Archie Comics: Snapping back from the Fictitious Turn-about of Adolescence to a Mundane Reality
(Elle’s Comic Spills #1)
Archie Comics have been around since the 1930′s, and I bet you also have heard of it. I wouldn’t be talking about this if I don’t have digest copies of books around (that are still alive today!) that highlight the story of Archie Andrews, an American Teenager who is the protagonist of the comic franchise. I remember the time when I got a surprise from my mom for my 10th birthday in which she gave me The Best of Archie Comics with over 400 pages, reprinting the earliest copies of the comics up until the recent year in 2013. Truth be told, I’ve been reading up tons of digests from my sister’s bookshelf ever since she finished high school. Actually, she really started influencing me into reading it also. The first thing I noticed before actually reading such digests is that it’s just that colorful. The graphic tones are vibrant and not a single frame is not splashed with color. The characters, also shown above in this article, are also the main characters of the comic empire. Veronica Lodge, Jughead Jones, and Betty Cooper are Archie’s best friends. With that, they journeyed together from having ups and downs, having fun, interacting with other peers in Riverdale High, being conflicted with arguments and sometimes fallouts, and finishing Highschool together.
What I really want to emphasize about this is not the entire nostalgia and how I miss reading the comics, but I really wanted to write about such a franchise when it comes to its thematic concepts and its targeted demographic. Considering that Archie and the gang are all teenagers, we assume that all of their experiences are tied to the reality of actually becoming a teenager. Finally, all of my thoughts from the comical domain will be expressed here.
Experience wise, it kept evolving
Without any cost, Archie would be able to determine his dreams and goals by presenting as the optimistic yet confused teenager who’s willing to risk everything that goes along with his way.
Taking into consideration, Archie Comics started in the 1930′s, a decade when global economic and political crises culminated in World War II. The founders of the publishing house wanted to reach the arms of children by creating graphical issues of such stories. To be fair, Archie lived a normal life as a young redhead teenager. His father is a middle-management executive, and his mother, who started off as a stay-at-home mom, eventually gets a job at a real estate agency. In the "Little Archie" stories, he had a dog named Spotty in his younger years, and Archie attends Riverdale High School and resides in Riverdale. This teenage premise denotes a direction to targeted teenagers at that time, where their experiences are reflected in how people are living in that decade.
Fast forward, The franchise was diversified (along with DC and Marvel Comics) and it gives the room a more authentic and more teenage like issues that don’t make us feel left out (what I mean is with us as young adults, because we already witnessed how relatable these issues are). The stories of Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper, Jughead Jones, and the others are already established with how they also live their lives as teenagers, and how this hinders serious possibilities of breaking their teenage spirit right after high school. With more artists and comic writers coming in, it’s inevitable to just stay on the original plot without a visible direction for continuing it. It must move on and evolve.
Graphic novels or even graphic snippets tend to have a carefree aspect it, where such artists can just dump everything to them. Archie Comics already has supernatural issues, and collaboration issues with different franchises (Scooby-Doo, Kiss, Even The Beatles!). As an avid reader myself, it’s not considered as an excuse to just deny and stick to the original plot, because you just have to be creative sometimes!
With its teen demographic, explicit scenes are a no-go
If we were to differentiate the franchise with different graphic contents available in our reach, most teenage dramas and even teenage books are already drowning with explicit and even sensitive themes. Not to mention the TV adaptation of this franchise (Which is called Riverdale) is already horrible by the way; from the script to the dynamic and the backstories of the characters on screen with the same names, it’s cringe in a way, and I don’t even recommend you to watch it, as I always experience second-hand embarrassments just from how they are developed by the showrunners. The first season was kind of, modest. You know, I would like to argue that the following seasons are already unacceptable for my taste but it did good on the first season, so I think I can recommend you to watch it, but only and if only you’re going to watch the first season and you’re done, because this is what I actually did when the TV show first aired and streaming on Netflix.
Themes such as drugs, sex, killings, and even mafias are already present in the show, ON THE FIRST SEASON. Pretty baffling amirite? With how morbid and how dark the tone of the show is, and considering how it’s done, the original teenage demographic for the franchise is already not as what it seems to be from ages 10 up to 17. It would be really triggering if minors would be exposed to the given concepts showcased in the show. Although it’s not our responsibility to stop them, instead, we should educate them on how to deal with certain situations reflected in the show. But, on the original site of the franchise, quality control is secured for both the writing and the designs that will be made by artists and generally, how Archie Comics tolerates such situations. With hundreds of story premises and even spin-offs from the comics, it is evident that such serious themes are not explicitly mentioned nor shown. The integrity of the comical empire is still standing strong, and by starting here, my all-time favorite comic series is still one of my favorites up to this day.
Now, snapping back from the fictitious turn-about of Adolescence to Adulthood...
Ah yes, it never hurts to accept the truth and become an adult huh? Because unfortunately, it is. You can’t wind up the clock, turn it back to 3 PM, where reading comics while eating some merienda is already enough for me to satisfy my insides and my hobbies. As time passes by, the direction of the original plot will never linger to Archie’s amazing, most memorable high school years in Riverdale. One concrete example is Archie’s The Married Life, one of my favorite comic series yet from the franchise, is a table turner, where I get to read and witness the original cast, several years after attending Riverdale High. A simple synopsis follows Archie and his existential crisis: the reality of adulthood, and the decisive circumstances on who to marry, either Betty Cooper or Veronica Lodge. As a Betty x Archie shipper since the beginning of time, my heart and soul dedicated time to reading through such spin-offs. Readers can choose what to read, either Archie Marrying Betty or him marrying Veronica. Though it is obviously difficult if he chose both, the series divided such a dilemma into split volumes.
Personally, it gave Archie the time to actually decide what he wants, either in the Betty X Archie universe or in the Veronica X Archie universe. Knowing how these girls have different backgrounds (Betty is a middle-class blonde girl with productive tastes either from work or in her personal life, and Veronica is a rich, spoiled brat who also dedicates time to her family businesses, and also for becoming a fashion designer and an influencer), Archie determines his way of choosing them without judging their background. It gave the readers an essence of how relationships work, either platonic or romantic.
This doesn’t end the message of how Archie Comics also dominated the adult life scene. Clearly, High School isn’t just enough to make their stakes and ratings higher over the course of 50+ years, rather, it gives us the motivation to just be real from the society all of us are living right now at this point in time. All of the characters have experienced serious and even life-threatening issues while living the normal mundane life as an adult, and this dissipates the time when most of them are just having fun, and becoming teenagers again. Some of them have corporate jobs, are already married to their high school sweethearts, already started a family for themselves, and so on. This also reflects how our life, and us as general, could go through the same thing as they did, only to find out that the mundane reality of working and only living for the sake of our own families wouldn’t differ.
I would like the end this spill here by saying how much I adore this franchise, not only did it complete my childhood, but also grew attached to some dreams and aspirations that I got from just reading them. I was technically lying that this spill is not a trip down memory lane, but it definitely did. I wonder how 10-year-old Maybelle would react to this. I hope she agrees with all the things I wrote about it, even the bad ones!
Tune in for more spills!
