I don’t
know what’s happening with Jughead right
now. It hasn’t had a new issue since
July; I’ve been looking around for news that the title has been canceled
(nooooooo!) or put on hold, but I can’t find anything on it. In the meantime, I thought I might as well
check out the main branch of the current Archie
series. I think it’s technically in a
slightly different canon, so Jughead isn’t explicitly ace, but it’s still
enjoyable.
Archie
and Betty have been best friends forever, the boy and girl next door. However, as both developed feelings for each
other, their first foray into romance ended in disaster, and now their whole
social circle is buzzing with the fallout.
Their friends plot how to reconcile them, but a wrench is thrown into
their plans when new girl Veronica breezes into town.
Overall,
I think this comic does a nice job updating the classic Archie title. The main hallmarks
– the Archie/Betty/Veronica triangle, Reggie being “evil,” Archie’s clumsiness,
Jughead’s love affair with food, etc. – are all there, and all the characters
are recognizable, more grounded versions of their classic comic selves. I like the little details added, like Betty’s
mechanic skills or Veronica’s difficulty adjusting to public school, and the
more minor characters, while used as flavor more than anything else so far,
make the atmosphere seem well filled-in.
It’s a
little more dramatic than I was expecting, based on my memories of the old
classic Archies I used to read at my
grandma’s house and, of course, my experience with Jughead. It still has
definite humor, from Jughead’s wry deadpan to Archie’s walking-disaster
tendencies (there’s a great sequence in this volume of Archie’s friends trying
to keep him from accidentally killing himself while working at a construction
site,) but the general bent of the storylines themselves are more akin to a
teen drama. I wouldn’t say in line with Riverdale, since that show has way more
murder and maple-syrup blood feuds and other craziness than Archie does! Rather, it’s a lot of light drama and light
comedy centered around slightly-heightened depictions of typical teen issues.
Naturally,
there’s a lot of focus on the
relationship drama, which isn’t my favorite.
Just as my favorite part of Riverdale
is the teen sleuthing and I love the crazy antics on Jughead, I find the plot of Archie’s
triangle stuff to be a bit by-the-numbers.
That said, the comic does good work on the details of this story, in a
way that I’d imagine feels pretty true/relatable to plenty of romantics and
sexuals.
While it
has yet to grab me the way some of the other comics I’ve checked out have (Jughead, Ms. Marvel, The Totally Awesome
Hulk,) I did enjoy this volume and will probably check back in with it
later.
Warnings
A bit of
“don’t try this at home.”
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