I finally got my subscription copy of BETTY AND VERONICA JUMBO COMICS DIGEST #259 -- two weeks late, but then it went on sale at retailers the day after a big Xmas snowstorm, so I'll let it slide. (I imagine the mail carriers were swamped this holiday season.) It's still a good read, since you always get Betty stories, and Veronica stories, in addition to the Betty AND Veronica stories, and apart from those, this title still reprints Sabrina stories regularly, so there's enough variety to satisfy me.
I'll just note a few of the outstanding stories here. A pair of stories by Barbara Slate (with art by Jeff Shultz and Al Milgrom), "The Right Thing" and "The Right Thing Too", show different views of the V/A\B love triangle from both Veronica's POV, and Betty's POV, respectively -- paralleling each other, a clever idea -- and they both end on a twist. A Kathleen Webb BETTY'S DIARY story, "Kiss and Try to Tell", reveals the surprising (to me) fact that Betty owns not just ONE diary, but (at least) THREE, when she discovers that she's somehow lost the special diary which she reserves for chronicling her most precious moments spent with Archie. A Dan Parent 11-page two-parter, "Archie Andrews Where Are You?" has a neat unexpected ending (which includes it as one of a very small group of similar stories) -- more I can't say without spoiling it. Another Dan Parent 11-page two-part story, "Do You Believe In Magic?', was also pretty good.
I think my favorite story in this issue was the 6-page Betty story, "Scheme Theme", by George Gladir. It's one of that small subset of stories (usually written by Frank Doyle, so I was surprised to see Gladir's name on the writing credits) that explains the character dynamics of Archie Comics stories in a very direct, matter-of-fact way. Here you will see the universal truths of "Archie reality" stated outright by the omniscient narrator, like in the following caption: [ALACK AND ALAS, AT TIMES ARCHIE CAN BE AN UNGRATEFUL AND INCONSIDERATE SCOUNDREL.] SURE, we all know that already, because we've seen it dramatized innumerable times in Archie stories. It still never fails to tickle my funnybone when Doyle (or in this case, Gladir) cuts right to the point and states these facts point-blank in bald-faced text to the reader.
The new lead story by Dan Parent, "O Canada" (the first new artwork by Dan I've seen in the digests in months, BTW), is yet another story that falls into the category of a distinct group of stories (although a much larger group of stories than either of the other two I mentioned above). It's a nice example of the kind of occasional friendly wave and by-way-of-saying "thank you" to the Canadian readers who down through several decades, have been among the staunchest of Archie Comics supporters. Which is a good thing, actually, I think. I wouldn't mind seeing a whole collection of those Canadian-themed stories published one of these days. I bet the Canadian readers would buy one. So would I, even though I'm not Canadian.
I'll just note a few of the outstanding stories here. A pair of stories by Barbara Slate (with art by Jeff Shultz and Al Milgrom), "The Right Thing" and "The Right Thing Too", show different views of the V/A\B love triangle from both Veronica's POV, and Betty's POV, respectively -- paralleling each other, a clever idea -- and they both end on a twist. A Kathleen Webb BETTY'S DIARY story, "Kiss and Try to Tell", reveals the surprising (to me) fact that Betty owns not just ONE diary, but (at least) THREE, when she discovers that she's somehow lost the special diary which she reserves for chronicling her most precious moments spent with Archie. A Dan Parent 11-page two-parter, "Archie Andrews Where Are You?" has a neat unexpected ending (which includes it as one of a very small group of similar stories) -- more I can't say without spoiling it. Another Dan Parent 11-page two-part story, "Do You Believe In Magic?', was also pretty good.
I think my favorite story in this issue was the 6-page Betty story, "Scheme Theme", by George Gladir. It's one of that small subset of stories (usually written by Frank Doyle, so I was surprised to see Gladir's name on the writing credits) that explains the character dynamics of Archie Comics stories in a very direct, matter-of-fact way. Here you will see the universal truths of "Archie reality" stated outright by the omniscient narrator, like in the following caption: [ALACK AND ALAS, AT TIMES ARCHIE CAN BE AN UNGRATEFUL AND INCONSIDERATE SCOUNDREL.] SURE, we all know that already, because we've seen it dramatized innumerable times in Archie stories. It still never fails to tickle my funnybone when Doyle (or in this case, Gladir) cuts right to the point and states these facts point-blank in bald-faced text to the reader.
The new lead story by Dan Parent, "O Canada" (the first new artwork by Dan I've seen in the digests in months, BTW), is yet another story that falls into the category of a distinct group of stories (although a much larger group of stories than either of the other two I mentioned above). It's a nice example of the kind of occasional friendly wave and by-way-of-saying "thank you" to the Canadian readers who down through several decades, have been among the staunchest of Archie Comics supporters. Which is a good thing, actually, I think. I wouldn't mind seeing a whole collection of those Canadian-themed stories published one of these days. I bet the Canadian readers would buy one. So would I, even though I'm not Canadian.
Also notable were some of the fun 'Archie multiverse' stories which Fernando Ruiz worked on like The Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E. and Night at the Comic Shop.
Why? Those stupid Archie Babies! I hate them! 