Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on February 23, 2017, 02:21:52 AM

Quote from: Jabroniville on February 23, 2017, 12:10:12 AM

* This bizarre story came about from the same Jughead run that featured the "Jug moves away" story mentioned above. Again given drama and actual emotion, Jughead reveals in a diary that "it's not that I hate girls- I just had my heart broken when I was younger!"- it turns out that a childhood crush on Joani Jummp, the girl-next-door, resulted in heartbreak when his family moved away. In the same issue, he meets a sexy rocker-chick who's into the same kind of music he is, and begins feeling those funny tingles for the first time in forever. And just as he's about to unsteadily step into the dating pool... JOANI MOVES TO RIVERDALE. Initially, this is treated as dramatic, incredible stuff, with Jug actually being terrified out of his mind, insanely confused ("oh, JOANI" he cries, after kissing her for the first time, "Now I'm more confused than ever!"), and more.

The "it's not that I hate girls- I just had my heart broken when I was younger!" trope was revisited in a kind of role-reversal when Batton Lash wrote "Freshmen Year - The Missing Chapters: Jughead" for ARCHIE & FRIENDS #140. In this version, Jughead's family has moved to Montana at the beginning of Jughead's freshman year, when Jughead's dad accepts a new job offer in Selby, Montana. Jughead is enrolled in Selby High and meets Sadie Cameron, whom he quickly develops a crush on... but the new job isn't working out for Mr. Jones, and Mrs. Jones misses her old friends, so the Jones family moves back to Riverdale, and that's the last Jughead saw of Sadie. The story explains Jughead's ubiquitous S-shirt (S for Selby High, as in Archie's R-sweater for Riverdale High), and the S also reminds Jughead of his lost love, Sadie.

THAT is why Jughead has the S sweater?? I never could have expected that. It was one of those things I hoped would be explained, but also never wanted to find out. I wonder what the original reason is.

I agree with DeCarlo Rules that Betty and Valerie would get along well, and I feel like Josie and Betty would too. But Melody seems to lack anything in common with Betty, and isn't really intelligent enough to have real conversations with her. (Although, Betty does tend to get along super well with everyone, so maybe she and Melody could be good friends after all. Who isn't Betty friends with, really?)


Slightly unrelated, but now that I'm thinking about it, I find it a bit strange that Archie never went for Melody. I loved he and Valerie together, and think it makes sense in a weird sort of way. But Melody never seemed to catch Archie's attention at all, and that is beyond strange for a guy with his track record.

"Riverdale" has been on for about a month or so now, and I haven't gotten around to watching it yet. I saw the trailer and made some assumptions about it. Mostly, I assumed that it was a teen drama based on Archie characters, not a TV show bringing Archie to life. I intended on watching it but didn't prioritize it.
However, some of my friends- most of whom haven't read Archie comics in years- seem to love the show. In fact, everyone I know who has watched it has said that it is great.
I'm curious about what the reaction is from fans of the comics. Without spoiling the show- because I will watch it at some point- can I get some opinions about whether "Riverdale" is good or not?

I lurked around this site for about two months before the temporary shutdown happened. I'm really glad I became interested in the site then, because all of the information was enough to get me interested and keep scrolling for more.
If I had just discovered the site now, though, I don't know how long I would have stayed. Long conversations about characters and historical comics that are fascinating and have input from many users are much less frequent on the new site than the old one. I understand that it's no one's fault, and of course all of those conversations took years to develop. But if I hadn't found the site when it was full of lively discussions, I don't know that I would have eventually made an account.

Out of the six options here, the only one I've read is Archie #666, The Last Archie. And that one was not my favorite.

I don't remember what it was called, but there was an Archie a few years ago that had an Archie/Jersey Shore mashup, where some of the Archie characters began acting like their new friends from the Shore. Very random, but very funny and different.
I never finished Archie Meets Glee, but the bits of it that I read were interesting, too. The 6-parter where Archie got "married" in the future was well done as well.

...Bringing this back because I had something to say a while ago, and just now am getting around to it.

When the Archie New Look comics came out a few years ago, I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of attention Midge got in them. In Bad Boy Trouble, which is a Betty & Veronica story (but told from Betty's perspective), Midge is definitely one of the most important characters. She is present in all four chapters, if I recall correctly, and she is seen as being one of Betty's best friends. And of course, most notably, Midge and Moose receive their own New Look story, Breakup Blues, which really centers in on them. Out of the three New Look stories I read, I actually disliked this one the most. I thought that the Midge in BB was too aggressive and immature, and she really seemed to be Betty's best friend here, well over Veronica. It seemed a bit out of character. But then, what do we really know about Midge? From the classic comics, I know that she is sporty, a cheerleader, pretty, both flattered by and frustrated by Moose, strong, and loves dancing. We know she can be assertive because Moose does listen to her, and we also know she can be sweet. So maybe Midge in BB wasn't that out of character after all, and we just don't know her well enough.

I'm pretty sure there was a story a few years ago about the Archie gang going to an event similar to Comic-Con, and they saw a ton of other characters there. I remember that Bingo Wilkin was definitely there, and I think the Pussycats and Sabrina were too. But I'm not sure that they interacted. The story was in classic Archie, not sure which issue.

ARCHIE: A) The scheming bastard of the 1940s; B) The befuddled, clumsy loser of most other eras; C) The all-around nice guy.

The other two iterations of Archie are entertaining, but they aren't the kind of guy I'd want as a friend. And I feel like that's who Archie is supposed to be- the kind of kid you could see yourself saying hi to in the hallways. While A and B are fun to read, they usually over exaggerate Archie to the extreme. Nice Archie still isn't perfect- he is still clumsy and in detention, and he certainly isn't nice when it comes to dating Betty and Veronica- but it is the best version of him, and my favorite one.


JUGHEAD: A) The woman-hating, somewhat-vicious schemer of the old days- constantly belittled and insulted women; B) The Jughead seen in the NUMEROUS "Jughead gets a girl" storylines (Joanie & Debbie, Anita Chavita, Sandy Sanchez, etc.); C) The anti-romance character who can still hang out with women (such as his friendship with Betty).

Definitely my favorite Jughead. Some of my favorite Jug/Archie stories are the ones where Archie has screwed Betty over, and Jughead helps him see the error of his ways. If he was so opposed to women, he wouldn't try to help her out. The Jughead-Betty friendship is one of my favorite platonic pairings, and watching them interact is always refreshing. The only B Jug story that I've read is the New Look Sandy story, and that Jughead was overly athletic looking, but otherwise mostly the same.


VERONICA: A) Straight-up selfish villainess ('40s & Mark Waid Reboot); B) The Jerk with a Heart of Gold character (mostly seen in and after the '60s); C) The nicer, more down-to-earth one of the '90s-2000s era (where her major conflicts are things like figuring out which charity to pursue).


Somewhere between B and C Veronica is my favorite. I don't like the extremely vindictive, evil Veronica that exists, but I still prefer her to be somewhat snooty and "above it all" in her mind. The Ronnie who learns a lesson after acting out is my favorite one...I suppose that's a more modern version of her. When it comes to her and Betty, I like it more when they are truly best friends, who are exasperated with each other because they aren't a perfect pair. Ronnie doesn't share most of Betty's interests, and stories that show that she does are incorrect.


BETTY COOPER: A) The scheming, somewhat-dim loser ('40s & '50s); B) The All-Around Girl-Next-Door Nice Girl Tomboy (most eras)


Easiest choice by far. Old Betty can be somewhat scary. Modern Betty, while sometimes portrayed as too perfect, is easy to look up to and aspire to be. Her hangup on Archie is upsetting, and stories that show her dating other guys or just being his friend are nice to read. (I would prefer Archie with Betty over with Veronica, but I prefer Betty with someone else over Second Fiddle Betty.)

REGGIE MANTLE: A) Outright villain whom just about everyone hates; B) Jerk With a Heart of Gold, who still hangs out with the gang.


Reggie pranking stories- where he is usually the loser in the end- are entertaining. But like with Ronnie, purely evil Reggie can get annoying and feel over the top. The Reggie who knows when to finally be serious and help out is my favorite one.

CHERYL BLOSSOM: A) The super-selfish and obnoxious villain ('80s & her return); B) Veronica-Lite "Actually deep-down really nice" character (from her solo book).

Cheryl was brought into Riverdale purely to wreck havoc, and she does a great job. I don't like too much Cheryl- let her live in Pembrooke, and bring her in when things are too quiet in Riverdale- but the nasty Cheryl is quite interesting. B Cheryl is just too much like Veronica, so that they are almost the same character.