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Post by Prince Hal on Jan 2, 2015 11:28:56 GMT -5
I never bought Archie, but I always read them in the barber shop and wherever else they'd pop up. I liked them, though, because they always reminded me of the Andy Hardy movies. Archie's "world" was always a well defined, interesting place, and Riverdale was obviously created as a mythic, idyllic hometown, along the lines of Andy Hardy's Carvel, the Hardy Boys' Bayport, and Superboy's Smallville. I'm assuming that Riverdale had whatever civic institution, natural wonder, or neighborhood a particular story called for.
Seeing the World's Fair issue made me realize that I couldn't remember any DC or Marvel issues using it as a setting. (Maybe some of the Millie the Model and Patsy Walker books did?) DC I could understand, because in the Silver Age, there was no New York City in the DC Universe. (Maybe there was one on Earth-Two. After all, they published an issue of World's Fair Comics.) I would think, though, that Marvel would have set a story or two there.
Excellent recaps and comments here, Scott. I love an excursion like this led by an aficionado like you. Looking forward to the rest of your reviews.
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Post by MDG on Jan 2, 2015 12:55:33 GMT -5
I really like the issues from 50 to 100 or so. Thought it was interesting that they'd do stories of the gang as cave people or in the roman Empire.
In general, my favorite period for Archies is when they'd use a random vignette from one of the stories above the title.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jan 2, 2015 13:25:38 GMT -5
Wow. I've already learned a lot about Archie from your op, Scott. While I was aware of the existence of the original Life with Archie title, I didn't understand that it had a different scope than the regular titles. I thought it was just another publication to make to another dime off of an already successful series.
I'm anxiously awaiting more insight from you!
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Jan 2, 2015 13:27:07 GMT -5
Seeing the World's Fair issue made me realize that I couldn't remember any DC or Marvel issues using it as a setting. I think a Human Torch-The Thing story in Strange Tales took place at the Worlds Fair briefly and showed the unisphere |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 2, 2015 13:55:35 GMT -5
I've never read an Archie comic (at least, I don't think I have)... the one time I purchased one was recently for my 9 year old... didn't take, though. These sound pretty awesome, though... I'll definitely follow with interest  |
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Crimebuster
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Post by Crimebuster on Jan 2, 2015 14:21:00 GMT -5
I really like the issues from 50 to 100 or so. Thought it was interesting that they'd do stories of the gang as cave people or in the roman Empire. In general, my favorite period for Archies is when they'd use a random vignette from one of the stories above the title. It's funny you should say that, because Archie One - the caveman series - is probably my least favorite thing Archie has ever done. I hate it with a passion. I believe after debuting in Life with Archie during this period, it ended up moving over to Pep Comics in the 70's, while occasionally appearing in Archie. Every time I come to an Archie One story I want to throw the comic across the room. The issues from 50-100 are also by far my least favorite of this title, as they are mostly short gag strips outside the focus of the rest of the series. Though there are some good gag strips mixed in, I just think they would have been better off using those in Laugh or Pep and leaving LWA as the more serious book. |
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Post by Crimebuster on Jan 2, 2015 15:09:27 GMT -5
Added reviews of #40, 41, 46, 49 and 50.
Also added one line synopses of each issue to the listings to make it easier to see what you're going to get. The next batch, for example, is going to consist almost entirely of entries labeled "random gag strips," "The Archies," "Man from RIVERDALE," and "Pureheart the Powerful," as there's not a whole lot in the way of interesting stories until the title gets to #106. Though there are a couple here and there.
I'm also almost up to the point where I start having most or all of the issues, so once I get up to #77 or so, the review list will be a lot more complete and less spotty.
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Post by Crimebuster on Jan 2, 2015 19:10:56 GMT -5
Added review of #52, 55, 62, 65 and 68.
I am also going to be adding a rating system. Since the reviews are hidden behind spoiler tags, I want it to be something you can see without having to click on the tags. So I am going to color code it. RED entries are going to be the top of the line stories, while whatever THIS color is is going to be other notable issues. Is that pink? Someone tell me, I am color blind.
So for example, of the issues reviewed so far, #17 is going to be noted as a classic, while #10, #24 and #31 are all notable as well. The rest of the issues reviewed so far will just be basic black. While it's maybe not quite as versatile as a A-F grading system or a 1-10 system, hopefully it will be a good, quick and easy way to see which issues I think are good.
I'll add this once someone can tell me what color that is.
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Post by Crimebuster on Jan 3, 2015 0:38:05 GMT -5
Still don't know what color that is. Fuchsia? Added reviews - such as they are - for #70-75 and #77-100. Most of these are solid, run of the mill Archie comics - not as annoying as some of the Archies and parody stuff that came earlier, but not particularly interesting either. We're almost to the good stuff, though. The worm has started to turn. One thing that's a little odd. The latest Best of Archie Comics volume, volume 4, has a story attributed to Life with Archie #93 about the Archies getting drafted for the Vietnam War. That's just the sort of thing that should be in Life with Archie, but in fact, it wasn't; it's the cover story of Everything's Archie #16:  Given that the book was compiled by Archie's official historian, I wonder if their records indicated this story was originally slated to run in Life with Archie? I am just grasping at straws to figure out why it would be listed as appearing in LWA #93; Everything's Archie #16 didn't appear until a full year later, by which time Life with Archie was running stories like this again. I dunno. A mystery. Anyway, a few more issues of gag stories, then we can get really start getting into the good stuff. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 3, 2015 8:28:51 GMT -5
I'd call that color Purple, though it is a light pinkish sort of purple.
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Post by Crimebuster on Jan 4, 2015 21:07:32 GMT -5
Added reviews for #101-105.
Also added notes in the issue descriptions to indicate which issues have statements of ownership and sales figures.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 5, 2015 0:24:00 GMT -5
So, I see there you have the cover to 'Everything's Archie'... just how many Archie books were there? Were they all going at once? I always thought there were one or two, and lots of differently formatted reprints... it seems like perhaps there were a bunch.
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Crimebuster
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Post by Crimebuster on Jan 5, 2015 1:33:59 GMT -5
There were a complete crapton of titles, and they were all going at once. Archie was massively popular during this time period, thanks to the cartoons and the pop songs. At one point in the early 70's, they had all these titles going simultaneously, though only some of these were monthly, so which ones you'd get at any given time would be kind of random:
Pep
Archie
Jughead
Betty and Veronica
Life with Archie
Everything's Archie
Archie and Me
Betty and Me
Reggie and Me
Archie at Riverdale High
Little Archie
Josie and the Pussycats
Laugh
Madhouse
Archie's T.V. Laugh-Out
That Wilkin Boy
Archie Giant Series Magazine
Archie's Joke Book
Jughead's Jokes
Reggie's Wise Guy Jokes
Lil' Jinx Giant Laugh-Out
Archie's Pals n' Gals
Sabrina the Teenage Witch
Looking at Mike's newsstand, it looks as though any given month there would have been between 9 and 19 of these titles out, as some were monthly, some were bi-monthly, some were quarterly and some were seemingly completely at random.
They really made hay while the sun shined, to their eventual detriment in my opinion. They spread their talent out really thin putting out this many books, and the quality was not as high across the board in the 70's as it had been in the 60's. And they really oversaturated the market, leading to reader burn out and a pretty severe fading in popularity in the late 70's.
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Post by Crimebuster on Jan 5, 2015 4:21:33 GMT -5
Added reviews for #106-110. We're finally to the meat of the run; every issue from #110 up through at least #205 has something beyond your typical Archie gag strips. This is the good stuff.
I'm still thinking about the best way to do ratings. I'm not sure the color coding is quite flexible enough. I'm considering adding a * rating system to the synopses, where I will rate each issue form 0 to 4 stars, with random gag or parody issues being 0, moving up on to 4 stars for the all-time classics. Maybe in conjunction with color coding as well to make sure the ratings stand out. So it would be something like:
125. Betty is possessed by a Satanic teddy bear! ****
What do you think?
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 5, 2015 8:07:37 GMT -5
That seems good Wow, that's ALOT of titles... was there anything to differentiate them (besides what you've already mentioned about Life with Archie)? I assume the one with different title characters featured that title person, but were the others just more titles to get more books on the stand? |
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