Riverdale Book Review

Best Archie Digital Only Graphic Novels

Archie at the Chocklit Shoppe. Site of many an ensemble story that can’t be set at a school or party.

Archie’s Jalopy. The original jalopy was of Model T vintage so it could seem ancient in the 1940s when Archie started driving it. The car was retired in the 1970s when it was old enough to be a priceless collectors item (and in fact there were numerous stories based on that concept). It was replaced by a newer really old car, seemingly some kind of Mustang.

She’s Josie. The pre-Pussycats Josie, delineated by Dan DeCarlo who named the heroine after his wife). Her distinction was not ghost-chasing or magical friends or ears for hats. It was simply that she was a female equivalent of Archie.

Archie 1. Archie and the gang’s primitive ancestors discover basic tools of civilization, from arrows to kissing to fire to School. The stories are vaguely creationist, since humans are coexisting with dinosaurs. But the best ones are hysterically funny, true social satire.

Archie’s Campaign Trail. So many school elections! So much corruption! So many bad reasons for running!

Archie—Tennis Racket. There are several sports-based “digital exclusives.” This is the least violent one, even though characters invariably end up with broken  tennis rackets dangling from their necks like collars.

Archie Presents: Tales Calculated to Drive You BATS! What panic was to Mad, bats was to madhouse; a comics company”s own knockoff of its popular humor title. Compared to satirical humor mags like Mad, Cracked and Sick, Bats was big nosed and cuddly.

Archie & Friends—Movie Magic. Film parodies and celebrity encounters.

Archie’s Fall Fun! It’s easy to forget how many Archie stories involve the taking of leaves.

Archie & Friends—Father Figures. Archie’s dad Fred Andrews practically ran away with the Archie radio series in the 1940s, and insinuated himself into many a comic story too. Stereotypical harried-Dad stuff: overworked, misunderstood, short-tempered, vain, etc. There’s a digital exclusive devoted to Archie’s mom too, and it’s of a rather different temperament.