Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on April 07, 2018, 09:26:36 AMOne thing that stuck out in my mind is how in the Bettyverse, Betty turns into a workaholic and a neglectful spouse, her "responsible" side just totally subsuming her personality... she's got so many things going on and so many commitments that she's forgotten how to live and enjoy life, instead being dominated by her "Type A personality" achiever-oriented goals. That struck me as a little out of character for Betty, or at least kind of sad. Of course it's also true that people DO change, so who's to say for certain.

Yeah, I believe that whole Betty (type A personality) storyline was created to put tension in her marriage to Archie. And this storyline began soon after Archie and Veronica finally reconciled in AMV. Betty was always a people pleaser, so she wanted to show she was up for the job. She also realized getting the Vice Principal position would mean a substantial raise in pay. She just went about it the wrong way. And despite her and Archie were having issues, I never got the feeling it would get to the point that they would split up for good. Unless, of course, Archie decided to hook up with Bella Beasley.
  Did anyone else notice that sometimes a character would unknowingly make a reference to something that was happening in the other universe? For instance, in issue#15 AMB, Archie mentions to Jughead that "if he married Veronica instead, then maybe she wouldn't have gotten on that plane that was lost." Jughead tells him if he married Veronica "he would probably be divorced by now". At that time over on the AMV side, Veronica had filed divorce papers against Archie. Also, again on the AMB side, issue#5. Mr. Lodge reveals to Archie that he is the one destroying Archie's and his friends' lives unless he leaves Betty and marries Veronica. Archie imagines how his life would be with Veronica and envisions himself in a loveless marriage with her. Which was kind of what his marriage in AMV had become.

Quote from: BettyReggie on June 24, 2016, 05:42:32 PMIn Life With Archie Midge was very important character. She married Jughead & had his baby. And she kinda evil in Archie Marries Veronica side. She hated that Jughead wouldn't marry her. He cared more about the restaurant

Kudos to Michael Uslan and Paul Kupperberg for bringing Midge out as a main character in this story. At least that's true on the "Betty" side where she had a much happier story. For Jughead, she became the perfect wife and business partner. Marriage and commitment are important to her. I wouldn't say she was evil on the Veronica side. Granted, Midge got nasty with Jughead, but that's because she felt used and rejected. And given Jughead's snarky comments about marriage being "stupid" and "why does someone always have to get caught", she was correct. Another bummer was after their breakup, Midge was practically dropped from the storyline. She didn't attend Veronica's Halloween party or Kevin Keller's wedding. No one checked up on her, not even Betty. It's hard to believe the writers couldn't keep her in the story until the very end. But I guess that's the way Midge has been written over the decades mostly because she is just seen as "Moose's gurl" Jeez, I find myself talking about these characters as if they're real!!

Beatman10 is my username  because I have played drums professionally for over 30 years. So, you know which character is my favorite!!

Quote from: SAGG on April 06, 2018, 11:30:32 PMI just finished reading it through Comixology in the volumes. I'd recommend using the Unlimited service to just "borrow" a published book, then when you finish it, "return" it. You'd pay a monthly fee. I think it's worth it, but I digress. On to the story, or in this case, stories, since there are two of them, with Archie either marrying Betty (AMB) or Veronica (AMV).


Both universes had good stories in the soap opera style, if you're into that sort of thing. LWA was unique in that it showed The Gang & Co. all as adults, not as a dream, but as actual, real stories. I found myself referring the AMB universe as the more realistic storyline, though the AMV one may have been the more exciting storyline with the Fred Mirth angle. However,  I wonder what happened to him? Did he vanish from the face of the earth? Dangling plot device unanswered.


That little crossover between the two stories was interesting, but I had some confusion because Archie seemed to be all over the place as he and his other self switched places. Seeing Ambrose was nice, but having him as the "connection" between the two realities was strange at best, but I  guess the writers had to explain how the realities merged. I think I'm glad he settled in the AMB universe. He seemed far better a fit there.


I'm speeding it up a bit to the end, obviously with Archie's death as the main plotline. I noticed that the writers shrewdly "merged" both universes because I couldn't tell which one was which. Maybe it didn't matter, which was the point.


I've obviously skipped several points, which I hope others here will chime in on. What do you guys think? Thanks....

I believe Fred Mirth was extradited back to the U.S. in issue 35 and Veronica was going to testify against him

Quote from: Oldiesmann on December 18, 2021, 01:15:54 AMI still subscribe to one of the digests but that's about it. I don't buy much beyond that mainly because I don't have a lot of space to put them all at the moment (need to invest in some longboxes and get things more organized than large piles of comic books on my bookshelf and other areas).

I'm not sure where everyone disappeared to unfortunately. I know a lot of people are active in the Archie Comics group on Facebook, so it could be that.

I see a lot of Archie posts on Reddit as well as Facebook.

I'm not against stories that depict the characters as adults where they deal with more mature issues. I simply don't want to see their core personalities wiped out, which I think, stories like Big Ethel Energy have done. The characters seem less likable and just plain weird. Maybe, it's the artwork and trying to make them look more like real people instead of the classic Archie look.

Has anyone else been tuning in to Big Ethel Energy? I have, and I have to say my feelings are mixed about this series. I get and like that Ethel is being transformed from being '"the ugly joke girl who chases after Jughead" into a smart, attractive woman (and yeah, she is gorgeous here), But, I don't like what they have done with her personality and with the other characters.  Ethel was never shy, nor, I don't remember her ever being bullied by the others. If anything , Betty and Veronica tried to help her attract Jughead or other guys. In this story, Archie seems to be a loser. Even Betty doesn't want him. And Jughead is totally a jerk and unlikable. The only two likeable characters are Ms. Grundy and Moose. Anyone else have feelings about Big Ethel Energy?

Can fans still post stories in the "fan fiction" section? I noticed there haven't been any new ones added since 2019. I do have a story idea that takes place in the "Married Life" when the universe barriers were breaking down.

I always liked Ron Dante's vocals and I wasn't aware at first that he did so many other projects besides singing for The Archies. I didn't see "Leader Of The Laundromat" listed in this package. That was a song he recorded with The Detergents and was a parody of the Shangri-La's 60's hit "Leader of The Pack" He wasn't the lead vocalist on it, though.

I did purchase and listened to the GraphicsAudio Archie Wedding audio. I found it to be reminiscent of the old time radio shows before TV came out. It stayed true to the original story line but there were one or two jokes that were changed probably because they weren't "politically correct" in 2021. If this and the other Archie audios sell well, I'm sure they'll make more.

I just found out that GraphicAudio has released an audio version of the 2009 The Archie Wedding series. This came out in mid May 2021. You may want to check it out.

Hello from the Jersey Shore! And a shout out to two NJ towns mentioned in the Married stories, Bayonne and Seaside Heights! My name is Bill and I go by the name beatman10. I became an Archies fan first with the 1969 animated series. As a musician, I loved the whole Archies band concept and I still own the albums. i realize Don Kirschner was behind the band's creation. He was the same guy who started the Monkees and Don Kirschner's Rock Concert. I am definitely a Jughead fan because, for one, I played drums professionally for 30 years. I also can eat large amounts of food and stay skinny. I even like anchovy pizzas, which is one of Jughead's favorites. And yes, I am considered an oddball and was scared of girls as a teen. I realize that I have a lot to catch up on Archie comics since I only got back into them after hearing about the Married Stories. I enjoy reading the posts on this forum and I plan on posting more. Thanks!!

I found the storylines and layout somewhat of a hybrid between the Archie Marries and Life With Archie Married Life books. True, the stories are more a sequel to Archie Marries, but there were a couple of storylines from LWA that Uslan used in the 10th Anniversary, such as Moose becoming a politician and Ms. Grundy is deceased. Also, the layout in all 6 issues was done with the Archie/Veronica chapter done first followed by the Archie/Betty one, just like  LWA. The plots in 10th were written with a more serious tone with virtually none of the humor found in Archie Marries. Story wise, you really can't make jokes over losing a father, or seeing anther parent whose memory health is in decline (Archie's Father). And these are issues the gang in their 30's will start to face as well as other ones. I think the 10th Anniversary could have went a few issues longer like LWA. Hey, in 2024, maybe we'll get a 15th anniversary series!

It would make sense to go from ARCHIE MARRIES and then the 10th ANNIVERSARY series. But fans see "The Married Life" as part of the newer 10th title and assume it's a continuation of "Life With Archie", which it isn't. But again, how would you able to continue the LWA Married Life, unless you can convince readers that Archie didn't die? I haven't read Archie Marries Valerie yet, but I feel that would be a great 3rd fork story on Memory Lane. Valerie is a successful musician and Archie could pursue his musical goals with her. I thought the LWA AMV was the most depressing of all the married stories, especially when Archie moves back home and pulls his acoustic guitar out of the closet with 2 strings busted. It showed that he gave up music when he married Veronica. I noticed Michael Uslan and Paul Kupperberg had different ideas on who certain characters would end up with and what their professions would be. I would have loved to see in the LWA series more of the characters unknowing crossing over from one universe to the other like Archie did in Issue #14. Imagine Betty and Reggie from different universes meeting up, since they are a couple only in AMV. Or AMV Jughead running into AMB Midge.

Getting back to Reggie and Midge;
For all the times Reggie tried hooking up with Midge in his teen years and risk getting beat up, he never tries for her in the future married stories. Even after she had broken up with Moose for good. You figure the AMV universe would be the place he would have pursued her since Veronica is off the market. They hardly had any dialogue between them at all. Maybe Reggie had grown up and moved on or, he felt  Midge was too attached to Jughead at this point.