Archie comics are popular with all age groups. They are my favorite for light readings. I was an avid reader of the comics till I got too involved in my work and my reading habit took a backseat for sometime. Then it happened one day… I rediscovered my love for them on a business trip. I was getting a little restless because of hectic work schedule and lack of sleep. I was cursing myself for forgetting the books that I had intended to carry with me to kill boredom of a long flight. Suddenly my boss took out some Archie comics from his bag. And after few minutes both of us were smiling and the boring journey was filled with simple and colorful world of young characters.
The setting of the book is in imaginary town of Riverdale. The plot is focused mainly on a carefree bunch of teenagers who live life to fullest. They study in high school called Riverdale high. Besides, the youngsters there are some adults who complement the young with their wisdom to give a mature effect to the whole concept.
Archie Andrews is freckle faced red head. He is the central character of the comic strip. He is a typical boy next door. Any young boy can easily identify with the character portrayed by Archie. He has a heart of gold. Archie wears his heart on his sleeve for any new chic he meets, but actually he is totally smitten by Veronica. He is a fine mixture of simplicity, genuineness, gentleness, and a little bit of carelessness too. He cares genuinely for Betty, whom he treats more as a buddy than a girl friend.
Veronica Lodge is Archie’s heart throb. She is a rich snob brunette. She is the daughter of the richest man in the town. She is more of a materialistic spoilt brat. Having said all this, you possible will not believe me if I say that she is basically a good kid at heart. But yes she is. Time and time again this rare side of Ronnie is revealed. She enjoys a love-hate relationship with Betty, her best friend. The bone of contention between Ronnie and Betty is Archie.
Betty Cooper is an intelligent blonde. Now this wasn’t a joke. She is smart, meticulous in her work, expert in household chores, helpful, softhearted, and beautiful. In short, Betty is a perfect wife material. She is all moony eyed over Archie, which is forever a subject of animosity between her and Veronica. She is everybody’s pet. Betty loves Archie, who loves Veronica, the pretty babe. (Sounds like ’’Kuchh Kuchh hota hai’’)
Reggie Mantel is original Mr. Obnoxious, who loves to blow his own trumpet. He is another rich kid in the gang. He loves passing rude comments and snide remarks on just anybody. The pet target for all his devilish acts is poor Archie. Most of the time, he ends up making a fool of himself. He adds spice to the whole curry of characters.
Whenever there’s a mention of food, there is Jughead Jones. Juggie is always hungry. He lives to eat. He can just eat anything on earth, which is edible. He is Archie’s best friend. He has a sweet lazy dog, Hotdog. Hmmm, food again. J. Jughead has an attiude and a class of his own. He is truly an unbeatable character sketched by John Goldwater.
Jughead is chased by Big Ethel. She is the ugly duckling of the gang. Ethel is a tall, buck toothed girl with gawky appearance. She keeps on coming up with new tricks to trap Juggie.
The gang has a dumb muscle man, Moose. Probably God concentrated too much on muscles while creating Moose that he forgot to add some grey cells to his creation.
Moose’s world revolves around Midge. Midge is dainty, pretty girl friend of Moose. Midge is object of Reggie’s affections too. Well!! All the girls in Riverdale are Reggie’s love interests. Poor Reggie generally ends up paying with few bruises and cuts and sometimes with bones for interest that he shows in Midge.
Dilton Doiley is the nerd of Riverdale high. He has logical answers and solutions to all problems that Archie innocently creates for himself. He is a genius wedded to his research work. He keeps on coming up with strange gadgets, which sometimes lands up everybody in a hilarious situation.
Chuck Clayton is the star player of Riverdale team. He is Coach Clayton’s son.
Nancy is Chuck’s girlfriend.
Now comes the adult lot.
$ Mr. Lodge $ is Veronica’s dad. He is a multimillionaire business tycoon. Veronica is center of his whole world. He loves to provide luxuries to his darling daughter, but at the same time, tries to exercise a control on her. His only wish in his life is that Ronnie should learn to respect the value of money. He hates the sight of Archie. According to him, Archie is synonymous with accidents.
Mr. WeatherBee is the Principal of Riverdale high. He is fat, short, bespectacled, bald man, forever on trail of Archie. The entire focus of The Bee is on Archie only. He loves to catch hold of every opportunity to send Archie to detention room.
Mrs. Grundy is the English and history teacher at the school. Her classes are sleeping pills for Archie and Juggie. Betty is her pet student.
Besides these, there are Mr. Flutesnoot - the Chemistry Professor, Coach Kleats and Coach Clayton - the sports in-charge, Mr. Svenson - the cleaner at Riverdale high, Miss. Beazly - the cafeteria in-charge, Smithers - Butler of the Lodge household, Leroy - Ronnie’s brat cousin.
Along with the short stories woven around the main characters, there are supporting strips in the comics- Sabrina, the teenage witch. Pussy Cats- Josie, Melody and Valerie, supported by Alex Cabot. Little Jinx and Katy Keane.
Archies is undoubtedly a very entertaining comic book. It is generally sold as a single digest or a double digest. The stories are short and rib tickling.
The publishers of the comics also take advantage of the target readers, who are generally in the spectrum of 10 to 16 to convey social messages like campaign against drug abuse, campaign in support of providing help to people suffering from cerebral palsy. And I think this is a very smart move, considering the fact that the young impressionable readers get a socially inspired goodwill message from their favorite characters.
All in all, Archie comics provide entertainment for kids and teenagers, and for the adults who want to relive their good old days.
So, whenever you are feeling a little low and need something to lift up your spirits, pick an Archie, and see the effect.
Go and grab your copy before the rest of the MS’ians raid the bookstores.
Have fun reading :)