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.
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?
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