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Everything Archie => All About Archie => Topic started by: DeCarlo Rules on April 03, 2016, 07:28:31 AM

Title: "Betty Cooper, Betty Cooper!"
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on April 03, 2016, 07:28:31 AM
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"BETTY COOPER, BETTY COOPER!"
-- Betty and Me, issues 79 (Oct 1976) through issue 86 (Aug 1977)

Notable as being an epic 8-part continued story that would not be exceeded in length until the 37-issue Life With Archie Magazine. The deliberate soap opera running subplots would not be used in an Archie story again until "The Married Life", along with a conglomeration of fantasy and science fictional tropes (vampires, magic genies, dimensional travel, spirit possession, mad scientists, shrinking potions, alien androids). Although ostensibly inspired by the then-current cult syndicated TV series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, that parodied soap-operatic melodramatics in an over-the-top fashion, it's hard to say, without having read this story, whether it was being told tongue-in-cheek, or in the fairly straightforward fashion of the then-current incarnation of Life With Archie's adventure/mystery stories. This story is definitely ripe for reprinting, serialized over several issues of one of the two B&V digest titles (probably Betty and Veronica Double Digest, since that's published 10 times per year). Possibly this story could even be attributed as a product of a teenage girl's imagination... one of Betty's exercises of her creative writing talents (?)

Each issue was told in four chapters of 5-6 pages each, continuing from issue 79 through issue 86.

Plot synopsis:

79.1 - Betty develops red skin blotches, her Uncle Drago is visiting but keeps odd hours and wails a lot, Archie is afraid of a secret his parents are hiding from him, and Jughead visits his father at the hospital.
79.2 - The Count's wails are due to an impacted fang. Betty and Archie go to Veronica's house, where they discover Veronica has red blotches too, just like Betty. The two girls conclude they must be sisters. And two thugs are casing the Lodge mansion.
79.3 - Mac and Beamish offer Betty a ride home only to end up kidnapping her, as they think she's Veronica. They have Betty call Mr. Lodge with their demands, but he hangs up on her after she calls him "Daddy."
79.4 - Betty calls Mr. Lodge again and delivers the kidnappers' demands. Betty is disgusted with the house whre the criminals live, and begins cleaning the place. She also sends Beamish to the store for groceries so she can cook them a decent meal. They discover she's not Veronica, but she continues to cook and clean for them, and starts working on plans to redecorate the place.

80.1 - Betty chases Mac and Beamish away with her good intentions, Archie finds that he's not adopted, Count Drago still has an impacted fang, and Forsythe is still working as the hospital elevator operator. Jughead gets a warning about the Limping Man, Betty's blemishes disappear and then she is possessed by Felicity Goodbody, an evil gypsy.
80.2 - Betty's possession by Felicity Goodbody comes and goes, so that when Felicity causes trouble no one believes that the cause is sweet, lovable Betty Cooper. Count Drago gets a call from Count Stabinsky.
80.3 - As Count Drago watches vampire movies, Felicity sends out anonymous poison pen letters accusing people of terrible things, like Veronica cheating on a history exam. She also causes Archie to become very sick.
80.4 - Jughead and Veronica compare notes and find that Jughead's note -- warning him to beware the Limping Man-- is not in the same handwriting. Count Drago races into the Cooper home after having dinner with Count Stabinsky, who ordered hickory stakes from the lumber yard, not steaks as the Count thought.

81.1 - The Limping Man almost catches up to Jughead, who ducks into the hospital only to be saved by his father. Count Drago is paranoid that Count Stabinsky plans to do him in. Archie's sickness is getting worse, and Felicity takes over Betty again.
81.2 - Felicity laughs as Archie goes deeper into a coma and then she tortures other creatures as well. The Limping Man corners Jughead with murder on his mind, but Jughead escapes thanks to his dad's intervention. A group of bats helps Count Drago -- while in his bat form -- escape from Count Stabinsky. Touched by the gesture, Count Drago vows to remain in his bat form forever and stay with his new family.
81.3 - Cornering Jughead, the Limping Man reveals he was injured by the elevator operator twelve years ago and decided to wreak vengeance on the operator's children. Forsythe tells the man he's targeting the wrong group of people, as the elevator that injured him was in another building. Humbled, Jughead offers the Limping Man a pepper sandwich -- one of Jughead's favorites. It is so hot that the man's limp is cured. Meanwhile, Betty and Veronica visit the Gypsy Lady, but Felicity possesses Betty at that moment, only to find that the Gypsy Lady has been possessed by the spirit of Felicity's mother.
81.4 - As Betty is again possessed by Felicity, the Gypsy Lady is possessed by the spirit of Felicity's mother, who spanks the spirit of the willful child out of Betty forever. With Felicity gone, Archie quickly recovers and Jughead tells the group about the end of the Limping Man mystery.

82.1 - Betty is traumatized when Archie is badly injured in a car accident. Concerned, the Lodges send Betty to their psychiatrist, Dr. Norick, who records all of his sessions. While looking for a new tape to record her sessions, she discovers that Dr. Norick has hypnotized Mr. Lodge into giving him $100,000.00 when Norick uses the post-hypnotic word "armadillo."
82.2 - Betty escapes from Dr. Norick by running into an antique store. She trips into an old mirror and is transported to another dimension. She watches through the mirror as Norick threatens the antiques dealer then leaves once he can't find Betty. Betty returns to her own dimension and the antiques dealer tells her of the mirror's power to protect the good ones. Wanting to see if Archie is well, the antique dealer switches on an old television that shows Archie is recovering very nicely. Overjoyed, Betty faints.
82.3 - Jughead finds Betty in the antique store and helps her to her feet. They decide to get the tape from Dr. Norick's office. Jughead tosses the tape to Betty as the police arrest him for trespassing. Betty races to the hospital where she hopes to find Mr. Lodge visiting Archie. Betty tosses the tape to Archie as Dr. Norick enters the room. Norick grabs Betty as Mr. Lodge and Veronica enter the room. Archie plays the tape implicating Norick as everyone listens.
82.4 - Betty is freed from Dr. Norick's grip by Mr. Lodge and the police, who were looking for Dr. Norick to report that his office had been broken into. Mr. Lodge presses charges against Dr. Norick and bails Jughead out of jail. Betty goes to thank the antiques dealer for his help, but he and his shop have mysteriously disappeared.

83.1 - When the kids go to visit Archie in the hospital, they learn he's never been at that hospital and his room is occupied by someone else for over a month. A nurse's aide then tells the kids in secret that Archie was kidnapped by Fatima Dezire, who offered the hospital $30 million dollars to take Archie and pretend he was never there.
83.2 - While Archie bemoans his new circumstances as a member of Fatima's male harem, Betty, Veronica and Jughead fly to his rescue. They hire a guide who secretly works for Fatima. He forces Jughead out into the desert alone without water, while taking Betty and Veronica to Fatima at gunpoint.
83.3 - Jughead's camel comes back for him while Archie sees that Fatima also has Betty and Veronica. The girls walk around the village when Betty recognizes the old man from the antique store who helped her. He sells Betty and Veronica a old lamp that holds a genie in it... one who is very attracted to Betty.
83.4 - Jughead and his camel get the upper hand on the lecherous genie and force him to use his magic to save Archie. the genie conjures a magic carpet that gets Archie and the kids back to the airport where the Lodge jet is ready for takeoff.

84.1 - After their adventures overseas, the kids are relaxing in Pop's shoppe when they discover that Veronica and Pop Tate have been replaced by wind up dolls. Meanwhile, the soda Jughead was drinking is causing him to shrink to the size of a mouse.
84.2 - Betty and Archie save Jughead from a dog and take him to State University. There they meet Dr. Jerkil, who's convinced the kids are dealing with aliens. They leave Jughead with the doctor, who discovers that the doctor can change via a potion into Mr. Clyde, a hideous man.
84.3 - Mr. Clyde reveals to Jughead that he is an alien sent to collect earth samples and replace them with andriods. Clyde turns back into Jerkil, and puts Jughead in his pocket to go meet the spaceship. The old man then convinces Ethel to look through a telescope as Jerkil walks by. With the telescope, she sees Jughead tied up and sitting in Jerkil's pocket.
84.4 - Dr. Jerkil convinces Ethel to go with him if she wants to see the Jughead figure. Archie and Betty come back to Jerkil's lab only to realize Jughead is in trouble and Jerkil is an alien. They track the alien android to a spaceship cleverly disguised as a diner. Ethel's scream destroys the alien android after realizing the figure in Jerkil's pocket really is Jughead. The shrinking solution then wears off of Jughead and the gang free Pop Tate and Veronica, who are tied up in the diner.

85.1 - An unnamed sea merchant sells Archie a jewel called "The Eye of Howja Du" and Archie starts talking in cryptic prose as long as he holds it. Albert, Betty and Veronica are walking when Betty says Veronica is getting fat, even though Betty swears she didn't say anything. And Jughead gets locked in a freezer when a couple of crooks steal all the frozen lasagna in the grocery store.
85.2 - 2 assassins who are after "the Eye" follow Archie to the Lodges' home and present themselves as representatives from the United Nations. Jughead's wallet is stolen by the 2 crooks who stole the frozen lasagna, and they plant it at the scene of a car crash, hoping the cops will blame him. And Albert causes more trouble with his ventriloquism.
85.3 - The 2 assassins become guests of the Lodges' home. Betty discovers Albert's power and figures out that he was the one that said the horrible things to Veronica, mimicking Betty's voice. Jughead manages to start a small fire in the freezer and uses it to keep warm and cook food, just as the police find him there and take him to jail.
85.4 - Betty gets revenge on Albert by throwing her voice as well. Sing Lho and Long Ghon decide to stay in America rather than kill Archie and return to poverty. Jughead is released from jail when the cops find the real crooks who are stealing all the frozen lasagna, and Archie throws away the "Eye of Howja Du" and starts talking normally again.

86.1 - Betty gets separated from the group as they arrive in Hollywood to take in the sights. She is then offered a ride by an eccentric actor named Conrad Kooke, who thinks Betty is his long lost love Beverly Hill. Archie, Jughead, and Veronica then split up to find Betty.
86.2 - While Betty is being forced to dress and act with Conrad Kooke -- who still thinks Betty is Beverly Hill -- Veronica finds a wax dummy of an cowboy actor she loved as a young girl named Steele Woole. Archie gets a lead on Betty's whereabouts and boards a tour bus to get there, talking to himself the entire time. After being thrown out of the wax museum, Veronica showers the owner with cash and takes the dummy with her.
86.3 - As Conrad has Betty dress in another of Beverly's costumes, Archie arrives at Conrad's house. But rather than rescue Betty, Archie gets caught up in Conrad's movie making, much to Betty's dismay. Jughead steals a bike after learning where Betty is, and the kid whose bike he stole tells Veronica -- still carting her Steele Woole wax dummy -- where Jughead is headed. Jughead, Veronica and Steele arrive at Conrad's house. Conrad is pleased that Steele -- an old friend of his -- has decided to join his film making.
86.4 - Archie takes over the director's role. Veronica kisses the dummy under some hot lights, which causes it to melt. Veronica of course thinks it's because of her. Jughead frees an annoyed Betty, who dumps Archie into a nearby pool. And they all lived happily ever after.
Title: Re: "Betty Cooper, Betty Cooper!"
Post by: 60sBettyandReggie on April 03, 2016, 12:20:24 PM
I think I read one of this stories a long time ago. I wish I could find and read them all.
Title: Re: "Betty Cooper, Betty Cooper!"
Post by: irishmoxie on June 09, 2016, 07:35:28 PM
Quote from: 60sBettyandReggie on April 03, 2016, 12:20:24 PM
I think I read one of this stories a long time ago. I wish I could find and read them all.


I found reprints of these beginning in Betty and Veronica DD #16 (published Dec 1989). This digest reprints all 4 parts featured in Betty and Me #79 (the first Betty Cooper, Betty Cooper story). My other digests are in storage right now. I'll have to check those later to see if they continued to reprint these stories.
Title: Re: "Betty Cooper, Betty Cooper!"
Post by: Tuxedo Mark on June 10, 2016, 07:32:48 PM
I found #82 at the flea market years ago. At the time, I didn't know it was part of a larger story. It inspired me to write my first Betty fanfic, "Betty Cooper: This is Who I Am", in which Betty kills Archie.
Title: Re: "Betty Cooper, Betty Cooper!"
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on June 11, 2016, 03:02:53 AM
Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on June 10, 2016, 07:32:48 PM
I found #82 at the flea market years ago. At the time, I didn't know it was part of a larger story. It inspired me to write my first Betty fanfic, "Betty Cooper: This is Who I Am", in which Betty kills Archie.

A sequel to "Woman Scorned", no doubt.  ;)
Title: Re: "Betty Cooper, Betty Cooper!"
Post by: Jabroniville on June 29, 2016, 03:42:49 AM
I have one of these now- it's as bizarre as you'd think. The WEIRDEST part might be that it's in the middle of the story (few Archie books are multi-parters in this era), and there's no real explanation as to what's going on. It's just one Soap Cliche after another. Which is fun in its own way.
Title: Re: "Betty Cooper, Betty Cooper!"
Post by: Betty Girl on June 29, 2016, 07:57:21 AM
I have some of these, and am working on tracking down the rest. It is a fun detour from the usual hijinks the gang encounters.
Title: Re: "Betty Cooper, Betty Cooper!"
Post by: achernar on September 25, 2016, 07:59:38 PM
Who is the artist for this?
Title: Re: "Betty Cooper, Betty Cooper!"
Post by: steveinthecity on September 25, 2016, 08:07:37 PM
Quote from: achernar on September 25, 2016, 07:59:38 PM
Who is the artist for this?
Stan Goldberg with Jon D'Agostino(inks).