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!