One
of the great things about Archie digests are the fact that you never really
know what stories that you will find inside until you open them up. After all, traditionally speaking, most
original stories that have been printed in the standard comic series will be
reprinted in digest format anywhere from four to seven years after they
originally appeared.
While
I was writing yesterday's blog entry, I mentioned that I had gotten my photos
from Archie Digest #96. As it turns out, I happened to find other stories
within that digest that were really interesting that I had forgotten
about. One of those stories is one that
I will be featuring on this lazy Sunday.
But perhaps the subject matter of this particular tale could make
someone a little bit TOO lazy. And fair
warning, there are spoilers in
this tale, so if you haven't read this one yet, you've been warned.
This
story originally appeared in Life With Archie
#222. And if you have ever
read any of the issues of the original "Life With Archie" series, you'll
know that the stories in that serial kind of make you question reality a
smidgen. Remember how I said in
yesterday's entry that the "Archie at Riverdale High" series featured
Archie and the gang exposing Scooby-Doo type mysteries that happened at their
school? "Life With Archie"
amplified it by a hundred.
This
meant that you had stories which blended the Riverdale universe with true crime
mysteries, science-fiction elements, natural disasters, and even time
travel! Considering that at the time
Archie and his friends are still in high school, that's a lot to take in! It suspends your belief in everything you
think is real, that's for sure.
Such
as today's tale - "The Silks of Svengasi".
I'm
assuming that this is a play on words where Svengasi is meant to be like
Svengali, which is a fictional character in the novel "Trilby". In that novel, the character Svengali
manipulates, dominates, and exploits the main character of Trilby...which is
sort of what happens in this tale. I
mean, have you seen how Mr. Lodge looks in the opening panel of this
story? He's taken casual Friday into
slobby Sunday. No ambition, no desire,
no need to do anything but lay around.
When
a new business partner of Mr. Lodge's named Mr. Snodgrass pays a visit to Mr.
Lodge, Mr. Lodge signs over full control of one of his manufacturing plants to
Svengasi Enterprises. Veronica explains
that Svengasi is a clothing manufacturer that is in direct competition with
Lodge Enterprises, and that Mr. Snodgrass is the CEO of Svengasi. So, it would be incredibly out of character
for Mr. Lodge to co-operate with the enemy - especially in a business
setting. Veronica has noticed that Mr.
Lodge is losing more and more ambition these days, and he doesn't even go to
the office or even have the desire to shave.
She is genuinely worried that if this keeps up, the Lodges will lose all
of their money.
Veronica
also explains that the way that Svengasi Industries made their money was
through manufacturing clothing made with the softest silk ever imagined. Mr. Snodgrass gave Mr. Lodge a gift of
several of these dress shirts, and since that day, those shirts are all that
Mr. Lodge will wear. Archie and Betty
agree that the shirts are extremely soft, and Archie admits that he doesn't
blame Mr. Lodge for wearing them all the time.
But at the same time, Archie suspects that something isn't right about
Mr. Snodgrass and he doesn't trust him as far as he can throw him.
The
next day, a sudden downpour strikes Riverdale, and Archie gets completely drenched
on his way to Veronica's house.
Fortunately, Betty and Veronica are already there and Veronica knows
exactly what to do. She runs to grab
one of Mr. Lodge's shirts and gives it to Archie while his shirt is thrown in
the clothes dryer.
As
soon as Archie puts on the shirt, he is taken aback over how soft and cozy the
shirt really is. It is the most
comfortable garment that he has ever put on in his life. In fact, Archie finds it so soft that he
refuses to hand Veronica a book when she asks for it and actually asks for
Betty and Veronica to remove his shoes for him so that he will be more
comfortable!
At
this point, the wheels in Betty and Veronica's brains are spinning and they
seem to know what is going on. But to
put that theory to the test, Veronica tries an experiment. She grabs another one of Mr. Lodge's shirts,
goes into the kitchen, and gets the Lodge family chef Gaston to try one
on. And the results are fairly
predictable.
The
shirts are bad news. They are not only
the softest shirts ever created, but they are made of a material that is so
soft that it actually drains the energy and ambition of those who wear
them. It essentially makes them under
the control of anybody else who is NOT wearing the shirts. The shirts are the Trojan horse that Mr.
Snodgrass has bestowed upon Mr. Lodge, and it was done so that he could put
Lodge Enterprises out of business. It
was a rather devious scheme for sure, and now that Betty and Veronica know the
truth, they set on stopping Snodgrass once and for all. But before they do that, they must rescue
Archie, Mr. Lodge, and Gaston from the sap-sucking silk shirts once and for
all.
Once
they free Archie from the shackles of softness, the three of them put their
heads together to come up with a plan to stop Snodgrass once and for all. And Archie seems to have the idea that
Snodgrass couldn't possibly be wearing his own clothing, or else he would end
up being just like Mr. Lodge. For
Archie, it's proof enough that Snodgrass is a con man. And while Veronica deals with the newly-lazy
chef Gaston, Archie and Betty set out to trap Snodgrass.
It
doesn't take long for Archie to realize that Snodgrass is actually buying his
own shirts from a local men's wear shop - La Roma. Archie comes up with a way to get even. He goes into the shop, tells the man that he wants the shirts
sent to Mr. Lodge's house instead because Lodge wants to give them to Snodgrass
as a gift.
Once
they get back to the Lodge Mansion, Archie gets Betty to grab whatever Svengasi
shirts are left in Mr. Lodge's closet.
Archie then uses Betty's sewing skills to use by switching the labels
inside of each shirt, so that the Svengasi labels go into the La Roma shirts,
and the La Roma labels go in the Svengasi shirts. That way, when Archie poses as a delivery boy to deliver
Snodgrass his shirts, he'll actually be wearing his own creations. Wow...Archie can be quite the genius when he
wants to be. It's too bad he doesn't
show that same intelligence when he accidentally books dates with Betty and Veronica
on the same night!
At
the same time all this is going on, Veronica manages to get Mr. Lodge to put on
one of the La Roma shirts, and once he comes back to his senses, Mr. Lodge is
astonished at what has become of him.
And once he gets back on track following a hot bath and a change of
clothes, he is furious to realize that Snodgrass had taken advantage of him for
so long and vows to get revenge.
Of
course, as we all well know, most of the wacky tales of Life With Archie have a
happy ending to them, and as you can see in the last panel of the story,
Archie's plan has worked brilliantly.
Enjoy your Sunday, everyone...and try to avoid silk that appears TOO soft...
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