Archie Comics Archie to Riverdale and Back Again
Later a mid-season hiatus, Riverdale fans tin once again tune in to the epic highs and lows of high schoolhouse football — and, yous know, modest-town series killers. But, for the Archieverse, 2022 is a big year outside of The CW's hit evidence. In fact, this twelvemonth marks the 80th anniversary of Archie Andrews' first on-folio appearance.
Dorsum in 1941, Archie — and, at various points, his cohorts Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Curtain and Jughead Jones — commencement appeared in Pep Comics #22. Exuding all that small-town, all-American charm, the Riverdale gang resonated with audiences, leading to viii decades of comic books, graphic novels, hit songs, cartoon and Tv serial, and enough merch to fill up the Blossoms' manor several times over.
Like The CW's other fare (Nancy Drew), Riverdaleis known for being a darker reimagining of the beloved characters, but, in honor of 80 years of Archie, we're throwing it back to simpler times and revisiting the origins of the long-running serial. Then, grab your Popular'southward burger and malt — you're in for a (nostalgic) treat!
From 'Pep Comics' to "A Boondocks With Pep": Archie Steals a Superhero's Spotlight
Before it became Archie Comic Publications, the comics publisher was founded under the proper noun Chiliad.Fifty.J. Magazines, Inc. in 1939. And instead of pushing stories that centered on a group of teens, M.L.J. was known for its superhero fare. Published during the and then-chosen Golden Historic period of Comics — the 1930s and '40s — Pep Comics, 1 of M.50.J.'s standout series, introduced several of the publisher's big-name characters.
Clearly influenced by the feelings surrounding World War Ii, The Shield became Thou.L.J.'s star-spangled, patriotic superhero — even predating Marvel'south Helm America — while The Comet became the series' token scientist-turned-superhero. Issue #22 of Pep Comics introduced another flagship character: Archie Andrews. Although not a superhero, the teenage protagonist vanquish the odds, soon becoming the face of the publisher.
Created past John L. Goldwater (publisher), Vic Flower (writer) and Bob Montana (creative person), Archie — and pals Jughead Jones and Betty Cooper — might've been offset introduced in Dec 1941, merely the gang's little six-page humor strip wasn't even a blurb on the issue's embrace. After all, costumed superheroes dominated the comics scene. Perhaps hoping to provide some relief from the current events of the 24-hour interval, Pep Comicsbegan spotlighting more humorous, lighthearted strips starting with issue #xl, which was published in July of 1943. Soon plenty, The Shield was sharing the cover with Archie.
A few issues afterwards, a strip featured a radio bear witness helmed past Archie and, by early 1945, Pep Comics' covers were emblazoned with "Starring Archie Andrews" banners. The following year, the company even inverse its name to Archie Comic Publications (now Archie Comics), and although Pep Comics ran until 1987, totaling 411 bug, this imprint name-change signified the end of Pep's superhero chance era, giving fashion to sense of humour strips and the hijinks of the everyman Archie Andrews.
Throughout the '50s and '60s, Archie really was "America'southward Tiptop Teen-Ager." After all, non many other loftier schoolers have eclipsed caped crusaders when it comes to being the face up of a comics brand. During the mid-1960s, which has been dubbed the Silvery Age of Comic Books, Archie Comics developed a new imprint, the "Mighty Comics Group," to proceed the stories of M.L.J.'s crime-fighters. Yet, even those stories were doused in humor — more Adam West's Batman camp than Captain America adventuring. Merely the banner's well-nigh popular grapheme was, undoubtedly, Archie.
Throughout all of his pre-2010s iterations, Archie and the town of Riverdale remain tethered to an America of the past. From Popular's Chock'lit Shoppe — a soda fountain-meets-diner — and the forever-young feeling of characters stuck in their teens to the at present-throwback art style that, for decades, divers the strips, the Archie gang has remained pretty constant. Option up an issue of Archie or a Betty and Veronica jumbo comic, and you lot're bound to detect unresolved love triangles, school dances, and an countless supply of malts and hamburgers.
Even in the late '60s and early '70s, the franchise was defined by a kind of wholesomeness. And, long before the Twin Peaks-lite Riverdale, that wholesome quality extended to TV, too. The Archie Prove, for example, was 1 of CBS' standout Saturday morning cartoons. In it, Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead and Reggie dealt with the trials and tribulations of high school, all set to laugh track. The show would help popularize other Archie Comics characters, including Sabrina Spellman, the infamous teenage witch, and Josie and the Pussycats, an all-girl musical grouping. But the most memorable part of the bear witness was that the main gang formed a bubblegum popular band, The Archies.
Doubting the popular cultural impact the show had? Well, in real life, the cartoon band had a chart-topping hit. Written past Jeff Barry and Andy Kim, "Sugar, Carbohydrate" was recorded by a "virtual band" composed of the Archie Comics characters. That's right: In 1969, a cartoon band had the best-selling single in the U.S. Subsequently belongings the no. ane spot on Billboard's Hot 100 for four weeks, the catchy melody continued to chart for an impressive 22 weeks. Released in May, the song had sold ane million copies by August, making it certified Golden — though, past today'due south measure, that would make it Platinum.
With alternating reality spinoffs, horror and fantasy series, character-centric comics, and more, Archie Comics gleaned quite a bit from the grapheme and his popularity. Throughout the '90s and 2000s, Archie Comics didn't boast sales on par with Curiosity, but its digests yet populated mag racks in supermarkets and bookstores. The brand was yet beloved, but it needed a petty something new to find 21st century success.
Into the Archieverse: Reintroducing Archie to a New Generation
Like Disney's Mickey Mouse, Nintendo's Mario and Pikachu or Sanrio's Howdy Kitty, Archie holds detail make-defining connotations — namely, all that wholesome amuse. Merely, much like those other characters and their respective companies, it became imperative to reinvent the Archie gang, all while keeping elements of the comic's indelible legacy. And that change came rather suddenly when the co-CEOs of Archie Comics both passed away in 2009.
"Richard Goldwater'south half-blood brother Jon gave up his career as a music executive to continue Archie in the family," Vocalism reported in 2017, only alee of the premiere of The CW'due south Riverdale. "He recognized that the traditional Archie mode, while yet charming, had become stale over fourth dimension, and the company had lost relevance in the 21st-century comic book market."
So, how did Archie Comics carve out such success going forwards? In addition to launching a popular app that fabricated its offerings more accessible and visible, the publisher committed to telling more diverse and inclusive stories. For case, the retooled Life With Archie run had "the Riverdale gang dealing with real adult issues like fiscal hardship and the difficulty of sustaining long-term relationships," Vox goes on to signal out. "The volume wasn't agape to get political, either, equally it tackled the and then-recent financial recession, same-sex marriage, and gun control."
Other characters, including Josie, Betty and Veronica, Kevin Keller (the brand'southward first openly gay character), Reggie, and Jughead received standalone series every bit well, with the latter condign something of a miracle. Non just is Jughead dear for his long-standing irreverence and goofy antics, only i incarnation delved into the graphic symbol's asexuality. While that identity isn't necessarily shared across all of the grapheme'southward iterations, the representation "particularly in the context of the romance-driven stories traditionally told by the Archie characters," equally The Shellpoints out, "cannot be understated."
'Riverdale' Proves the 80-Year-Sometime Characters Volition Endure
As even casual viewers know from Riverdale ads, the brand also wasn't afraid to get a bit gritty, perhaps taking a page from DC Comics' playbook. Even before the now-hit teen drama started airing in 2017, a horror series, Afterlife With Archie, saw Sabrina Spellman releasing a zombie apocalypse on Riverdale. At present, Archie Horror is undoubtedly one of the publisher's most successful endeavors — not but comics-wise, but also insofar as it led to the hitting Netflix series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
And then at that place's Riverdaleitself, a teen mystery that has more than in common with Lynchian small-town strangeness than its source material's Andy Hardy inspiration. With five seasons under its letterman jacket (and more to come up), the testify kind of defied the odds. (I mean, who would've idea the wholesome Archie Andrews would break out of his girlfriend's begetter'south for-profit prison only to flee Riverdale and fight a bear in the Canadian wilderness? That was non on my bingo menu in the slightest.)
While information technology does share quite a scrap in common with the source comics, and while information technology does sprinkle in a healthy number of nods to other Archie Comics properties (the Black Hood, anyone?), Riverdaleand the other contempo Archie re-imaginings show that, even later on fourscore years, the characters still have a lot staying power — and pep.
Source: https://www.ask.com/culture/archie-comics-80-years-riverdale
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