Archie

This week, Veronica throws a party, Alice Cooper throws a righteous fit, and a couple of guys throw punches at Moose. Poor Moose. Guy just wanted to lift some rocks. "The Outsiders" was written by Julia Cohen and directed by David Katzenberg.

Here at ComicsAlliance, we love Riverdale, and while we'd like to say that it's because of the studiously self-aware goofiness of the plot, the fun character work, and the endless shipping potential (B&V forever), there's one thing that we're drawn to more than anything else: It's just really fun to see Archie Comics characters talking about sex and murder. So fun, in fact, that it made us start to wonder what it would be like if all of that delightfully over the top Riverdale dialogue existed in the classic Archie Comics universe --- and since we're never ones to let a question go unanswered, we decided to find out by doing it ourselves.

Something that's been overlooked pretty often since the big Archie Reboot is that the company is still publishing stories featuring the classic, gag-centric versions of the characters. It's publishing a lot of them, actually --- every single Archie Digest features a new lead story about the gang, and in 2016, that amounted to over 300 pages of new material in that classic Archie style. Now, it's all being collected in the Archie: Best of 2016 Digest Annual, a 348-page digital collection out next week. Check out a preview.

In this week's Archie #18, the rebooted Archie universe is getting a few pretty notable additions. First, Cheryl and Jason Blossom --- having already appeared in the last arc as Veronica attended a boarding school --- are making their way to Riverdale with designs on, well, pretty much destroying everything in their path, as is their wont. Second, long-time writer Mark Waid is being joined for the new arc by the new regular artist on the series, Pete Woods, who presumably does not want to destroy everything in his path. Although really, one never knows. To find out, I spoke to Waid and Woods about taking on the iconic Archie characters, the influence of Riverdale, and if --- when! --- we will finally see Jingles the Christmas Elf show up.

This week, Riverdale finds out about Polly Cooper, Betty and Jughead smooch some more, Veronica goes out for some angry dancing, and the town's dads do some dad stuff, for good and for bad. "In a Lonely Place" was written by Aaron Allen and directed by Allison Anders.

The CW’s Riverdale has been performing strongly enough in its inaugural episodes that The CW is considering a whole mess of Archie-related shows, so it shouldn’t surprise you that Riverdale itself will earn another round. Yes, the weird Twin Peaks-meets-malt shoppe vibe of Riverdale is happening again.

This week, Riverdale's 75th annual variety show takes place, featuring Archie (if he can get over his stage fright) and the Pussycats (if they can stop fighting long enough to perform). Back at the home for wayward girls, Jughead and Betty visit Polly and learn much more about what Jason was planning when he ran away from home. "Faster, Pussycats! Kill Kill!" was written by Tessa Williams and directed by Steven A. Adelson.

This week, Betty finds out the truth about Ms. Grundy, Jughead fights to keep the drive-in open, and Kevin Keller gets some smooches. "The Last Picture Show" was written by Michael Grassi and directed by Mark Piznarski.

Archie Andrews is so hot right now. With KJ Apa dazzling us on screens in The CW’s Riverdale, Archie is all of a sudden a sex symbol for viewers around the world, and it’s a lot easier to see while the girls of Riverdale have been chasing after the waffle-haired boy-next-door for more than seventy years. While Archie’s known for being part of the most iconic love triangle in fiction, he’s also a bit of a player, who has been known to date around. Take a look back at eight of the most memorable Archie Andrews love interests.

It's Valentine's Day, and that means that our thoughts here at ComicsAlliance are turning inevitably to our favorite romances from comics. Well. Maybe that's not the right word, since I'm not sure that a high school love triangle between an indecisive klutz and two girls who would be better off without him really qualifies as romance, but you get the idea. Love is in the air, and when Betty and Veronica are involved, that's naturally going to include a little bit of competition. That's certainly to be expected, but sometimes, it gets a little too intense. Like, say, that one time back in the '90s when Veronica turned to the darkest sorcery in order to win Archie's heart, and Archie wound up in the hospital.