Volume Four, Number Eight

Yesterday I talked about my "guilty pleasure" as a child; Mike Shayne. Well, I had another one, one that I have to this day. Archie comics.

I'm not talking about the super-heroes-Hangman, Mr. Justice, The Shield, The Fly, et al-or the horror comics of the 1970s. I loved those too of course and still do. No; I am talking about the actual Archie comics; Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Reggie, Archie Andrews and the rest of the gang.

As long as I can remember I have enjoyed those comics' both the comics themselves and the newspaper strip. The London Free Press-the daily newspaper in my home town of London Ontario Canada-used to run the Archie dailies and weekly coloured comics and I would read those faithfully.

My favourite Archie series was Little Archie. It was one of the most innovative comics around looking back at it. Weird aliens, sci fi stuff, the works. It rivalled the 60s Superboy for fun tales.

I also love the LIFE WITH ARCHIE comic in the 60s. Of all the Archie titles back then it had the most interesting stories I thought. JUGHEAD was a fave, too. It actually introduced me, my mom and dad to hamburgers. I had never heard of them until I read a JUGHEAD comic. Neither had my mom and dad. But I bugged and bugged and bugged my mother to make me a hamburger until she eventually relented. We all fell in love with them immediately. I still love them to this day and I owe it all to Jughead. Thanks, buddy.

Now the one thing about the Archie comics that used to bug me was that I always felt that Archie was a bit of a dope. He was chasing after Veronica when Betty was by far the better lady. Veronica was spoiled, insecure and needy. Betty was cool, independent and far sexier. How Archie couldn't see that was always beyond my comprehension. And I thought for years that I was the only Archie reader who felt that way until I brought it up to my buddy The Groovy Agent who told me nope; other guys felt that way, too.

I also used to love the Archie cartoons of the 60s. They were kind of dumb but fun.

As for today I have about a hundred or so Archie digests in my collection. Whenever I feel the need for some good fun I pull one out and read it. They are still lotsa fun. Good comics. Nope. Great comics. And I know I will probably never get a chance to do so but one day I would love to write and have published an Archie comics story; preferably a Little Archie tale. It's on my wish list. Hmm. That list is getting pretty darn long these days.

Take care and enjoy the surprises my webmaster has put up. Be safe, folks.