"The New Year's Resolution Contest" - An Archie New Year's Eve Tale

Can you believe that this is the final day of 2018?  As I get older, the years certainly go by a lot quicker.  Sometimes I still think that I'm stuck in 1994!  But we're almost at 2019, and it's the time of the year where people reflect on the old, and vow not to make the same mistakes in the new year that they did the previous one.

Many of us do this by making a New Year's Resolution at the end of the old year.  And the most common resolutions that I hear a lot are people resolving to lose weight, or people resolving to quit smoking, or people resolving to drink more water, or people resolving to only play Fortnite for twelve hours a week instead of twelve hours a day. 

And, let's face it.  For those of us who make those resolutions, most of us have them broken by January 8th.  January 14th, if you have real will power.

In today's story - which first appeared in "Archie's Double Digest #148" - the Archie gang decide that they will make New Year's Resolutions - with a twist.  When an incentive is given for the gang to keep their resolutions, can anyone keep them?

It's a special two-part story that is entitled "The New Year's Resolution Contest", and the setting is Lodge Mansion at one of Veronica's fabulous parties.  The gang counts down to the New Year and before you know it, it's 2005! 

(Yeah, this story originally appeared fourteen years ago - but at least unlike the last one that I wrote about yesterday, this one doesn't mention a year, so it could be reprinted well into 2105!)

The whole gang is really excited to celebrate the New Year, as they all have a new fresh start to make things right in a whole new year.  The subject of New Year's Resolutions come up, and everyone agrees that it's fairly pointless to make them as they always end up broken.  They aren't wrong.  I can't remember the last time I made one prior to now, but I never seem to keep them.

So, Veronica comes up with an idea.  She suggests that everyone at the party write down a New Year's Resolution on a piece of paper, and they place it in a bag.  Then one month from now, on February 1st, they will reunite at Veronica's house, go over the resolutions, and see if anyone has kept them up.  The people who succeed will get a reward, though Veronica isn't sure what that reward will be - though she will know what it will be when February arrives.  To prevent anyone from cheating, Veronica decides that she will leave the bag with a trusted authority figure (in this case, Mr. Weatherbee), and he will make sure that nobody sneaks a peek.  Sounds kind of like what they do on the Survivor finales when Jeff Probst takes the urn with the final votes and holds onto it until the finale.  Everyone agrees to the terms, and they begin thinking of their resolutions.

Said in best Spongebob Narrator voice:  ONE MONTH LATER...

Everyone is gathered around at Lodge Mansion again, and Mr. Weatherbee successfully delivers the bag of resolutions that the gang made a month ago.  Now that the year is thirty-one days old, it's time to see which people succeeded, and which ones failed.  And we'll hopefully see what the grand prize is for winning!

Anyway, the first resolution that is pulled out belongs to Reggie.  Let's see what he wrote.

Yeah, like we can expect a mischievous soul like Reggie to keep his word on a New Year's Resolution.  Especially when you have Reggie seated next to Betty in class.  The only thing that would have been even more tempting is if he was seated next to Dilton Doiley.  So, we can expect Reggie to not be the winner.  But what about Betty?  Let's see what her resolution is...

Well, Betty's resolution was to be kind to everybody, which is a fairly common one.  And certainly Betty is the type of person who is genuinely kind anyway so it should be an easy one for her to keep right?  According to Reggie, not so much.  Reggie actually argues that Betty should be out of the running because she refused to let Reggie copy off of her paper!  Wow...Reggie would actually make a really sleazy lawyer.  Of course, Betty denies that this should count, and tells Reggie so.  But what is especially sneaky of Reggie is that he says just the right things that will make Betty's temper rise to the point where she calls Reggie a big jerk and disqualifies herself right then and there!  And when Dilton tries to helpfully point this out, Betty tells him to shut up!

Oh, Betty.  So close.

Now we're getting to Veronica's resolution.  Hopefully she can come up with something sensible.

Yeah, you know that Family Feud strike buzzer?  I think we could actually use that sound effect here.  Seriously, Veronica.  What were you thinking?  As if you'd actually consider going Walmart chic!

But Veronica shouldn't feel too terrible.  It looks like everyone else has failed the resolution test too.  We don't see any of the other ones made, but I can probably take a guess.

JUGHEAD:  To cut back on snacking.
ETHEL:  To leave Jughead alone.
MOOSE:  To stop beating Reggie up.
CHUCK:  To focus more on Nancy instead of art projects.
NANCY:  To stop getting mad at Chuck for neglecting her for his art.
DILTON:  To join a sports team.

I mean, I'm just guessing here.

Eventually the last resolution to be read is Archie's.  And, Archie's resolution at first seems to be a really clever way of winning the contest.

Yeah, Archie thinks he's outplayed, outwitted, and outlasted everyone else in Survivor: New Year's Resolution.  His resolution to not make a resolution was certainly one that could be able to be kept.  By not resolving anything, he has made the perfect resolution and therefore he will be the only one to win the prize.

Or, is he?

Think about it.  By resolving not to make a resolution...he's actually MADE a resolution.  And because he made a resolution to not resolve anything, his resolution was actually broken the moment he made it!  It sounds very confusing, but regardless, no prize for Archie or anyone!  We never did come to find out what that prize was either.  A gold bar?  A shopping spree?  A date with Veronica?  I feel like we were cheated out of a resolution of this story!

Of course, now it's time to make MY New Year's Resolution.  I resolve to keep bringing you some memories and laughs as I continue PEP Culture throughout 2019.  In fact, I have one final New Year's story to bring you tomorrow!

Have a safe and memorable last day of 2018.  I will see you same time next year.  :)

"Kiss of the Century" - A Cheryl Blossom New Year Tale

Welcome to a three day celebration of the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019!  From now until January 1, I will be featuring three New Years Eve themed stories that will hopefully bring a happy start to your new year and bring the old one to a peaceful closing.

For today's tale, I'm going to be featuring a tale that stars Cheryl Blossom.  As you well may know, Cheryl Blossom was a character that made her first controversial appearance in 1982 (a story that I will be featuring later on in this blog this coming summer), and over the last thirty-six years has been a defining force in Riverdale.  She essentially became the one that turned the Archie/Betty/Veronica love triangle into a perfect square.  For four years between 1996 and 2000, Cheryl had her own title - starting off as a couple of miniseries and evolving into her own title which ran for thirty-seven issues.

Today's tale comes courtesy of "Cheryl Blossom #28", and one thing you might have noticed is the Y2K OK sticker on the front cover!  Well, this comic book was printed right around the same time that people were worried about the Y2K computer bug.  It was predicted that computers all over the world would go haywire because of a glitch that changed the year 1999 into the year 19100 instead of 2000.  People were worried that planes would come falling out of the sky, lights would permanently go out...and worse, people who subscribed to Archie comics wouldn't get their new titles!  Fear not though, the Y2K bug was way overhyped and things went on as normal.  The sticker was placed on the covers of Archie comics to let people know that the computer bug wouldn't affect their subscriptions.

And, it's in Riverdale on New Years Eve, 1999 that this story takes place.

This story is called "Kiss of the Century", and it shows Cheryl wanting to make plans with Archie for New Years Eve 1999.  But, I have a confession to make.  I actually don't have a copy of Cheryl Blossom #28.  I've tried to get it, but any comic book featuring Cheryl Blossom is incredibly hard to come by.  Any time I've tried to bid on some on eBay, I've always been outbid.

As a result, my own personal scans come from the reprinted version of this story, located in "Archie's Holiday Fun Digest #10".  And this poses a whole new set of problems.  This digest was released in the Christmas season of 2005, which meant that this story was changed from New Years 2000 to New Years 2006.  And since the characters aren't celebrating the end of the 20th century any longer, the name of the story had to be physically changed to...

..."Kiss of the Year".  Doesn't exactly have that nice ring to it.  But hey, at least it was a simple fix to change 2000 to 2006.

Anyway, regardless of what year this story is set in, Cheryl has made Archie promise to kiss her at the stroke of midnight.  A tradition that has been set in place as long as the ball has dropped over Times Square is that you give a kiss to the one you love the second the New Year begins.  And I'm sure that Archie is excited to do this...

...until he realizes that he promised the same exact thing to Betty and Veronica.  Wow, smooth.  Real smooth, Archie.  Unless you can find a way to grow two extra heads so that you can kiss Betty, Veronica, and Cheryl simultaneously, I have a feeling that Archie will likely be spending the New Year dateless.  Or in a hospital ward.

Archie is really stressed out about this.  If only there were someone around that could help him make his decision a lot easier.  Of course, the only one in close proximity is his own mother, and while his mother can't exactly tell him who he should kiss, she can offer him a little bit of soul food in the form of one of his favourite desserts.  It's exactly what my own mom would do, so I can totally see where Mary is coming from.

You know the saying, when life hands you lemons, make lemonade?  Well, when Mom hands you lemon cake, make a decision.  And upon the first bite, Archie has come to that decision.  He knows EXACTLY who he is going to choose to kiss at Town Square on New Years Eve.  But before that happens, he has to make a few phone calls.  He rings up Reggie Mantle, Cheryl's twin brother Jason, and Dilton Doiley.  Okay, if he's planning on kissing one of those people on New Years Eve, that might be a rather awkward, yet hilarious twist ending to this story.

Before we know it, it's nearly midnight in Riverdale Town Square.  People have crowded around the clock tower waiting to count down to midnight, and it is actually surprising just how many people live in Riverdale.  I mean, just look at this crowded panel!

That's quite a lot of people.  In fact, there appears to be so many people that Cheryl, Betty, and Veronica are in different areas of the square, unaware that the other two are around.  And all three women have one mission in mind.  Seek out the checkerboard redhead and plant one on him the second the clock strikes twelve.  And once the three lock their gaze on Archie and his parents, all three of them start to run towards Archie as the countdown starts.

But if you think that this is about to cause the catfight of the century, think again.  Because Betty and Veronica are quickly intercepted by...

...Jason and Reggie!  As we well know, Reggie has been battling Archie for years in a secondary love triangle over Veronica, and Archie has decided to let bygones be bygones and allow Reggie to kiss Veronica on New Years Eve.  A lesser known fact to you all might be the fact that Jason has a not-so-secret crush on Betty Cooper, and Archie is aware of this.  So, he decides to get Jason to kiss Betty instead.  Shrewd, Archie.  Real shrewd.

I suppose this sets the stage for Archie to kiss Cheryl Blossom on New Years Eve, and Cheryl happily runs towards her red-headed crush for some major lip locking...

...at least until Dilton Doiley comes up and gives Cheryl the biggest smooch that he can muster up just as the clock strikes midnight!  Happy New Year, Dilton!  You get the chance to kiss one of the hottest girls in the area.  Of course, this doesn't come as a shock to huge fans of the Archie world, as it was well documented that Dilton and Cheryl had a relationship at some point during the Cheryl Blossom title.  It was actually a sweet one, and really humanized Cheryl a bit.  I'm sad that they haven't focused on Dilton and Cheryl more.

But wait...with Betty, Veronica, and Cheryl kissing other guys...who does that leave Archie to kiss? 

Perhaps the woman that deserves it the most. 

Coming up tomorrow, have you made your New Year Resolutions yet?  Archie and his friends have.  But can they keep them?

2018 in Archie Comics

So, I'm guessing that some of you have probably noticed that I have changed the background of this blog for the time being.  And yes, there's a reason for it.

Have you noticed a particular theme with the images that I have selected for the background?  If you guessed that all of these digest covers have a publication date of 2018, you would be correct.  And that's what this blog post is all about.  We're going to take a look at some of the big events that defined the year in Archie comics, and we'll look at some of the experiments that the company took this year.  Some of them were successes.  Some of them, not so much.  And there were even a couple of milestones that we reached this year for the company.

For instance, did you know that Archie printed its 700th issue this year?  In November 2018, "Archie #700" went on sale, and it was another reboot that followed the first reboot after issue #666.  It was kind of weird because beginning with issue 667, the title went under a new #1 issue and went back to the original numbering with issue #699, but either way, for a comic book to reach its 700th issue regardless of the journey it took to get there.  And it appears as though even though the new art style has taken fans a bit of time to get used to, it seems to be doing well.  I kind of like the new look Archie, though my heart will always belong to classic Archie.

2018 was also the year that all of the classic Archie digests became Jumbo Comics.  Prior to that, the titles switched back and forth between regular comics, jumbo comics, and comic annuals.  Even the lone single digest "Archie and Me" switched to permanent Jumbo Comics format in December 2018.  This means more pages to enjoy - though less digests to enjoy it in, as only five digest titles remain in the Archie lineup.  Here's hoping we see another digest creation in 2019.

2018 also seemed to be a year in which the classic Archie comics were embraced more than ever.  In the summer of 2018, Archie comics released a three volume Archie Americana set.  Book 1 dealt with the Golden Age of Archie comics, book 2 was about the Silver Age, and book 3 covered the Bronze Age.  If you're a fan of classic Archie, these three volumes are certainly worth a look.  This photo was actually taken in my own Archie comics room/office. 

2018 was also a year in which Archie comics began reprinting some of their classic stories from some of the most popular titles of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.  In the last year, we've seen seven different titles covered, including "Jughead's Time Police", "Cosmo: The Merry Martian", "Archie at Riverdale High", "Betty & Veronica Spectacular", "Life With Archie", "Archie and Me", and "Everything's Archie".  And it appears as though 2019 will feature even more titles to look forward to.

The year 2018 seemed to be the year of "Cosmo", because a brand new Cosmo title was released in December 2017 and ran for a five-issue miniseries.  I always liked the Cosmo stories and I remember reading them for the first time in a series of old Laugh Digests, and it was cool to see the character resurrected.

But then again, 2018 seemed to be a year of great experimentation for Archie comics as a whole. 

Okay, so I've read both of these titles, and they don't really seem to be my cup of tea.  That said, the artwork is really quite well done.  And hey, at least this seems to be the only way that Jughead can ever get his own title in Archie comics. 

I'm kind of hoping that they find a way to give Jughead another classic comic.  Here's hoping, anyway.

The television series "Riverdale" was a surprise hit for the CW network in 2018, and already the show is in its third season!  Though I'll be the first to admit that midway through season two, I thought the show had gotten too dark.  I liked the first season a lot though, and am glad that it was ultimately made, and I hope the show can find a way to get back to that.  Killing off evil Mr. Lodge might be a good first step.  The series even found a way to get a printed comic book which ran for twelve issues, as well as a digest that ran for seven.  But don't think the series is dead in the water from a comic perspective.  It's set to come back in 2019.

Another huge success was the debut of "The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina".  The Netflix series was the first television adaptation of Sabrina since "Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch" debuted on ABC in 1996.  Suffice to say, this version is WAY darker than the original series.  But the cast is phenomenal in it, and it's actually quite creepy.  But in a good way.

Finally, if you were lucky enough to get this colouring book, you can finish off 2018 by colouring some of your favourite Archie holiday pictures.

That's my look at 2018.  What did you like about it?  What didn't you like?  I'd love to hear your comments.

Stay tuned for the next three days.  I'll be featuring three different New Years themed stories!

Kevin Keller - An Archie Experiment Success

I always saw Archie comics and Riverdale to be a very welcoming place.  Well, as welcoming as a fictional location could be.  Everybody was welcome.  Most everyone treated each other with respect.  And at least in 2018, you can say that Riverdale has become one of the more diverse places in the world of comic books.

But that wasn't always the case. 

Up until the 1970s, Riverdale was probably one of the whitest places in the entire world.  In fact, it wasn't until 1974 that the first regular African-American character - Chuck Clayton - was featured in Archie comics, with his girlfriend Nancy Woods shortly following.  Before that, the only other character of colour was Valerie in Josie and the Pussycats, who made her debut in 1969.  That same decade saw the creation of Archie's first semi-regular Hispanic characters in Frankie Valdez and Maria Rodriguez.  And over the years, we've seen many other characters from various backgrounds enroll at Riverdale High including Ginger Lopez, Toni Topaz, Raj Patel, Kumi Tanura, and Harper Lodge, among others.

But would you believe that it took Archie comics almost seventy years before a character that represented the LGBTQ community was added into the comic books? 

It was the autumn of 2010, and artist Dan Parent introduced a brand new character into the Archie comics universe named Kevin Keller.  And Kevin seemed like he would fit right into the world of Riverdale.  Handsome with blonde hair and sky blue eyes, he certainly grabbed the attention of all the ladies in town.

Especially Veronica Lodge.  I mean, he did make his very first appearance in Veronica's 202nd issue, after all. 

Veronica definitely tried everything to get Kevin to notice her, and she really went all out to snag his attention - even more so when she tries to steal Archie away from Betty!  In Veronica's eyes, she was meant to be with Kevin, and Kevin would fall in love with her no matter what.

But, there was just one teensy, weensy problem...one that he confesses to his new friend Jughead very early on in the story "Isn't It Bromantic?"

Yeah, Kevin Keller is gay.  The very first gay character to ever appear inside of an Archie comic.  And believe me when I say that this event had a LOT of people talking.

As it turns out, the vast majority of people were saying that it was about time they brought on a gay character, and I completely agree that the addition of Kevin as a character was long overdue.  Unfortunately, there were also a few people who didn't like the idea of Kevin being written into the comic books and I remember blocking quite a few people on social media who were being incredibly homophobic and rude.  Some even made the threat of never buying another Archie comic again unless they wrote Kevin off, or worse.  Which to me was sweet because that meant more comics for me to buy.

Anyway, the creation of Kevin Keller almost ten years ago was a hot topic back in the day.  But was it an experiment that paid off for Archie comics?

Ultimately, I think it was a huge success.  And I think part of that success came from how they introduced Kevin to Riverdale.

I like how they didn't really make a big deal out of Kevin being gay.  He casually drops it in conversation, and nobody batted an eye.  Of course, this sets the stage for Jughead to completely manipulate Veronica into really making a fool of herself by telling her that Kevin likes her, but leaving out the fact that he's gay - which eventually backfires on Jughead when Veronica and Kevin later become best friends.  But even so, the comics that Kevin were featured in were written in such a way that being gay always seemed like a secondary trait, or something that was a part of him. 

Okay, so there was that ONE time in which they wrote in Kevin Keller's marriage to another man in "Life With Archie Magazine #16", but that was during a time in which Archie married three different women (Veronica, Betty, Valerie), so it's safe to say that Riverdale was a little wedding crazy in the early 2010s.  Besides, here's a fun fact for you.  This was the first issue of "Life With Archie" to completely sell out, and I imagine in years from now, it'll be a real collector's item.  One that I proudly own!  And come to think of it, Kevin's first appearance in "Veronica #202" sold so well that it was the first Archie comic in history to have a second separate printing with a black cover instead of blue!  The things you learn, eh?

Of course, this set the stage for Kevin to get his own comic book, and the way he received his own title was quite unique.  For the last four issues of Veronica's title, Kevin basically took it over for a four-issue miniseries lasting from Veronica #207-#210.  In that miniseries, we learn a lot about Kevin's family - including how his father was a military man, and how he's the eldest of three children.  We also learn that when he came out to his family, they accepted him with open arms, and still continue to support him.  And he appeared on a television game show and won the class president elections.  Talk about having a banner year.

And in 2012, Kevin was given his very own comic book serial, "Kevin Keller".  For the next three years, Kevin would have many adventures in his own title, including him finding love for the first time, attending his first Riverdale High prom...

...meeting George Takei.  You know, the typical teen stuff!

For fifteen issues, we saw Kevin Keller learn not just about making it as a gay character in Riverdale, but he also learned a lot more about himself as well.  And, I think that it was great to see that Kevin Keller was such a positive character who could insert himself into the Archie crew and be respected and loved by everyone around him.  And don't think that just because Kevin's series ended with issue #15 in 2015 that Kevin's debut was a flop.

After all, Kevin Keller does appear in the CW show "Riverdale", being portrayed by actor Casey Cott since the first episode.  And Casey must have done a great job with bringing the role of Kevin to life because as of the second season, Kevin was added to the list of contract characters.

Kevin Keller also still appears in comic form in the occasional digest story, and in 2017, a digital comic miniseries featuring Kevin as a twentysomething trying to make his way through life in the big city entitled "Life With Kevin" was released.  It even featured cameo appearances by Veronica, so you know that the small town Riverdale would never completely leave his heart. 

Besides, I think as much of an impact that Riverdale and its citizens made on Kevin...I think Kevin helped change a few perspectives on his own merit.

And that's why I call the introduction of Kevin Keller a huge success.

That Wilkin Boy

NOTE:  This is an entry that I originally wrote in my first blog - A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S GUIDE TO LIFE on August 5, 2015.  I hope you enjoy it.  I didn't have a whole lot of time to do up a full blog entry, so this will have to do.

I think I've come up with a fantastic idea for today.  And, well...the source of this blog topic was inspired by a title within the Archie Comics Library - only it didn't start off as an Archie title.  Well, not exactly anyway.

You see, there have been a lot of characters underneath the Archie Comics umbrella that weren't really part of the Riverdale scene.  Of course, the most obvious examples of this currently is Sonic the Hedgehog.  Over the last few years, Sonic comic books have sold nearly as well as the Archie comics have.  You also have had Josie and the Pussycats and Sabrina the Teenage Witch making frequent appearances in Archie comics over the years.

There was a period of time during the 1990s in which the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had an entire series of comic books that were released by Archie.  Super Duck, Ginger, Wilbur, and Debby were all titles that were featured in many early issues of Pep Comics.  And, let's not forget about Katy Keene, the glamourous supermodel whose career spanned from the 1940s to the 2000s - all without aging a single day.

Just what kind of moisturizer does she use?

As far as Archie comics went in the 1960s, it certainly was a busy decade.  Dozens of new titles were released during that time period.  Some only lasted a couple of years, but others lasted a couple of decades.  Let's see...there was "Archie & Me", "Reggie & Me", "Betty & Me", "Everything's Archie", "Archie's TV Laugh Out", "Jughead's Jokes", "Reggie's Wise-Guy Jokes", and at least a couple of other titles. 

And one title that was released in the late 1960s was one that didn't really feature any Archie characters (at least not back then anyway), but read similarly to an Archie comic.  It certainly had all of the elements of a standard Archie comic.  It had a love-crazed red-haired boy madly in love with the girl next door who happened to have the most strict father in the whole universe.  It had an excessively vain and slimy character who always dressed to the nines while plotting to play tricks on our red-haired hero.  It even had a dog who had a mind of his own as he made casual thoughts about the madcap adventures of his owner and his friends.

Believe it or not, the red-haired boy in the comic series even had his own band! 

Okay, so instead of the Archies, it was the Bingoes...but you get the idea.

Today we're going to be taking a look at the comic book series "That Wilkin Boy", a serial that began in 1968 and ran for approximately fourteen years, wrapping up in the early 1980s.  The comic book was illustrated by longtime Archie artist Dan DeCarlo, and the setting was a town that was called Midville - which is supposed to be a rock's throw away from Riverdale, though the comic book never really makes this clear.

The main protagonist of the story is Woodrow Wilkin...otherwise known by his nickname of Bingo.  And, no, Bingo did not get his name from sitting next to his grandmother helping her blot out every N-42 with a bright red bingo dabber at the local bingo hall.  If I had to wager a guess, he was likely named after Ringo Starr, only changed the R to a B.  At least that's my thought anyway.  After all, the first issue was dated January 1969, and Bingo kind of looked like a Beatle.

So, how can I best describe Bingo?  Well, he's seventeen, he's the only child of Willie and Wilma Wilkin, and his Uncle Herman lives with him as well - once a professional baseball player in his youth.  He plays in a band with his friends Buddy and Teddy, and he lives next door to the Smythe family.

Now, living next door to Samson and Sheila Smythe is a double-edged sword for Bingo.  On one hand, he lives next door to his girlfriend and one true love Samantha, who is sort of like a combination of Betty and Veronica's best features.  And unlike Archie, Bingo is a one-woman man.  But on the other hand, Samantha's father, Samson - a muscular type who can't stand weak willed people - makes fun of Bingo frequently, and he absolutely is against Bingo dating Samantha.  And Samson's dislike doesn't stop at Bingo.  He also can't tolerate Uncle Herman or Bingo's dad either.  This conflict between the Smythe and Wilkin families sets up a lot of the stories in "That Wilkin Boy".

Interestingly enough, the wives of Samson and Willie get along great, and both approve of the Bingo/Samantha relationship.  They often serve as the voices of reason in the whole family feud.  It's a wonder they didn't appear on the actual game show "Family Feud".  It was around in the 1970s!

(Actually, one could consider Rebel the dog the REAL voice of reason.  He says things that we're all thinking, but is completely oblivious to the rest of the characters in the story.)

Samson isn't Bingo's only adversary.  Sometimes his frenemy Teddy Tambourine can cause him a lot of problems as well.  You see, Teddy is the Reggie Mantle of "That Wilkin Boy".  If not for the sunglasses, you might consider Teddy to be Reggie's brother.

(In fact, if you took Reggie, Teddy, and Alexander Cabot III from Josie and the Pussycats and put them all together, it's essentially THE SAME CHARACTER!)

Of course, Teddy only is sneaky when he wants to steal Samantha away from Bingo.  There is a Teddy/Samantha/Bingo love triangle going on, but it's not as focused on as say, Archie/Veronica/Reggie.  In any other story, Teddy and Bingo get along well, and they even play in the same band together with their speech impaired pal Buddy - who I guess would be the Jughead in this story.

And since I mention Jughead in this, I thought that I would just mention this right off the bat.  In 2005, Jughead Jones came to Midville to visit Bingo and his family with good reason.  After 35 years in the Archie Comics world, the decision was make to permanently link Riverdale to Midville by making Jughead Bingo's cousin.  Yes, the link in the chain was Bingo's Uncle Herman, as it was explained that he was the brother of Jughead's mother.  Now, why they didn't just explain this in the comic book before, I don't know.  But not too much has been mentioned of it lately - mainly because the story in which Bingo and Jughead were revealed to be cousins appeared in "Jughead and Friends Digest #5" - a full twenty-three years after the last issue of "That Wilkin Boy" was released.

So, why was it that "That Wilkin Boy" didn't have as much staying power as say Sabrina, or Josie?  Well, to be fair, it did start off strong, and it focused on a lot of serious issues and topics.

In one story, they dealt with racism when Samson discovered that the new family in the neighbourhood were Asian in descent, and he made a lot of racist comments (which was surprising for a comic in the Archie library).  But after Samson got to know them - and after the father of the Asian family took Samson out with a kung fu move - they became friends.

In another story, Bingo and Samantha are trying to take care of a young girl who they found alone and shivering in the rain, and Samantha gets hysterical to the point where this happens.

You don't see this in an Archie comic, do you?  And what's interesting is that after this panel, Samantha actually admitted that she deserved the slap because she acted like a child!  The last issue I remember this comic being reprinted in was dated 1987.  I can see why it hasn't been shown in nearly thirty years.

But I think ultimately what killed "That Wilkin Boy" was the fact that when you look at it, you really don't have any major difference from a standard '60s era Archie comic.  Bingo could easily be substituted with Archie.  Samantha is like Betty.  Samson is easily a Mr. Lodge type character.  Teddy and Buddy are like Reggie and Jughead.  It was just unnecessary to have both "That Wilkin Boy" and "Archie" to run the same stories - and since Archie had a lot more staying power, Bingo was jettisoned.  Still, "That Wilkin Boy" did have some good moments and it is worth taking a look at.

The NEW Little Archie Digest - An Archie Experiment Gone Wrong

Well, Christmas is over for another year, and the first annual PEP CULTURE ADVENT CALENDAR was a huge success.  Thanks to all of you who tuned in and read it.  I hope I helped you remember some of your favourite Archie Christmas memories, and I most definitely have plans to do it again next year.

But for the rest of December, I'll be doing a hodge-podge of different Archie topics that will lead us right into 2019.  For this week, I'll be looking at some of the various experiments that Archie comics tried out over the years.  Some of these experiments turned out to be successful and set the stage for years of stories to come.  Others were a flash in the pan and fizzled out after just a few issues. 

Today, I'll be taking a look at one of these experiments that I would consider to be a huge bomb.  And of course, I'll explain why that is the case as we proceed.

Today's case study is "The New Little Archie Digest".  A digest that debuted in the spring of 1991, smack dab in between the 50th anniversary celebrations.  It was meant to be a revamped version of the classic Little Archie tales peppered with a modern twist, modernized art, and the company's effort to make the series more hip and radical.

Unfortunately, it was one of those "why fix it if it wasn't broken" deals where the series became completely unrecognizable as a result of the retooling.

The revamped Little Archie Digest came just two months after the original Little Archie Digest released its 48th and final issue.  At that time, I was about to turn ten years old, and Little Archie had been one of my favourite titles in the digest library.  Considering that it was a Little Archie Digest that kicked off my love of Archie comics in the late 1980s, I always had a soft spot for the title.  And with artwork predominately done by both Dexter Taylor and Bob Bolling since Little Archie debuted in the 1950s, there didn't seem to be a shortage of artwork from the original series to reprint.  However, I realize that not everybody shared my love of Little Archie back in the day, and I think the dwindling sales of the Little Archie Digest prompted Archie comics to make some changes to attract a newer demographic to the title.  And as I was a kid in 1991, I was supposed to be one of the ones that the new digest was targeting.

Unfortunately, the company alienated the older fans of the title by making it TOO hip.

So, first off, I'm going to talk about the pros of The New Little Archie Digest.  One obvious plus was that there were zero reprints to be found.  Since the company went with all new artists, every story that appeared was an original creation.  And to be fair, I didn't have too much issue with the stories found in Little Archie.  They were well-written, made sense, and certainly were modern enough to fit the early 1990s mood. 

However, look at the way the pages were designed.  The table of contents page kind of looks like it took every single font that was available in Microsoft Word and went nuts with it.  And, I didn't and STILL don't understand why they turned away Bob Bolling and Dexter Taylor and went with artists who made the characters look so awkward that they appeared to be drawn by a twelve year old who was doodling in the margins of his 7th grade math notebook.  I'm not saying that it was the artists' fault...they were probably following the directions that the company told them to take.  But the stories could have easily kept the original artists and had them update Little Archie's style.  I mean, if Dan DeCarlo managed to keep the Archie crew modern for five decades, certainly they could have tried with the Little Archie crew.

Going back to the pluses, I really liked how the new Little Archie incorporated craft ideas to make the book seem more interactive.  This page on how to build a spaceship out of household items was a great idea, and the construction of these arts and crafts were simple enough that an elementary school student could do them.

I also liked the Little Betty recipe pages.  The recipes weren't too complicated.  If anything, many of them didn't even require the use of an oven.  Most of them were cool treats that with a grown-up's help, you could easily replicate, like this one for "Cherry Freeze".  I added this recipe in because I've tried it and liked it, and now you can try it out for yourselves.

Of course, that's not to say that ALL the pages were useful.

I can see why it might have been a good idea at the time to include Hot and Not pages which did a spotlight on current events and pop culture at the time.  But aside from "The Simpsons", all of these other things haven't been on the air in years.  And what's up with having two Greatest Hits records under the HOT section?  I mean, yeah, Madonna's "Immaculate Collection" was immaculate back in 1991, but now it's considered oldies music to some radio stations!  And the Go-Go's broke up years before this digest was released!!!

I also don't understand the logic of including makeup tips in a digest that is targeted for kids.  Most kids I knew in 1991 only used makeup for Halloween.  And if they did, I don't even think they'd understand the beauty tips.  This would have worked fine for one of the teen Betty and Veronica titles, but not for a Little Archie Digest.  And since I have no clue about anything to do with makeup, are these makeup tips even right?  And do they still apply some twenty-seven years later?  Inquiring minds want to know.

The New Little Archie trudged along for nine issues from 1991-1992, and each issue followed the same format.  Each one had a table of contents, several stories, and the signature art style that featured the Archie characters with beady little eyes and caterpillar eyebrows.  The new style of Little Archie even began appearing in all of the other digests in the Archie library (most usually in the Laugh Digests or the Archie's Story and Game Digests). But after the ninth issue in 1992, the series took a bit of a hiatus and disappeared for almost a whole year. 

And when it came back in the summer of 1993, we were all in for a bit of a shock.

When it returned for the tenth issue, the "New" title was stripped, and the cover art was now being done by Bob Bolling.  And inside the comic were a mixture of old and new stories illustrated by Bolling and Dexter Taylor - with zero reference to the revamped style.

So, ultimately the New Little Archie title was a massive bomb.  Not only did the revamp only run for a little over a year, but it was completely retooled to...look exactly the same as the classic style of Little Archie Digest.  Of course, that was much to the benefit of the older fans who appreciated the old-fashioned look of Little Archie over the flash in the pan attempt to make the series more modern.

Of course, one could argue that the move to go back to Classic Little Archie was ultimately a failure as well, as the last issue of the series was printed over twenty years ago, and no Little Archie Digest has been printed since.  In fact, I think that had they left the series alone, it very well could have survived longer. 

That's my take on "The New Little Archie".  What are your thoughts?