Archie New Look Series Book 5: Goodbye Forever


By Melanie J. Morgan & Norm Breyfogle (Archie Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-879794-63-4

For most of us, when we say comicbooks, people’s thoughts turn to buff men and women in garish tights hitting each other and lobbing trees or cars about, or stark, nihilistic crime, horror or science fiction sagas aimed an extremely mature and sophisticated readership of confirmed fans – and for American comics these days that is indeed the norm. Over the years though (and throughout the rest of the world still), other forms and genres have waxed and waned.

However one company has held its ground against the tide over the years – although probably better known for its spun-off television/movie franchise – is the teen-comedy genre begun by and synonymous with a carrot topped kid named Archie Andrews and the two girls he can’t choose between – Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge.

Archie has thrived by constantly reinventing its core characters, seamlessly adapting to the changing world outside its bright, flimsy pages, shamelessly co-opting youth, pop culture and fashion trends into its infallible mix of slapstick and young romance.

Each and every social revolution has been painlessly assimilated into the mix (the company has managed to confront a number of social issues affecting the young in a manner both even-handed and tasteful over the years) and the constant addition of new characters such as African-American Chuck – who wants to be a cartoonist – his girlfriend Nancy, fashion-diva Ginger, Hispanic couple Frankie and Maria and a host of others such as spoiled home-wrecker-in-waiting Cheryl Blossom all contributed to a broad and refreshingly broad-minded scenario.

In 2010 Archie even jumped the final hurdle for the family-entertainment medium with the introduction of Kevin Keller, an openly gay young man and a clear-headed advocate capably tackling and dismantling the last major taboo in mainstream kids comics, but he was far from the only innovation.

In 2007 the company tried a risky experiment when they began a series of short serials in the pages of their various publications, featuring the regular cast in a far more realistically rendered manner rather than the gloriously utilitarian and trademarked loose cartoon style pioneered by Bob Montana in Pep Comics (beginning with #22 in 1941, reprinted in Archie: Best of the Forties) and honed to perfection by such unsung geniuses as Bob Bolling, Dan DeCarlo, Joe Edwards, Samm Schwartz, Bill Vigoda and the legendary Harry Lucey.

More importantly they moved away from the broad and outrageous slapstick and whimsical comedy by testing out a mildly soap-operatic sitcom flavour and social issues in tune with contemporary teens of the post MTV generation.

I thought it was a terrible idea – but I was quite wrong…

Not that there weren’t some obvious problems. Most tellingly, if you draw Archie Andrews more realistically what you get is Jimmy Olsen and it’s also really hard to see what hotties like Betty and especially billionaire’s daughter Veronica find so appealing about such a clumsy if well-meaning doofus…

Nonetheless the occasional adventures continued for a couple of years, all scripted by Melanie J. Morgan and illustrated by some of mainstream superhero comics’ most accomplished artists, including Steven Butler, Al Milgrom, Joe Staton, Tod Smith, Rich Burchett and Terry Austin.

This fifth collected yarn (which was first printed in Archie’s Double Digest #200-203, July-November 2009) is drawn by the superb Norm Breyfogle and highlights the biggest disaster that ever hit the happy community of Riverdale; a drama likely to break the hearts of both Betty and Veronica. After years of making do and getting by, Archie’s dad finally gets the promotion he’s always deserved, but the glad tidings have a bitter sting.

If he accepts it means uprooting the entire family from their small town roots and relocating to the big and very different city of Martinsville…

Of course they must go and Archie’s friends and loved ones have to face the fact that within a month he will be nothing but a memory. Idyllic little Riverdale will never be the same again…

Of course it all works out in the end, but while it’s happening there’s a very impressive sense of panic, injustice and loss. If kid’s soaps and dramas were this well produced I’d read less and watch a lot more TV…

Ultimately though, the experimental tales were discontinued and the beautifully garish cartoon universe resumed, as it has for nearly seventy years. Still and all I must admit that I rather enjoyed this “alternate world” of Archie despite all my initial misgivings and since there’s so little comics material for the older kid’s market maybe the company might want to try again – just next time not with my immortal, unchanging legendary freckle-faced fool…

© 2011 Archie Comics Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.