It came from the 80’s, like the Katy Keene Special I picked up at the Comic Book Store sale.  I’m sure there were other Archie comics there.  I just didn’t feel like rummaging through a bunch of unordered boxes.  I did dig through the $.50 box, but everything in there was either something I’d already read in the 80’s or had turned up my nose at when it had originally came out.  (Still, it felt good to thumb through a Nexus #1 and an Atari Force #1.)

Anyway, this first issue featured four stories with Betty at her wholesome, lovable best.  What’s wrong with this Archie guy?  She’s all but throwing herself at him.  Dan Decarlo does all the artwork with James Decarlo doing the inks.  The draftsmanship and storytelling are fine, although lacking the energy, animation, and, well, sexy of his work that I’ve seen from the 70’s.

I don’t know how future issues go, but the “diary” aspect of the title is fairly downplayed.  Mostly it’s simply a framing device or a punchline.  Betty’s personality comes right through in the stories.  Good things happen to her.  Bad things happen to her.  But, she always remains upbeat and honest to a fault.  Veronica, by contrast, is a complete snob.  Her only virtue would seem to be her loyal friendship to Betty (as long as Archie isn’t around).  Even Archie seems comparatively less than pure around her.  It would seem hard to write stories about such a goody-two-shoes, but how can you not root for Betty?

My favorite story in here features Betty whimsically running into Bruce Spring… err Bingstone?  Knowing a good thing when he sees it, Bruce immediately gives her a backstage pass to his concert.  From there, basically everything goes wrong for her, in spite of having numerous near fairy tale experiences.  Far from being dismayed, Betty finds a silver lining at the end.

Betty also has an interesting letter column.  She presents a reader letter asking for help and invites other readers to give their advice.  Two ads caught my attention.  There is an announcement that Archie Comics is distributing two Disney digests: Disneyland Birthday Party and Uncle Scrooge goes to Disneyland.  Gladstone is listed as the publisher and I remember buying a few of their digests back in the 80’s, but I didn’t know Archie was involved.  The other ad was one for the Katy Keene fan club in B&W on the back cover.  What caught my attention was the drawing of Katy.  Lovely, but she looks a little different.  I’m not sure who the artist was.

It was $4.00 and not mint.  I doubt that I should have paid that much.  However, overall it was a good, classic issue of 80’s Archie Comics.