It does sort of beg the logical question of why Archie didn't just use the tranquilizer spray on Veronica though, doesn't it?

Maybe he's so used to being reduced to a quivering blob of Jello whenever she gets angry at him that he was too rattled to maintain the same calm cool demeanor he had with Big Moose.

Of course the only real answer is that they had to wrap the story up on that page and needed a funny ending, and you're not supposed to be thinking about it that hard (although it's pretty hard NOT to).

Quote from: irishmoxie on May 06, 2016, 07:53:06 AM
I think the Archie archives are finally at the end of the 40s now. Hopefully we will start seeing stories from the 50s and beyond. Especially Josie and the other female characters.

After I posted that I remember the pussycats stories were in the B&V Friends digests. I believe there are still some holes regarding which stories are where so I'll try to fill those in when I have time.

It's going to be a long wait to get to JOSIE and those DeCarlo Sabrina stories from ARCHIE'S MADHOUSE, if they just keep moving forward at the pace they have been. With the first ARCHIE'S PAL JUGHEAD ARCHIVES (volume 2 due in June) they're already up to issue #8 (1951), but they haven't even scheduled a first volume of ARCHIE'S GIRLS BETTY AND VERONICA yet. Likely REGGIE would be first, anyway, chronologically speaking (I'd be anxious to get my hands on that one myself), and it would be a short run, with issues #1-14 (2 volumes) covering the years 1949 through 1954, then a big break while the title went on hiatus until #15 in September 1962. This is all assuming that they are going in strict chronological sequence. There's another 12-13 years to cover before they get to 1962 and SHE'S JOSIE #1, so my argument would be to jump ahead to the good stuff, and forego the strict chronological reprinting of all Archie titles. Fantagraphics Books took exactly that approach when doing THE CARL BARKS DISNEY LIBRARY, not proceeding in chronological order of issuing volumes in that hardcover series. The stories within each volume ARE in chronological sequence, but there's no need for the readers to read them that way, since the stories themselves aren't heavily dependent on those that came before. Why not just jump straight to 1962 with some of the better Archie material like JOSIE and proceed from there? Go back and forth and eventually fill the gaps in each series, but that way you've got a bunch of different titles proceeding ahead, each at its own pace (according to what sells best).

Quote from: Thrillho on May 05, 2016, 09:27:02 PM
Yes, another throwback thread! On throwback Thursday, no less. 

Wow, a rare Vicky Mantle appearance.

Quote from: daren on May 06, 2016, 04:56:40 AM
A thread for the less gentlemanly side of our titular hero, since everyone else already has their own such threads.








Okay I changed it, I didn't want anything too profane in a thread title. It doesn't express it as well but it'll do.

I just read that in B&VDD#243 yesterday. The above panel isn't even showing some particular example of bad behavior for Archie, rather it just typifies one of his defining characteristics. Girl-crazy, a horndog, a roving eye or a wastrel and a cad, whatever you choose to term it. That, and heedless of consequences. Without that particular aspect, he's not really Archie and probably wouldn't have lasted 75 years, despite him not being a role-model you'd hold up as worthy of emulation. Real people can't (usually) get away with that kind of behavior for long, because their actions have consequences, unlike in the cartoon world where everyone will like you no matter what you do, if you have an innocent face and appear to be oblivious and unintentional. In order for the readers to put up with it for 75 years, he only has to be funny.

You're trying too hard here, and being AWFULLY selective about which stories and what characters you apply laws of realism to in slapstick comedy, Daren. You don't get to apply the 21st century legal definitions of workplace violence or sexual harassment to this one story, either.

Veronica's being a spoiled little brat and essentially saying to him "NO! You're MY dolly, and I only want you dressed in Veronica Lodge brand approved accessories!"

I guess even Archie has his boiling point, since for once he doesn't react by hanging his head and saying "Whatever you say, my sweet little lambiekins. I don't know WHAT I was thinking, trying to dress myself like an adult!".

The story is about how Veronica reacts when Archie treats her the way she's used to treating him, when one day he unexpectedly stands up for himself, and stops being her complacent whipping boy. It's not about realism, it's about the shoe on the other foot, tit-for-tat. It's not "assault with a deadly washcloth". Assault is when you throw a deadly projectile (a hard piece of wood, for instance) at someone's head. ("OOOhhh... Archie, are you all right? Are you hurt? Do you have a concussion? How many fingers am I holding up?")  But it's FUNNY if Archie gets his just deserts to you, and not if Veronica gets hers. Did she hurt her pelvis when Reggie dumped her on the sidewalk? I guess it's funny if you're not Christopher Reeve. This in NOT, by the way, a Life With Archie story, or anything remotely close to it.

Quote from: daren on May 06, 2016, 02:55:20 AM
And ASKING someone to wear a different coat (and it IS asking no matter how bossy she was being, she has no hold over him) is very different from grabbing someone weaker than you and SCRUBBING their face forcibly.

And wearing a coat someone else gave you isn't equal to wearing makeup someone else gave you, that's hardly identifiable.

You know if Reggie did that to her people would roast him over hot coals but when Archie does it it's just awesome. Lucky that Reggie wouldn't do that to her.

He could have shown the same backbone simply by refusing to comply with her wishes, but that wouldn't have been a funny ending ("turnabout is fair play"). He doesn't physically hurt her, only embarrass her by treating her like a petulant child, which is the way she's acting. It's a washcloth, not steel wool. It's hardly even comparable to Jughead beaning Ronnie off the back of the head with a soccer ball, and everyone thought that was hilarious. Nobody even bats an eye when Veronica picks up a stray piece of wood and whips it at Archie's head, but if he wipes the makeup off her face with a wet washcloth, then he's a misogynist brute?

It hardly matters where the coat came from. It's HIS coat, and there's nothing shabby-looking or embarrassing about him wearing it. Besides, she's insulting Betty by implication that she'd give him a gift that was trashy and not worthy of being seen in public.

Sometimes Veronica needs to be taken down a peg or two, and in this case it's perfectly appropriate. What's good for the goose is good for the gander. That's guaranteed to make her think twice the next time before she makes petty demands and expects him to roll over like a good puppy dog. She'll be furious at first of course, but ultimately she'll show him more respect, and he'll have his own self-respect. I doubt Veronica would even TRY to pull that "You're not wearing that coat" snit on Reggie. Reggie only puts up with a few minutes of the kind of treatment that Archie usually endures from Ronnie on a regular basis in "They're Off!" before funtime's over and roughly dumping her on the sidewalk, and you don't get all worked up over that.

I can't believe I'm defending ARCHIE...  but most of the time he gives me little excuse to.

Quote from: daren on May 06, 2016, 02:44:43 AM

I don't think they meant this ending to be a slur at women, I think it's a reference to Jughead's woman hating ways even though he'd sort of grown beyond that at this point. Anyway I like this story because it's one of the rare ones where Veronica "wins" over Jughead. Kind of.

Jughead may be relationship-avoidant, but he's still firmly psychologically male in gender. At first his ego is stroked by the idea that he's become the male equivalent of what Veronica would like to be - a sought-after male model (Veronica would obviously like to be a sought-after female model), and the envy of his friends. When he discovers that the only reason he was sought-after was because his skinny wrists are not only acceptable, but preferrable, to model women's watches, his male ego is insulted and he's embarassed. He may not be attracted to women, but he doesn't want to be mistaken for one either.

Quote from: daren on May 06, 2016, 02:17:40 AM
When I see stuff like this I can understand why people say the old comics were misogynist. This doesn't belong in a Villainous Veronica thread, it belongs in a sorely needed Archie Is An A-Hole thread judging from this story and the one where she's riding Reggie, although I liked that one because how could I not?

Couldn't disagree more. It's perfectly justified in this case, no misogyny involved. Giving her a dose of her own medicine, and a wake-up call to reality by splashing water on her face. Ronnie can be a stuck-up little tart who thinks she's queen of the world. Usually Archie just complies like a whipped hound, a cowardly reaction only to stay in her good graces, but in this case he acts like a man for a change.

Quote from: 60sBettyandReggie on May 05, 2016, 11:30:42 PM
When is this Free Comic Book Day?

Saturday May 7th, 2016.

http://www.freecomicbookday.com/Home/1/1/27/992

Quote from: invisifan on May 06, 2016, 12:58:26 AM
Yes... (In Michigan)

Lake Michigan monster? Pressie of Lake Superior? Larger in mass than the blue whale? No idea, really.

Quote from: irishmoxie on May 06, 2016, 12:30:05 AM

Seems to be no more Josie after WOADD #50. Maybe they are thought she wasn't that popular after all? Or the recoloring/retouching cost was too high? Or maybe we will see her again in another digest like B&V Friends.

Thanks for the list, it's helpful. I'll save that for future reference.

The Josie (& the Pussycats) reprint section has been appearing in B&V FRIENDS DD since the beginning (#209), but it's only a 12-page section with two 5 or 6 page stories. Occasionally one of those is a pre-Pussycats Josie story, if it fits the page count.

The digital exclusive JOSIE & THE SCAREDY CATS is all '70s stories. We can sit here and wonder why ACP doesn't do the logical thing in reprinting stories, and figure that older collectors who have disposable income would jump on a series of hardcover collections, but somehow it doesn't seem to have occurred to anyone. Dark Horse is doing the most ancient Archie stories they can find, but those aren't the most attractive ones to the majority of adult Archie fans, it's the later ones from the mid-1950s to mid-1970s, especially on select titles like JOSIE. Someone will figure it out eventually, if I live that long, I guess. ACP doesn't have the money or the know-how to do high-end hardcover reprints (except if they recruit someone like Craig Yoe, as they did with their two hardcovers, The Art of Betty and Veronica, and The Art of Archie: The Covers). IDW did "the best of" Archie artists hardcover collections, and ACP did "The Best of Archie Comics" TPBs, but nobody seems to think about doing chronological Archives collections of the best series featuring the best stories and artwork, like JOSIE. Dan DeCarlo is probably THE most popular artist among the older collectors, but gee... he didn't do a huge amount of Archie stories, and Archie is the most popular character according to digest readers, so that obviously wouldn't work. DUH. Nobody buying hardcovers cares all that much about Dan's Archie or Jughead stories, comparatively speaking -- they want to see him drawing girls, like Josie, Sabrina, or Betty & Veronica.

QuoteI can hardly ever find Sabrinas locally or within a 2h drive and if I do they're always at least $10 each even in fair condition. How much does your shop charge for them?

I hope they continue the Many Loves storyline but this sounds like it's the last one?

I'm guessing about TMLoAA, based on the descriptions of the lead stories in the solicitations for issues 244 and 245 of B&VDD. Since there have already been 7 episodes up to this point, and they already did episodes featuring each of the other six girls (besides B&V) that nominated Archie for the "Boyfriend of the Year Award" mentioned in the first episode, if the series were to continue to 10 episodes (as originally projected by Dan Parent) the remaining 3 episodes would spotlight Betty in one story, Veronica in another, and then a concluding episode to wrap things up. Based on the solicitation descriptions the new lead stories in 244 and 245 don't sound like episodes of TMLoAA. That and the fact that the timing of this last episode coincides with Fernando's mention (after he turned in his last new story only to discover, to his surprise, that they had no new art assignments to offer him) that all new lead stories in the digests will be strictly limited to 5 pages from here on out, and all of the TMLoAA episodes have been 10 or more pages so far.

Those old comics were only in 'good' condition, and I found them rummaging through some $1 boxes. Occasionally (I should probably say very occasionally) I can find some SABRINAs (not the earliest ones) in less than VG condition, but rarely any JOSIEs. But mostly I only find common, lesser condition issues of almost every Archie title except the ones featuring Josie, Sabrina, Betty, Veronica, or B&V, unless it's a recent one from the last 5 years.

Quote from: invisifan on May 05, 2016, 08:00:56 PM
As for cryptozoology — it's hard to hide a breeding population of a significantly large species of anything in the modern world without it being found pretty easily; that said the largest living organism in the world is living in the US and almost no one even knows it exists ...

There's a living organism larger than the blue whale living in the US and almost no one knows it exists?

Quote from: Mr.Lodge on May 05, 2016, 05:47:41 PM

Quote from: daren on May 03, 2016, 04:02:12 AM
I have a complex about reading superhero stuff in public that I don't have about Archie, maybe Im just paranoid about looking like a loser fanboy and people associsate superhero comics with that instead of Archie stuff. And everyone knows superhero comics suck up all your time and money because of all the continuities so in additioin to looking like a loser you look like a loser in hock to Marvel and Image...I know it's stupid, everyone should just read what they want. 

Interesting and ironic. I said something similar upthread and I got smited and savaged for it. 

I guess it proves and validates what I said earlier. 

Or it proves you haven't got the slightest idea of what you're talking about. Yes, you should celebrate the fact that you and people like you make others feel BAD about themselves.


Why not be proud about it? You feel validated? You disgust me.

Quote from: Original Sin on May 05, 2016, 05:01:21 PM
I like this idea.
It'd be interesting to see Betty have an affair. To see her not being squeaky clean.

Too easy. Just watch Riverdale, I bet she's a dirty little **** in that.