by 
Last updated on December 10th, 2021
Here’s what’s of interest from Archie Comics in April. Full solicitations are available here.
Comics
- Archie #655, on sale Apr. 30, $3
- Betty & Veronica #271, on sale Apr. 16, $3
- Betty & Veronica Double Double Digest #223, on sale Apr. 30, $6
- Jughead and Archie Double Digest #2, on sale May 14, $4
- Life With Archie #35, on sale Apr. 30, $4
Trade paperbacks
- The Complete Sabrina the Teenage Witch: 1962-1971, on sale May 14, $10
Comments
A lot of older Archie characters and material seem to be making a comeback (at least for trademark renewal purposes) this month. For starters, “Archie” this month features the full-fledged return of Cosmo, the Merry Martian, a 1950s character that had a short run, but has often been reprinted (or made artwork cameos—as toys, etc.) since.
Meanwhile, “Betty & Veronica” sees the girls team up with Sabrina, Josie and the Pussycats, Katy Keene, etc., to save a fashion show from disaster. On top of that, the girls’ Double Digest this month is an extra-long Double Double Digest.
“Life With Archie” features an event that traditionally seemed hard to imagine: the wedding of the adult Jughead to Ethel, in the “Veronica” future. The “Betty” future contains a harder to imagine future, where Jughead’s married to Midge of all people…though in both futures, Midge and Moose have broken up for the realistic reason of Moose’s short temper and violent, possessive tendencies. Imagine as an adult, Moose would be hit with assault and battery charges from the guys he’d beat up for so much as breathing on Midge the wrong way. Granted, the regular teen version of Moose would be in big trouble in real life as well (star jock or not).
Anyway, given Jughead’s treatment of Ethel in some older stories (and Ethel’s chasing of “Juggiekins” in turn), seeing them get married here is a pretty big change. Though I suppose the point of “Life With Archie” is seeing the characters mature from their eternal teen years setting into adulthood…
Archie’s apparently decided to take the “Showcase Presents” route and reprint Sabrina’s classic run of stories in black-and-white trade paperback format, starting with Sabrina’s first appearance in 1962. Nice to see Sabrina’s earliest stories finally reprinted outside of digests, or the one-shot 50th anniversary special.
For those interested, “Afterlife With Archie” is being collected in its first trade paperback this month, reprinting the first five stories of Archie’s cash-in on the zombie craze (and to a lesser extent, the idea of an “Archie for mature readers” title).
