A bit late, but this week I review a classic 1980s Cheryl story, "Fast and Loose".

The family became wealthy again in late 2008 / early 2009. Cheryl's breast cancer storyline didn't begin until 2012. (I know LWA continuity doesn't completely line up with regular Archieverse continuity.) There's no indication in LWA that they're poor. In fact, when Cheryl returns home, she's living in a mansion. It's simply unspoken regarding how her initial treatment was paid for and who knew what when. All that's certain is Jason didn't know anything until after she'd had the mastectomy and lost her hair, by which point she was gaunt.

This week, I review "Just Another Day!" from B&V #269.

but I do take your meaning, as the "Death of Archie" final story arc of LWA was being intentionally vague in details to the point where it could have been taking place in either, or both, the Bettyverse and the Veronicaverse. Oddly enough I remember 'way back on the old (pre-server crash) forum where someone else (I've forgotten who, now) argued that there were definite clues placing the DoA story in (I think it was) the Bettyverse, and I don't remember what those clues were or if I even recognized them.

That was me. From what I recall, some of the clues hinged on Cheryl. Okay, a bit of backstory:

Cheryl appeared in issue #1 - in the Veronicaverse. A lonely, dejected Betty called up Cheryl to chat, so she could get a confidence boost. Cheryl didn't reveal she had to resort to waiting tables at a restaurant to make ends meet while trying to get her big break in Hollywood. Then we didn't see this version of Cheryl again for a long time.

Over in the Bettyverse, Cheryl eventually showed up (with the same backstory of waiting tables) and did the whole breast cancer storyline. This is what we mostly think of when we think of LWA Cheryl. This Cheryl underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy, resulting in the loss of her breasts and hair.

In the Veronicaverse, Cheryl showed up as a guest at Jughead and Ethel's wedding, just prior to Archie's death. She had boobs and long, flowing red hair, so she obviously never got cancer in the Veronicaverse. These were just silent cameos, so it's unknown whether her career took off.

Now for the death of Archie and the aftermath. It's quite obvious that the writer and artist were going for a vague "it could be either - or both" approach - as if the shown events were simultaneously occurring in both the Veronicaverse and the Bettyverse. For example, Archie never explicitly mentions his spouse by name, the girls never explicitly mention being married, and, perhaps most cheaply, neither girl is wearing a wedding ring, even though (if I recall correctly) Archie is. However, a few clues point to it being the Bettyverse:

The school is renamed after Archie, which seems like something that would be done for a fallen teacher (Bettyverse), not a businessman (Veronicaverse).

The positioning of some of the characters in one scene (even though they're in shadow) indicates Betty is the one being addressed - and in such a way that it indicates she's now a widow. This is one of those "study each panel closely" situations.

A short-haired Cheryl shows up; she seems to have boobs, but they're not on display; there's talk of how she's doing. This would obviously be a post-chemo, post-reconstructive surgery Cheryl (Bettyverse). You don't go from having fabulous boobs (Veronicaverse) right before Archie's death to a post-cancer recovery just a year later.

There might be other clues, but I don't recall at the moment.

The Archies is back up on Amazon with #6 available for pre-order.

Has the series been cancelled after #5? That's the last issue that I saw on Amazon, and it seems like the entire series was removed around a week or two ago.

A bit late, but this week I review "The New Archies" segment, "Change of Minds".

Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on February 20, 2018, 04:02:51 PM

Even with Supergirl, I like to think I know a fair bit about her history, and I can safely say the current TV series is the best adaptation of her, followed by the "Smallville" incarnation. They're not perfect, but they're good.

Even saying you know about Supergirl's history is sort of an ambiguous statement, because there have been about 5 or 6 different versions of "Supergirl" (some of which weren't even Kal-El's cousin Kara Zor-El), each of which changed basic details of her origin story, making them mutually inconsistent. Even the Kara Zor-El versions of the character are all predicated on the prior existence of Superman in her universe, so it seems a little weird to have a Supergirl television series where there had been no Superman television series beforehand to spin off of. I don't know whether Superman is actually a character in the show, or if there's just some assumption of his offscreen presence. It seems a little like making a Nightwing television series and not having any reference to Batman.

Oh, he's there; he's just used very sparingly. They recently hinted at a sort of Smallville-esque history for him in the "Supergirl" universe (he has a hacker friend named Chloe with a Wall of Weird).

Yeah, I'm aware of the alternate versions of Supergirl. I read anything Supergirl-related that I could get my hands on in the late 1990s / early 2000s. I even read that Peter David series (which was basically Supergirl in name only and had a sucky ending). I haven't read anything past the early 2000s, so I'm unfamiliar with how the rebooted Kara Zor-El has been doing except for what I've read on Wikipedia. Still, from what I've gathered, the show is so influential that the comics have added elements from it. I'd rather not get back into reading her, though, because it might be wiped out during the next reboot.