"Pizza and Good Cheer" - A Jughead Christmas Tale

Day #4 of the PEP CULTURE ADVENT CALENDAR is upon us, and I don't know about you, but reading this latest tale has made me kind of hungry.  I guess it comes as no surprise that Jughead Jones would be the person whom today will focus on.  After all, nobody knows about food more than Jughead himself.

For the most part, if you wanted to read brand new Archie stories that didn't appear anywhere else, you would have to read them in the standard sized comic books like "Archie", "Betty and Veronica", or "PEP Comics".  But don't discount the digests and double digests just yet.  Did you know that in a standard digest, the first story and the last story are brand new?  It makes you want to start collecting those as well.

In fact, today's tale first appeared in a double digest - "Jughead's Double Digest #145" to be exact.  And while this story first appeared ten Christmases ago, it's become one of my favourites.

The story is called "Pizza and Good Cheer", and it was written by Mike Pellowski and illustrated by Fernando Ruiz and Al Nickerson. 

The tale begins with Jughead volunteering at a soup kitchen, serving meals to the homeless community - a very unselfish thing for Jughead to do.  And since it's the holiday season, there is turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole...you know, all the holiday favourites.  And while Jughead is serving everyone, he overhears two men talking about how the food is much better than the bread and soup they usually get - though their expectations about wanting pizza served would be considered too great.

Jughead comments to Nancy - who is volunteering at the kitchen - that he now feels guilty because he was going to get some pizza after his shift was over.  Nancy tells him not to worry as his service to the homeless community should make him feel happy, and that his donation of his time and some money will be enough.

So, the shift ends, and Jughead sets out to go and grab some pizza, but before he can make it too far, he happens to bump into a man standing not far from the kitchen.

Jughead, trying to be helpful, asks if he's okay and points him to the direction of the soup kitchen where he promises that he will be well fed for the holidays.  The man, with a twinkle in his eye, thanks Jughead, but says that he is wanting to go home for the holidays.  The problem is that he doesn't have enough money to make the trip.

Jughead has the solution.  You know the money he was going to use for pizza?  He donates most of it to the kindly old stranger, and what do you know?  The amount Jughead gives him is enough to get him back home.  Jughead explains that he was going to use the money for pizza, but he managed to keep just enough so that he can have a slice of pizza on the way home.  The man with the long white beard tells Jughead to try a pizzeria called "Noel's Pizza", as he has had it before.  He considers it a gift to Jughead for passing his "generosity test".  Hmmm...interesting.  Weird, but interesting.

At any rate, Jughead thanks the man for the recommendation and heads towards Noel's Pizza.  But before he can get to the entrance of the pizza place, he crashes into a man who happens to be a lot shorter than he is...and weirdly looks like Gaston from the Lodge Mansion!

Once again, Jughead apologizes for not looking where he's going and he starts to head towards the pizza place, but weirdly enough, the man prevents Jughead from going inside!  Jughead is confused as to why he's doing this, especially since he notes that there are other people heading inside, but the other man will not let him pass, claiming that he has orders to do so.  Eventually after about ten people enter the pizza place, the man lets Jughead pass and wishes him a Merry Christmas...leaving Jughead to wonder why he keeps running into some incredibly weird people.

But what Jughead doesn't realize is that the man did him a favour.  In fact, you could say that he was Jughead's little Christmas elf because as soon as Jughead enters Noel's Pizza, sirens go off, confetti rains down, and Jughead is greeted by a round of cheers and applause.  Jughead happens to be the pizzeria's one millionth customer!  Wow, what luck!

And the prize that Jughead receives is enough to make any food guru salivate.  Three free pizzas every week for the next six months!  That equals seventy-eight pizzas!  Jughead is so caught up in the moment that he initially starts to give his name, address, phone number, and e-mail address to get his mouth around the delicious pepperoni, tomato sauce, and mozzarella cheese...but then this happens, and it really shows how the holiday spirit has permeated into Jughead's soul.

Jughead gives up his wonderful prize so that he can donate the pizza to the soup kitchen.  What an incredibly generous thing to do!  Of course, Jughead satisfies his pizza craving by buying the one slice of pizza he initially intended on eating, and he remarks how wonderful it is that the holiday spirit makes him feel good.  I'm sure that helping all of those people really left behind a ton of warm fuzzies in his heart and that the slice of pizza he was eating was probably one of the best ones he's had.  And notice how the two strangers who Jughead bumped into earlier are watching him?  It's so weird...it's like those two guys were responsible for setting off this chain of events, and that Jughead has passed the ultimate generosity test.  But what does it all mean?

Well, Christmas Eve arrives, and there's someone at the front door of the Jones residence.  And when Jughead opens up the door, he's in for a surprise.  A delivery man who looks very similar to the little man who he bumped into arrives with a pizza that is literally the size of a small dining room table.  I mean, it's gigantic.  Jughead is confused because he didn't order any pizza, but the delivery man says it's all paid for, it's in his name, and he should enjoy it. 

Because sometimes, generosity is rewarded tenfold for the holiday season...and are those sleigh bells I hear?

Now, if you missed this story the first time, I'd like to point out that it has been reprinted in this classic collection of Christmas tales.  It was released a few years ago, and it's currently on sale on Amazon.  So if you're looking for a last minute Christmas gift, definitely get this book!

That's a wrap on Day #4.  Tomorrow, we take a look at what happens when a Christmas letter to Santa gets ignored for nine years!  How does Santa make it up to the letter writer?  You might be surprised!