718 YOUTH CULTURE IN COMICS
high school narrative. Jughead is the faithful and funny friend who is more interested in
food than girls, and girls are Archie’s greatest problem. Betty is the typical sweetheart,
romantic but also pragmatic, excellent in class and sports, and always ready to help
Archie. On the other hand, Veronica is the spoiled girl, daughter of the richest man in
Riverdale, Hiram Lodge. In contrast to Betty, Veronica is sophisticated, in many cases
manipulative and less reliable than Betty. Finally, Archie could not succeed without a
rival, and that is Reggie Mantle. Reggie is the jock who shares class upbringing with
Veronica. His personality is egocentric and vain, which combines with his witty sense
of humor to make him the perfect opposite for the easy-going Archie. Th e content is
rather formulaic, following everyday life situations and incidents in the life of this group
of characters, always avoiding the controversy that issues like sexuality or identity would
bring. Th ese teenagers speak properly, obey their parents, and do not smoke, drink or
get into serious fi ghts.
Bob Montana and Dan DeCarlo are responsible for giving Archie its characteristic
drawing and narrative style. Montana joined the company in 1947 and was a major
infl uence in the narrative style of the comic. De Carlo became part of the team in the
late 1950s and he developed the clear and clean drawing style that is now a trademark
of Archie’s comics.
Th e popularity of Archie was such that most of the characters in the comic book
got their own titles, while MLJ Publishing changed its name to Archie Comics in
- In the 1960s, Archie Comics created two other relatively successful teen titles:
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Josie and the Pussycats. Th ese three works expanded
their success beyond the print world and were adapted to other media. Archie and
Josie had their own television cartoon shows and later on the three comic books became
live-action movies.
Archie’s contemporary titles still portray an idealized and clean view of adolescence,
although they keep themselves culturally relevant with the introduction of technology,
popular culture references, and a cast that include more ethnically diverse characters.
Clearly Archie’s formula works since, along with superhero comics, it is the only sur-
viving title from the Golden Age. Society’s interest in Archie is proven by the press
coverage that the recent engagement between Archie and Veronica has attracted. Archie
is also one of the few comics that continues to be easily accessible in newsstands and
supermarkets, the same as in the 1940s.
In addition, Archie’s infl uence can still be seen in such contemporary works as Zits
(1997–) whose protagonist, Jeremy Duncan, is essentially a modernized version of
Archie Andrews. In this comic, Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman have created a realistic por-
trait of the contemporary teenager from a humorous and ironic perspective. It focuses
in Jeremy’s daily life: the everyday misunderstandings between him and his parents, his
love for music, his unpredictable relationship with Sara, and his friendship with Hector
and Pierce. Th e depiction of teenage life is full of popular culture commentary and use
of technology (from headphones to cell phones) and, although Jeremy can be described
as a more rebellious character than Archie, his stories are still rather harmless.
