Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on May 23, 2022, 11:57:00 AMI suspect there are NO legal issues. Archie Comic Publications owns the work-for-hire produced for them by both Uslan and Kupperberg.

It would be somewhat more helpful to know exactly what sort of discussions or notes passed between Uslan and Kupperberg in the handoff between LWA #1 and LWA #2... but with Uslan stepping away from steering the course of the series, Kupperberg may not have felt beholden to follow ALL of Uslan's intended directions. And upon returning to the 10th Anniversary series, Uslan may have felt equally not-beholden to follow what Kupperberg established on his own after Uslan's initial departure from LWA.

I think a couple of the characters Kupperberg created could have been used here in the 10th Anniversary. For instance, Ambrose, who had a somewhat heroic storyline in LWA, was downgraded to being a creep in the 10th. Uslan could have used Moe Miller (the franchise "expert" in LWA) to play that role. Also, Uslan could have continued the Kevin/Clay storyline here. But again, the 10th Anniversary is Uslan's project and he probably wanted to keep it all his own storylines. He did try to pack a lot of story in these 6 issues though. 

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on November 07, 2019, 12:21:29 AMSeems like it's ignoring everything after LIFE WITH ARCHIE #1 (i.e., all of "The Married Life" stories written by Paul Kupperberg). I like the art (well, except for Dan's decision that an older Archie should have a huge jaw in order to distinguish him from teenage Archie), but it's still too soon for me to pass final judgment on it as a story. I plan to re-read the whole thing in one sitting sometime after the last issue is released (or I might just wait for the TP), and maybe I'll have a clearer feeling about it by then. Clearly it's not a sequel to the run of LIFE WITH ARCHIE as written by Kupperberg, though. Having re-read the whole prior Married Life story fairly recently, both the strengths and flaws inherent in that series became a lot more obvious to me. After reading the whole thing again, I revised my initial opinion downward in terms of plot and story continuity, but felt like where it stood out was in terms of character interaction scenes and dialogue (only possible where you have a lot of pages for that kind of stuff).

That said, the story doesn't have anywhere near the same room to breath as the original LIFE WITH ARCHIE magazine, and the plot is necessarily compacted to fit into six standard-sized floppy comic issues -- which amounts to the same as only THREE magazine-sized issues of The Married Life, so it's hardly fair to compare one to the other as a complete series, either. Then again, I can recall the same sort of complaints about the final B&V story arc by Uslan and Parent. Either one is still miles better than what we're getting in the current ongoing ARCHIE title and miniseries like SABRINA.

Maybe there were some legal issues keeping Michael Uslan from incorporating any of Paul Kupperberg's storylines from LWA and was only allowed to expand on the ones he created. Moose getting into politics, Miss Grundy sick, Archie working for Veronica's father and the other pairings were started by Uslan.

I got a kick out of this story, although I think Reggie would be more the one to refer girls as "Bimbos", since he thinks all girls worship the ground he walks on!!

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on March 01, 2022, 02:09:26 PMVirtually all of the Jughead-in-love stories date from the late 1980s onwards. You might find some before that where he's finagled into going on a date, but really hardly any where he shows real romantic feelings towards a girl. But still, that's 40-odd years' worth of Jughead stories.

When Archie comics were first created, you can have a male character be a "woman hater" and say things like "Dames, who needs them?" Such a character like this was also featured in films (usually comedies) and musicals, and their sexuality was never openly questioned. Now, there's so much pressure for a young person to be dating or identify whether they're straight, gay, etc. I always thought Jughead simply felt he wasn't ready at age 16-17 to date and that was based on him being an immature teenager. He did claim in the future that he "outgrew" his fear of girls and I found that to be believable in his case.

I found on Tumblr a listing of all the girls Jughead has been romantically involved with over the past 80 years in the comics. The list was put out by someone who goes by the pseudonym "Dirty River". The list is quite extensive and it's obvious they did their research as the girls are listed in first name alphabetical order with a comic showing each girl with Jughead. The writer also admits to having a Bughead (Betty and Jughead) bias but gives each girl's story a fair shot. It's true that Jughead may have started dating a particular girl because of her connection to food (i.e. her father owns a restaurant) but a few of the stories show him having feelings and even falling in love with the girl! I remember reading one where Jughead meets Melanie Morgan, a girl whose father was an army captain.  Both he and Melanie find out they have so much in common. like anchovy pizzas and being able to eat a lot and not gain weight. But their relationship is short lived. When Jughead decides to tell her he loves her, she is crying because her family is being transferred overseas. She leaves him with a kiss and a pot of her chili and Jughead has a tear running down his face. For a guy who is supposed to be asexual and a woman hater, his history proves otherwise.

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.