
I try to read Jughead's woman-hating in these issues more in line with the recent idea that he's asexual, but sometimes he really is just hateful. And he says it himself, something I find difficult to reconcile with the character (such as it is) that Jughead presents. He's the calm, zen pool in the middle of rambunctious Riverdale. Only when food or Big Ethel rear their heads does he loose his cool. But the vitriol he spews about women in general is pretty awful. There are definitely a few moments where I was thinking that this all stems from Jug's desire for he and Archie to be an item. He does go on about how much he'd love it if his best pal hated women like he did, and the two of them just hung out together.
A bit of context for today's quotation. One of the absolute worst moments in the first season of Riverdale was Jughead's "I'm weird" speech. Forced and just totally unnecessary. Imagine my surprise to find this lovely nugget from 40+ years before that scene aired. Jug sits alone at Pops', talking to the camera:
"I'm a loner! I go my way by myself! Solitude suits me! I want to be alone!
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