The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2418: Archie Giant Series Magazine #175, September 1970

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I'm in a minority, I think, when I profess my love for the Archie Giant Series Magazine series. Granted, it stopped being quite so giant by the end of its run, and common understanding is that it was a bit of a dumping ground for stories not deemed quite good enough for the main titles.

But it also gives, at least in this early anthology iteration of the title, a nice, median-range overview of what Archie, as a company and as a character, was attempting during a time of pretty intense civil unrest. This era of Archie tends to skirt the really troubling issues, but every now and again we'll get a glimpse of one of the writers or artists offering a subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) critique of current events. If I'm to be honest, it's very often a critique with a bit of a sneer, but, as with Marvel in the 60s, you've got a bunch of guys who are rapidly approaching middle age trying to write as if they're the heppest, coolest cats on the block, Daddio. As someone well past that approach, I recognize that I do not, and cannot, speak like the young people of today. And this is a good thing 😏

What we can never fault any Archie comic for is the quality of its art, however. Archie Comics are the creme de la creme when it comes to cultivating a house style. That's not to say that there aren't differences between the various extremely-talented artists who've graced Archie's pages, but when you're establishing a brand with a highly visual component, visual recognition is key. You need to be able to identify Archie Andrews in any media, by any artist, and immediately associate him with the brand.

That's given me an idea for a rare non-40 Years post. I'll try not to forget.

Onward.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2125: Archie Giant Series Magazine #579, January 1988

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 Can't do a read of Christmas comics without including an Archie comic. I love this cover because Santa looks totally gross recording a bunch of teens through their window at night. And, honestly, that's the most interesting part of the comic. It's a usual Archie Christmas offering. We get one story involving Jingles, the Christmas Elf that visits the gang in their perpetual holidays, and one story of Archie learning the meaning of Christmas and the value of family.

But creepy Santa on the cover is the highlight.

More to follow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2101: Archie Giant Series Magazine #603, November 1989

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The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 2099: Jughead #169, June 1969

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The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1941: Afterlife with Archie #1, December 2013

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Let's just put it out there, shall we? I'm no fan of Riverdale. I thought the first season was a touching tribute and melding of Twin Peaks and Archie Comics, two giants in the establishment of American media. I do not like the direction the show went with Jughead, though creator Roberto Aguiree-Sacasa, today's featured writer, has a history of making Juggie's story a strange one. Witness Afterlife with Archie.

Now, I should also say that I have emotions surrounding this series as Mr. Aguirre-Sacasa left us, mid-story, to go and work on the aforementioned Riverdale and it's increasingly dubious seasons. Mid-story. That's a tough one to forgive, especially given it's the success of this comic that helped him to secure the position of Chief Creative Officer at Archie Comics. It gives me the same feeling as when Neil Gaiman all but abandoned comics after Sandman. Now, it is possible that, in Gaiman's case at least, he had told the story he wanted to in comics, and good enough. Admittedly, his occasional returns to comics haven't ever quite had the same magic as The Sandman. But it's the mid-story bit that really gets me with this series.

And let me be clear: this is easily one of the best series I've ever read. It proves that the Archie characters can translate believably to any genre, as far as I'm concerned, and Mr. Aguirre-Sacasa and his artistic partner-in-crime Francesco Francavilla pull it off beautifully. There's just enough Cthulhu stuff, blended nicely, with a great premise that, despite what I said earlier about Jughead stories, is really perfect. Who else but Jughead, with an appetite to shame the gods, is better suited to be a flesh-craving zombie? It's a truly creepy and inspired piece of writing, though I have been told by people from other countries that it didn't impact them as much as it might those of us who grew up reading Archie. In a lot of ways, it's a comics readers' comic.

So where do I end up standing? Mr. Aguirre-Sacasa, who brings his talents as a playwright to these comics we love dearly,  writes great comics. He's been involved in some projects I've enjoyed, amongst them my beloved Man-Thing, but I'd really like to know how the truncated storyline, "Betty, R.I.P." turns out. Understandably.

More to follow.

Further Reading and Related Posts

If you're interested in more of Mr. Aguirre-Sacasa's work, have a look at these posts.

And if you're an Archie fan, here's all the stuff I've had to say about that venerable gentleman and his publishing empire.

The irony has not escaped me.

Our boyfriend came for a visit this week, and there's been very little extra time. Catching up now.

Here.

Have some articles I've written for CBR lately:

Archie Comics Celebrates National Coming Out Day with It Gets Better Project

AMC Theaters Bans Man for Life Over Joker Prank

Valiant's Quantum & Woody Return With New Creative Team in 2020

Serpent War Introduces An Obscure Robert E Howard Hero to the Marvel U

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1697 - 1701: Catching Up

Y'all, moving takes a lot of time and energy. You'd think I'd know that by this time in my life.

The DC Comics Presents here will show up twice. It has a free preview of Atari Force, which I read in conjunction with all of my video game-based comics the last week or so.

And Tom Scioli's work is just fucking nuts. Read it.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1659 - 1664: Playing Catch-Up

I honestly don't know why I've been having such trouble keeping up with my blog over the last little while. Being unemployed (or rather, partially employed) is difficult. I find I have little energy for much these days.

So, here's what I've been reading over the last little while:

A pretty diverse week, all things considered. Some really cool comics, though that last Marvel one was so very, very early 90s.

Some suggestions for queer comics to read...

I gave a talk at the Memorial Library in Calgary this weekend as part of the kick-off celebrations for Pride this year. I love doing this event. When else is a comic-geek like me given 2 FULL HOURS to talk to a captive audience about comics?

It's a really great chance to meet other readers and collectors, people dipping their toes back into comics after years absent, creators, and the merely curious. I like to think we have a good time and get a chance to talk about comics from a perspective that's interesting to all of us.

I promised a list to this year's audience of titles that I mentioned in the presentation, and some others, that I think are interesting parts of the history of queerness in comics. I welcome any suggestions, for sure. This is a history that is fascinating to uncover.

The earliest stuff I mentioned was Marston's original Wonder Woman stuff. There's lots of reprint volumes, depending on how high quality a reproduction you're looking for. Very cool, and much more readable than I find many Golden Age comics.

A recent discovery, for me at least, is David Anthony Kraft's Defenders #48-50 arc featuring Scorpio - I recently read an interview with Kraft where he says he was trying to subtly suggest that Scorpio was gay. To be honest, from a contemporary perspective, it's not that subtle.

Must mention Northstar in Alpha Flight, of course.

The next section dealt with Vertigo. I'll just list the titles. It's hard to go wrong with early Vertigo in general, though be warned that it's often dark and quite violent.

Sandman Mystery Theatre (specifically #13-16, "The Vamp") - Seagle, Wagner, Davis
Enigma #1-8 - Milligan and Fegredo
2020 Visions (specifically #4-6, "La Tormenta") - Delano and Pleece
Doom Patrol (specifically #64-88) - Rachel Pollack and others

I didn't mention quite a lot of Vertigo titles. There's The Sandman, The Invisibles, Lucifer, lots of really great stuff.

21st Century starts to get copious.

Kevin Keller #1, I still think, is one of the most important queer comics. Blonde-haired, blue-eyed, all-American Kevin Keller is gay, out, and headlining his own comic in Riverdale for goodness' sake! I've always thought Archie Comics were a pretty great publisher. They're not afraid to change and shift with the times. That's the secret of their success.

Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams' Batwoman in Detective Comics is a beautiful piece of art, a challenging and tense narrative, and a queer woman headlining one of the most revered superhero comics titles in the history of the medium. You can't go wrong, honestly. Can't wait to see the television series this Fall.

Other stuff: The Infinite Loop from IDW publishing, Small Favors by Colleen Coover.

I'd recommend anything from the Young Animal imprint at DC. Though I haven't read Bug yet, the first wave of titles is highly recommended, with Doom Patrol and Shade, the Changing Girl being particular favourites for me. Eternity Girl is amazing too. I just pick this stuff up on principle now. I've never been disappointed.

And I think that's it. I'll see if I can upload the presentation for those who might be interested. And I'll be back to updating in the next couple of days. Gotta recover from the vacation ;D

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Back with some more.

First, once more from Pep #226, this bike.

Honestly, do I have to even say anything about it?

Here's the back cover of Eternals #13.

I know that you're thinking "Why is this in the 'Weird, Weird Advertisements' column? Why is this strange, it's an ad for basketballs?" Here's why. Not one person I knew as a kid growing up and reading comics owned a basketball. We spent our money on comics and were notoriously unathletic. This is a very odd place to advertise this product, I think. Or, maybe, I was just a lazy kid.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1479 - 1483: Archie Giant Series Magazines

Ah, sorry, a bit of a cop out, I know. But I do need to get back on track.

The last five days of Jughead have been enjoyable, but not really anything special. There's lots of stellar Samm Schwartz artwork, but the stories are only so-so. Jughead's misogyny starts to get played down here, moving into the 80s, and there's even some hint of him having some interest in women, though this is an aspect of the character I never really liked.

For your perusal, Archie Giant Series Magazine #469 (Apr.78), 475 (Oct.78), 499 (Oct.80), 511 (Oct.81), and 531 (Sept.83).

"I'd like to spin him like a top on that long nose of his!"

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1478: Archie Giant Series Magazine #457, April 1977

Giant Series has a very odd numbering system. There are 332 issues (can you spot the oddness yet?), finishing up with #632 in 1992. Between #35 and #36, 100 was added to the issue count for some reason. Similarly, once we hit issue #251, it jumps 200 and the next issue is #452. So, really, we need to be subtracting 300 from the later issues in order to know properly which issue of the 332 a particular comic is.

It's odd, and I haven't found a decent explanation for it yet.

There are a lot of Winter stories in today's issue, including one in which Jughead ventures to the store for his mother in the middle of a blizzard. The depictions of Riverdale under ridiculous amounts of snow reminded me of Winters in Oakville years ago, when there were some days that you simply couldn't leave the house. Perhaps, though, given the temperatures of late, this was a bit too close to home to be relaxing this morning.

"The secret of Jughead's success is his awkward abandoned style!"

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1477: Archie Giant Series Magazine #245, April 1976

Three things:

First, why is it that the women that the gang try to set Jughead up with are always redheads? As with yesterday's post, I'm really starting to wonder about Jug and his desires for his best friend. Whether or not the writers knew it, through this interpretation we're seeing a good deal of the anger that, at the time, would have suffused the queer community, such as it was. Is Jughead a closeted gay man, hateful because he's unable to live the life he wishes? Perhaps.

The inside of the cover features one of my favourite ads from old comics: Charles Atlas. Of course I have an affection for this little comic strip, as it's the origin of one of my favourite superheroes, Flex Mentallo. Whenever I see this comic in an old issue I'm reading, it's like a little bit of the Doom Patrol coming back to say hi. My son and I have decided that, should Flex show up on the TV series, it has to be either Dwayne Johnson, Terry Crews, or John Cena. I'm okay with any of those choices.

The third thing: this is a terribly, terribly sexist comic. Setting aside the queer reading of Jughead, one also has to wonder if he was the character through which the writers at Archie Comics got out their anger toward women. This comic features two regular-length stories (approx. 5-8 pages) that are horrendously sexist. The first is Jughead giving women lessons on how to treat a boy on a date. It's amusing, but definitely playing on the consideration that women simply aren't as smart as men. Jughead's been known to say this himself every now and again. The last story in the issue is about a "Girl Watching" competition that Jughead almost wins through...disinterest, somehow? The descriptions of the women, as the men "spot" them, are awful: "A pony tailed yellow parka"; "A blue stretch pants flopper." All based on appearance, and with no concomitant "Boy Watching" competition going on.

The last story does have a kind of sweet ending. Jug spots Ethel on her way toward him and runs, forfeiting the competition, and allowing Archie and Reggie to win the competition. To thank her, they take Ethel out for dinner, and it's one of the few times we see Big Ethel happy and sympathetically. I've always thought that she's one of the worst put-upon characters in Archie Comics, so a happy ending for her is a lovely treat.

"Young lady, my methods work only on normal teen-age boys like myself!"

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1476: Archie Giant Series Magazine #227, October 1974

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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Back with some more strange ads from comics from the middle of the 20th century. Seriously, people are going to look back at that century and be flummoxed one day.

I hope.

Anyway...

This first one is from Pep #226, and it's so great. I kind of which I had these. I would wear them over my existing facial hair.

Brilliant. I love the mismatch of the hair colours - they don't care. You'll have sideburns! It's a matter of the drapes not matching the little lace doilies on the coffee table.

I have forgotten where this next one came from, but it's almost certainly an Eclipse comic, maybe one of the issues of P.J. Warlock I read a little while back. It's an anti-SDI comic from the early 80s, demonstrating, somewhat heavy-handedly, the problems with Reagan's Star Wars initiative. It reminds me of the National Social Welfare Assembly comics I posted a while back, though perhaps more overtly political in nature. Unsurprising, for Eclipse.

Betty and Veronica Paper Dolls

I wish I could tell you where these are from, but I just found them floating about on the Internet.

Enjoy!

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1371: Pep #351, July 1979

The story "Fleeting Fame" from this issue is one of my absolute favourite Archie stories.

Giant Box of Comics Breaks the Law! - Veronica in "The Devil You Say?"

In which Veronica meets Satan.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1192: Kevin Keller #1, April 2012

The first issue of Kevin Keller's eponymous comic presents us with something we very, very rarely see in Archie comics: a first date. Existing, as we do, in the perpetual in media res of Riverdale, the close knit gang of teens have always been dating. So why not insert Kevin into this ouroboros of teen dating? Well, because he's gay. It's articulated very nicely by the version of this character that appears on the television show Riverdale, that there aren't a lot of options in a town like Riverdale for queer teens to date.

But before we even get to dating, I just want to talk about the character himself. Kevin was created by long-time Archie artist Dan Parent, and perhaps even more so than the esteemed Mr. Andrews himself, Kevin, visually, typifies the typical small-town American white male. Blond hair, blue eyes, smart, and charismatic. Riverdale has long been missing a blond male to balance out the hair colours of the gang, but instead of making him a rival, a la Cheryl Blossom, Kevin's creators chose to make him inaccessible to any of the rest of the, let's be honest, incestuous little crew. (Honestly, who hasn't dated who in that group?) Having done so, do they back themselves into a corner as far as the stories they can tell about Kevin? Remember that a huge, HUGE, percentage of Archie stories are about dates.

There would be an easy fix for this in that the creators involved could simply have said that there were plenty of other young men to date. But, in an uncharacteristic but necessary attempt at reality in an Archie comic, we instead get a very different gay dating scene in Riverdale. Which, honestly, probably reflects the reality of people in Kevin's situation more than the typical Archie story might. This introduces the flaw that Kevin worries over in today's story, that he is a bad dater, through the simple fact that he hasn't had the opportunity to do so with the same frequency as his peers.

Speaking of his peers (and family, and literally everyone else in the comic), there is no awkwardness toward Kevin and his orientation. He goes to them for dating advice, and they give it freely and with no editorializing. Even Reggie, who, in other stories, has evinced some discomfort with Kevin (note: this too is an important story to be telling in Archie comics), offers to help make over the awkward Keller. A nice touch, this, in that it treats some of the anxieties of teens, straight or queer, as analogous. Who hasn't worried about what the right thing to say or to do on a date is? And who hasn't asked friends for advice? Kevin's familial relationship is also quite wonderful, his father showing none of the reticence that the television version does toward his son. Then again, Kevin doesn't exactly go cruising in the woods in this issue.

One last thing that jumped out at me. Near the end of the story, Kevin is helping his father with some yard work. "Start by digging ditches for the apple trees," his father says, "Then we'll work on the stone wall." Those last two words are bolded in the comic, and I can't help but think that it's not simply for the purposes of vocal emphasis, but to point to something a bit more symbolic. Isn't the appearance of a character like Kevin exactly the sort of thing the original protestors at Stonewall, and all those who've marched since, would want? A gay kid in an Archie comic, dealing with all the same things Archie characters do (i.e., he's not there solely for the "gay" stories), and also representing the more specific things a gay teen might have to deal with. And presenting a welcoming community within which the character is allowed to flourish. A few panels later, we see Kevin carrying a stone for the wall as his date arrives - Kevin has mixed up the days. This panel, though, if you'll allow a flight of symbolic interpretation, shows a young gay man carrying this stone toward his waiting date, shouldering, in part at least, some of the burden to carry forward the struggle. And, I think, to demonstrate that, in the figure of the arriving date, that it's not just toil that awaits, but reward.

A nice start to what I think is going to be a really great month of comics.

More to come...

The 40 Years of Comics Project Friday Magazine 23: Life With Archie #4, December 2010

When the Archie comics that chronicled the possible future marriages of Archie and Betty and Archie and Veronica came out, I picked them up immediately. It had been many years since I'd read Archie, but these comics seemed to in some way be speaking to those of us (and there are many) who read these comics as kids and wanted to know how it would all end up. I was quite pleased to see references to Robert Frost in those first six comics, one of my favourite poets, references that were proof that the writers on Archie were paying attention to the stories, not simply churning them out to entertain kids.

It would be a few years more until I started really enjoying Archie comics again, actively seeking them out in dollar bins and garage sales. But on my way across the country to Calgary, I picked up an issue of this series in my effort to get a comic in each of the towns we stopped in. It wasn't this specific issue, but that was the one that tuned me in to the fact that they'd continued the married life stories. I was intrigued.

Today's issue hit a bit close to home for me, unfortunately. These are well-wrought parallel stories that take the same personalities and project them beyond high school. It's fantastic to see the ways that the writers see the characters growing. Moose runs for mayor. In a fit of uncharacteristic insight, Reggie worries that he peaked in high school. Jughead, surprising no one, takes over the Chok'lit Shop. What's really great about these maturations is that none of them seem contrived. They seem, in fact, quite natural. That said, Archie, in both of the stories, is dealing with financial and employment woes, two stressors with which many of us can identify. While these might be somewhat uncomfortable subjects to tackle, it makes sense that this is what Archie comes to. He was always said to be "everyman" (though that's a problematic assertion if there ever was one), and even into his adult years he continues to be.

I have a few more issues of this in the collection that I'll get to eventually. You really can always rely on Archie comics.

Onward.