In this story, we see one of Archie's hidden talents - that comes with a lot of perks!
Normally you don't find too many "new" stories in digest collections, but this one was brand new in "Archie Digest #112". And as you can see, this story has a very interesting collaboration between the two main artists!
Yes, that's right! Archie's Rudy Lapick and Katy Keene's John Lucas worked together on this tale. And, might I add that they did a great job illustrating this story. I always liked John Lucas' Katy Keene stories with a modern twist, and you can tell that this story actually looks like it comes from the 1991 time capsule!
Anyway, back to the story. A little girl named Melissa stops Archie on the street as he is on his way to school. It seems that Melissa's brother brought Archie a broken toy plan for him to fix and he did a brilliant job on it. Therefore, Melissa seems to think that Archie can fix her broken doll as well. Archie's never worked on a doll before - mainly because he never owned any as a boy - but he tells Melissa that he will do his best.
Of course, this story is set in 1991, and back then, guys were still teased if they played with toys that didn't conform to gender stereotypes. So Archie has a little hesitation going to school with a doll in his backpack. And when Archie doesn't zip up his backpack fully closed and the doll falls out - well, let's just say that Moose and Reggie (who are standing nearby) don't hesitate to poke fun at him. On one hand, it's totally immature that Reggie and Moose would be so jerky to Archie without getting the full story. But on the other hand, I'm shocked that Reggie and Moose are actually friends in this story! But then again, Midge isn't around, so that could be the reason.
Archie asks a teacher if he can use an empty classroom to fix the doll, and he gets to work on it during his study period. With a little glue, and a little tender loving care, the doll is fixed. And an ecstatic Melissa thanks Archie with a kiss on the cheek. Awwww!
Melissa is so excited that when she runs into Betty and Veronica, she boasts about Archie's doll fixing skills. Betty and Veronica are shocked by Archie's hidden talent, and Archie himself seems surprised. Many people are toy makers, but Archie's a toy fixer! This gives Betty and Veronica some ideas. It turns out that both of them have dolls that they have owned since they were kids and are in bad need of repair. Archie tells both of them to bring the dolls to school tomorrow and he will use his study period to fix them.
Archie has officially become the doll doctor.
And this doll doctor has amazing skills. Betty and Veronica's dolls are fixed good as new, and it's not long after that when random Riverdale High girls from freshmen to seniors approach Archie to help fix their dolls as well. From Barbie dolls to Raggedy Ann dolls, it's not long before Archie has several patients on his roster.
But as Archie keeps wandering through the halls carrying enough dolls to fill the toy shelves at Target, Reggie is watching in the background and is coming to a very wrong conclusion. He tells the entire football team that Archie has lost his mind and that every single lunch period and study period, he likes to play with dolls. See, this is how rumours start, and this is why I had such a difficult time in high school. Most of my male classmates were just like Reggie - jocks who had major toxic masculinity who thought that guys who didn't think the way that they did deserved to be harassed. It's probably why I don't talk to any of them now twenty years later. Especially since none of them have really matured that much.
Ahem...anyway, back to the story.
Some of the football players don't believe Reggie's claims that Archie plays with dolls - mainly because they know that Reggie and Archie don't exactly get along a lot of the time. But Reggie insists that he is telling the truth. He knows that Archie is in the cafeteria with a bunch of dolls and he leads the team to the cafeteria for them to see the truth.
Of course, the football team doesn't exactly see Archie FIXING any dolls. They're too busy looking at the crowd of beautiful girls hovering around Archie's lunch table to really see what's going on. Turns out that males who suffer from toxic masculinity also suffer from jealousy and envy, and when they see Archie surrounded by girls, they try to figure out how to get the same effect.
At the same time, the Booster Club (which I had to look up the meaning for since I've never heard the term in Canada - apparently it's an organization made up of parents of students at high schools that oversee progress of sports teams and clubs within the school) arrives to pay a visit to Coach Kleats. They're a little concerned about the football team this year and they want Coach Kleats to reassure them that the team will be ready to clobber the competition. Coach Kleats is excited to show off his team, saying that the team is the roughest and toughest team ever.
So, what do you think happens next?
Ah...sometimes justice is sweet. Not only do the Booster Club and the female population of Riverdale High find the football team weird for holding a dozen dolls, but Reggie's plot to humiliate Archie ended up working like a karma boomerang and now he's the one looking foolish.
Is it any wonder I love this story?
Is it any wonder I love this story?
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