Archie Comics - He's Just so Gosh Darn Relatable (2-4 points)

 

For context, I read the Anthology of Archie No. 1 (1942), Archie Meets Batman ’66, and Archie No. 1 (2015 reboot)

1. Who do you think buys and reads Archie?  Why do you think they buy and read it?

              Teenagers, people in middle school or high school buy Archie. All of the characters are high school students and they deal with high school level romance and drama. Both boys and girls might enjoy Archie. Based off stereotypes, boys would enjoy Archie’s relatable, everyman character who never seems to have success in romantic relationships, and girls would enjoy the romance of being pinned for by a doofus. In later incarnations Archie becomes less of a doofus and more of a reluctant good-looking guy, which might make him more appealing as a protagonist to female readers.

              At the end of the day, people who like Archie answer yes to any of these questions: Do you relate to Archie’s struggles? Do you want to be Archie’s friend? Do you want to be with Archie?

2. What in Archie repeats?  What characters, situations, ideas, props, themes or other factors repeat through the various decades of Archie?  What ideas or emotions do you think get attached to these repeating aspects of the storytelling?  What is important in Archie?

Romance and dating hijinks repeat over and over. Archie cannot catch a break when it comes to dating women. It also almost always happens in high school. Altogether, it creates this unique feeling of not just dating, but dating in high school. There is something so fun and dramatic about high school relationships, at least in the world of Archie.

In terms of characters, there is always the relatable Archie, the strawman Jughead, the safe every-girl Betty, and the rich and unattainable Veronica. The characters frequently play off each other with these dynamics. People like these dynamics because they are easily seen in most people’s lives, making the situations the characters get into plausible and relatable.

So why does romance repeat over and over? The idea of dating in high school has never gone away, and will likely continue as long as the institution of public education persists. So as long as Archie runs as a comic, it can mold the idea of dating in high school to whatever the current generation finds relatable. Comparing Archie No. 1 (1942) to Archie No. 1 (2015) there are notable differences to the characters and their setting. The 2015 reboot includes rock music, women working on cars, and people of color as characters, which are all relatable things in 2015 that the 1942 might have found unacceptable in high school, or in general. Without these changes or additions, Archie likely would have died off decades ago.

3. What isn't in Archie?  Are all aspects of teenage life in Archie?  Does the World of Archie reflect or mirror the world you know?  An essential component of observing is noticing what is and what isn't there and considering the implications.

Archie encapsulates a specific experience of a young, straight white man with rather trivial issues of romance, at least in the grand scheme of things. Anyone with experience in a background outside of those categories, is seemingly ignored in Archie. The comic is also rather upbeat and “quirky” as a rule. Serious drama like murder, abuse, and other violent topics are not represented. Archie is meant to show a bubbly, exciting version of teenage life, not much more. My high school experience was much more mundane than Archie’s, and no one I knew ever took romance this seriously. And if they did, the relationship quickly ended because it was high school and no one knew what love was.

4. In a summary sort of way, what in the end do you think Archie is about?  What is its meaning in context?  Why do you think it is it culturally significant?

Archie represents a romanticized version of the American high school experience. I do not mean romanticized in terms of love and romance, but rather, it is an elevated and imaginative version of high school, full of hijinks, dating, and drama that gets wrapped up in a nice little bow. Real life is not like this, and certainly not high school. But if you are a high schooler, and life kinda sucks, then reading Archie Comics could be a pleasant escape into what high school could be. If someone younger gets their hands on the comics, then Archie Comics could be an exciting premonition of what is to come later in school.

American teenagers like Archie because he is a caricature of your average teenage boy. He is energetic, interested in girls and dating, but also kind of a dweeb. If you are a young man who fits this description (and many do) than you might find yourself drawn to Archie Comics.