This is a project that is likely going to take a few years, but eventually I hope to review the entire original Life with Archie series, arguably the most interesting title published by Archie Comics, and maybe the least known among non-Archie fans.

Life with Archie #1 hit stands with a cover date of September, 1958. The title ran for 33 years before finally ending with #286 in 1991. Despite this impressive longevity, the title is almost unknown to most fans other beyond the fact that the name was re-used for the recent, critically acclaimed mature title that ended last summer with Archie's much-hyped death.

As great as the new series was, the original was just as good in its own way. Like the modern version, the original Life with Archie provided a venue for Archie creators to more serious, longer form stories. While there were still some gag strips and some humorous stories, Life with Archie was mostly filled with tales of adventure, action, drama and horror, as well as with educational tales and politically charged "very special" stories that addressed issues of the day.

Because of this, beyond having a lot of excellent stories, it also offers both a fascinating look at Archie characters outside their normal comfort zone, as well as a historical window into the topics that concerned the teens of the day.

Of course, a lot can change over the course of 33 years, and Life with Archie reinvented itself several times in an attempt to stay relevant. As a result, there are several fairly clearly defined eras of the title:

#1-40 provide the classic formula for the series. These issues often feature full-length stories, mostly of adventure and drama. Things like the 100th anniversary of the Civil War, the space race between the Soviets and the Americans, and a trip to the 1964 New York World's Fair are interspersed with personal dramas like Jughead's near death experience from appendicitis or Archie taking up karate. This is the template the series would return to when other fads failed.

#41-59 is what I refer to as the parody era. #41 introduces Archie as Pureheart the Powerful, which begins an ongoing superhero series parodying the success of Silver Age DC and Marvel, with the gang as superheroes and supervillains. #45 introduces The Man from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E., a spoof of The Man from U.N.C.L.E., which features the gang as spies.

#60-105 is the zenith of the series. #60 is the first appearance of The Archies, the fictional band that would have a real life #1 hit with "Sugar, Sugar" two years later thanks in part to the wildly successful Archie cartoon. The success of the cartoon was a double-edged sword for Archie Comics. Sales boomed, but because Archie was now so mainstream, Archie began toning down the content of their books, with less of the sly romantic humor that made it so great in the 50's and 60's and more middle of the road stuff. More stories with morals, more religious themed stuff. And more stories featuring The Archies doing zany - i.e. insufferably stupid- stuff, inspired by The Monkees TV series. There are some hidden gems in this era, but there are a lot of one-off gag strips and shorts, rendering the title mostly indistinct from any other Archie series.

#106-204 is the high point of the series. This is where most of the best stories appear, where they really hit their stride. After the success of the cartoon and fake band faded away, sales slipped and they slowly returned the book to its original formula. Most of the best stories in the title's run happen during this period.

#205-235 with sales again slipping line-wide, the title becomes a bit of a hodge podge. Generic Dan DeCarlo gag covers take over the front, while the interior is now a mix of gag shorts and more serious stories. Most of the more serious stories are also shorter in length, though, and share space with random gag strips.

#236-286 sees the pendulum swing back again, with most (though not all) of the covers showing action scenes again, and most (though not all) of the stories being more classic Life with Archie content. In general, the "serious" stories aren't quite as serious as they used to be, though. Before the title is cancelled, Archie Comics turns it over to Gene Colan of all people, leading to some severe cognitive dissonance on my part.

Since I do not currently have a full run of the series (I think I am around 225 issues), my plan is to reserve several posts at the beginning of this thread. I will then list out all 286 issues. As I get review the issues, or purchase them, I will fill in the reviews for each number in turn, and will add a new post updating everyone with which issues have had reviews added.

Since multiple issues will be reviewed in a single post, I will also be placing the individual reviews behind spoiler tags to keep the posts from being too cluttered. I also want to do this because some issues, particularly those in the #63-105 range, don't have anything worth talking about. So one issue might have several paragraphs of review along with multiple images, while another might have one sentence from me explaining that the issue sucks; the length and depth of individual reviews will vary greatly. Keeping the reviews behind spoiler tags will keep things from looking stupid; the spoiler tags will also be an easy way to tell which issues have been reviewed.



Additionally, I will be rating these issues on a scale of 0 to 4 stars. 0 stars will be reserved for issues that do not have classic "Life with Archie" style stories - issues that are parodies, or just have random gag strips, or whatever.

For the rest of the issues, this is not a standard 1-4 star rating system. 1 star here signifies an average issue. Anything above 1 star means the issue is above average. So for example, if an issue gets 2 stars, it's not really 2 stars out of 4, which would normally indicate below average; instead, it means the issue is above average and therefore getting a bonus star.

Excellent stories earning 3 stars will be marked in PURPLE, while 4 stars will be reserved for the best of the best, the all-time classic issues, which will be marked in RED to make sure they stand out.

Onward and upward!