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Updated on February 26, 2023
Archie #624
Written by: Ian Flynn
Art by: Dan Parent
Mark Zuckerberg guest-stars in this issue, as Dilton faces off against the founder of Facebook in a knock-down grudge match involving hurt feelings, lawsuits, and money-grubbing twins… or not. Despite that all the previews/promotional copy bills this as a parody of “The Social Network” (complete with Cheryl and Jason Blossom as the twins in question), instead we get a story where Veronica gets back at Dilton, after Dilton inadvertently puts down her poor computer skills. Ronnie does so by hiring Zuckerberg himself to come into class and write a Facebook-knockoff for Riverdale High (before Dilton can get *his* social network up and running).
Unfortunately for her, Dilton and Zuckerberg get along well, and team up to finish the project together. Meanwhile, Archie’s goaded by Reggie into boning up on “being a geek” (or Reggie’s idea of such) in order to win over the girls attracted to Zuckerberg.
Despite the false advertising/bait-and-switch of the promised story, it was still OK. Of particular note to me about this story is that the class is learning JavaScript. I’m told some actual high schools nowadays do teach JavaScript to students, which surprises me. I’d figure “learning how to type and use Microsoft Office” would be the extent of computer skills classes in most high schools. However, I suppose those might be things even grade schoolers know these days, thanks to the ubiquitousness of computers. When I was in junior high, we were required to learn BASIC, which even then probably would’ve surprised some adults. (Granted, BASIC hasn’t been overly useful for me since the early 90s, but anyway…)
