Wait..."the real Betty"?
October 7, 2015 9:03 AM   Subscribe

The rebooting of Riverdale continues apace today with the release of "Jughead" by Erica Henderson and Chip Zdarsky, and the reviews are highly positive.

This continues the trend set with the first part of the relaunch, "Archie" by Fiona Staples and Mark Waid, both well-respected creators like Zdarsky and Henderson (previously on metafilter). That series has also met with near universal acclaim.

None of this of course guarantees success in other media. But at a bare minimum the documentary about the real Betty should be interesting.
posted by Ipsifendus (25 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
As a comic book reader, I guess I'm in the overall demographic, but when it comes to everything else, I'd throw off the data.
Nevertheless, I must say that this reboot is a DELIGHT.
I recommend it all the time to my fellow members of the Merry Marvel Marching Society, but few take me up on it.
Please don't make that mistake.
Bask in the groovy innocence.
posted by Major Matt Mason Dixon at 9:14 AM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]




As long as they don't get addicted to change as a publicity stunt, I am very happy with the direction it's going...
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 9:21 AM on October 7, 2015


How kid-friendly are the reboots?
posted by Etrigan at 9:24 AM on October 7, 2015


The horror ones (Afterlife with Archie and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) are not intended for young kids.
posted by griphus at 9:26 AM on October 7, 2015


griphus is right about the horror titles, but the new "Archie" and "Jughead" titles are kid friendly if you can accept the use of the term "horndog".
posted by Ipsifendus at 9:31 AM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


Or you can go old school with Mad Magazines parody from the 1950's.
posted by boilermonster at 9:37 AM on October 7, 2015 [8 favorites]


The horror ones are pretty great, though. And the 50s Mad magazines are still incredible.
posted by boo_radley at 9:40 AM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


Thanks for reminding me. I should go pick some of these up.
posted by Miko at 10:01 AM on October 7, 2015


Ms. Jankovich soon cut things off with Mr. Montana. “I really liked him, but I didn’t think I would be much of an asset to his career, because of my background,” she said. “I felt I wasn’t educated enough for him. We broke up and went our separate ways.”

Oh, ouch.
posted by blurker at 10:08 AM on October 7, 2015


The horror ones are pretty great, though.

Oh, yeah, they very much are. There's sort of a renaissance of lost comic forms -- teen drama, romance, horror -- going on right now and it's great to see that Archie is taking these chances and I hope they're paying off. It's weird to think that in 2015 we're getting a sliver of the comics genres that were available in the 50s and 60s.
posted by griphus at 10:12 AM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


To be clear, the horror ones are not officially part of this reboot. They might be spiritually connected, as they were definitely a departure from the norm and stretched the characters, but they came before this official reset.

I'll read these eventually. My stack of backlogged books are becoming embarrassingly large. I am excited for this one in particularly. Zdarsky is great fun in that "I'm glad I don't know him in real life because he's probably the most obnoxious person ever but also hysterical" way.
posted by lownote at 10:27 AM on October 7, 2015


I will have to view these because I was always a Betty fan (sorry Veronica) when I was a kid and read 'em.

Sidenote: In surfing culture on the west coast, it became a common term to call a girl you liked a "Betty." Did this perfuse to other cultures/groups?!?
posted by CrowGoat at 11:50 AM on October 7, 2015


The new Archie is great, but Afterlife and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina are nothing short of sublime. (though hasn't it been a while since there was a new issue of either?)
posted by Gordafarin at 12:16 PM on October 7, 2015


Sidenote: In surfing culture on the west coast, it became a common term to call a girl you liked a "Betty." Did this perfuse to other cultures/groups?!?

It was a thing in the midwestern Ultimate Frisbee scene, anyhow. I'm totally unsure if this has anything to do with Archie or if it's a more general thing.
posted by brennen at 12:30 PM on October 7, 2015


I love Erica Henderson's work. She co-created and was the original artist for The Guilded Age, but it was pretty clear that she was just too big, too talented to stay indie for long.
posted by ten pounds of inedita at 2:24 PM on October 7, 2015


CBR has some preview pages (the first two unlettered) and the various covers, it you want to test the waters.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 2:31 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


The flow of that second page is just brilliant delirium.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 2:32 PM on October 7, 2015


Archie vs. Sharknado was bizarre as hell. I loved it.
posted by themanwho at 3:08 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


Ugh. I want to like this, same as I wanted to like USG, but Henderson's art is so ugly and charmless. The sooner she stops getting work, the better.
posted by Sternmeyer at 3:35 PM on October 7, 2015 [1 favorite]


I thought being a "Betty" was being like Betty Page
posted by acrasis at 4:00 PM on October 7, 2015 [2 favorites]


um bettie page was clearly a veronica
posted by Rev. Syung Myung Me at 4:40 PM on October 7, 2015 [4 favorites]


CBR has some preview pages (the first two unlettered) and the various covers, it you want to test the waters.

Okay, I have zero investment in the Archie series, but "I now pronounce you husband and sword" may have single-handedly turned me around.
posted by FatherDagon at 7:17 AM on October 8, 2015 [2 favorites]


Come for the video game snark, stay for the Game of Thrones riff.

It's kind of amazing that Waid is making Ryan North look like the restrained one. (And whoever paired up the writers and artists for these reboots deserves an award themselves.)
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 10:05 AM on October 8, 2015




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