2017 Comic Challenge 314 Jughead #10

TITLE-Jughead #10
PUBLISHER-Archie Comics

Yeah I got way behind on this series. After meeting her last issue,when she was dressed as a giant burger,Jughead ends up out on a date with Sabrina.

He of course fucks this all up. And she leaves and is very mad. It is after this we "learn" that Sabrina is a witch.

She tries through out the issue to cast spells on Jughead but they all backfire and work out good for him. Like how Jughead ends up being close friends with Reggie.

And with that the issue ends. Of course the next issue with end this story. I do like how they have re-introduced Sabrina to the new Archie universe.

Jughead #10 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 244 Jughead #09

TITLE-Jughead #09
PUBLISHER-Archie Comics

After 8 issues we get a new writer Ryan North. The story starts off with the gang heading to Pop's. And out front is a lady dressed as a burger helping drum up business for Pop's Chok-o-lot shop.

Jughead falls in love with Burgergirl. And over the course of a few weeks gets to know her. Oddly our titular lead agrees to go out on a date with her.

So he goes to the rest of the gang asked for dating advice. Not surprisingly Betty Cooper gives the best advice.

Jughead shows up for his date and we are all shocked when Burgergirl turns out to be Sabrina the teenage witch.

No idea how long this story will be. But it has me already since Sabrina is in the story. I do wonder overall how these revamping of classic comics are working out for Archie. I see way more talk online about Archie's stuff that I have in decades.But at least at my local comic shop they only order one copy of any Archie title that isn't Sonic or Afterlife.

Jughead #09 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 224 Jughead #08

TITLE-Jughead #08
PUBLISHER-Archie

So Archie and our titular hero are lost in the woods with a bear right behind them. Thankfully Mr Weatherbee is around and starts leading the guys out of the woods.

But there seems to be someone  in the woods that hates the Bee. And keeps setting traps for him. Finally we find out it is one of the Mantle family. One who use to bully the Bee back in high school.

Finally the 3 guys make it out of the woods. Archie thinks he is at the all teen girls camp. But turns out that camp got changed into a younger kid camp a few years back.

Overall this was a decent little story. Kind of sucks it is Zdarsky's last issue. But at least Derek Charm is staying on handling the art chores.

Jughead #08 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 214 Jughead #07

TITLE-Jughead #07
PUBLISHER-Archie

A new story arch has started. Chip Zdarsky is back writing the issue,but we get a new penciler.Derek Charm handles the pencils. Sure his style is different from Erica Henderson's. It actually looks closer to the modern Archie House Style.

It is summer break,and Jughead's Dad wants him to get out of the house and go do something. So after talking to Archie,who is working at the pool as a life guard,they decide to go up to Dilton's cabin and spend a weekend.

They get up there and it looks great. But then they discover that the Mantle family is having a family reunion near the cabin. So to get away from all of them they go on a hike in the woods.

While in the process of getting lost Jughead discovers Archie came along mostly to go check out some girls at an all girls camp near them. This is enough to take the usually peaceful Jughead and cause him to beat the fuck outta Archie.

After their fight they finally realize they are lost. No reception on their cell phones. Jughead has little to no outdoors skills,and Archie isn't much better.

This is a nice change of pace from the first 6 issues. Hell for a bit I thought this might be a 1 issue long story.

Jughead #07 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 211 Jughead #06

TITLE-Jughead #06
PUBLISHER-Archie

This is the last issue in the first story arch of the new Jughead series.

The gang makes a plan to stop Stanger from brainwashing more students at the upcoming Halloween dance. Jughead at first wants nothing to do with it. But then gets a clue as to why the new principal is ignoring Veronica's breaking of various rules. So he joins in on the plan.

There is a great fight between Jughead,who is dressed up as Captain Hero,and Moose. But our unsung hero manages to save the day.

Chip Zdarsky took my favorite Archie character and made him even better. All the homages to previous Jughead series were great. Erica Henderson's art fits this series perfectly.

Yeah gonna have to get the trade of this 6 issue run soon.

Jughead #06 gets a BUY!

2016 Comic Challenge 206 Jughead #05

TITLE-Jughead #05
PUBLISHER-Archie

Been awhile since I read some of this really good series. I let a few issues pile up.

After being told by their parents that their belief that the school is being turned into a secret agent school is insane,our 4 teens start trying to figure out a way to get rid of the new principal Mr Stanger.

They find out he was principal of a school a few towns over. The Archie gang head over and see that in this town each of them has a gender swapped twin. After talking to former student that was in school when Stanger took over,they find out that after a year he disappeared. Right after getting a bunch of the teens to sign up for the military. But the worst is they find out Stanger managed to shut down the local teen hangout in this town. So of course Jughead freaks out and they rush back to Riverdale to check on Pop Tate's malt shop.

Jughead passes out in the car and this issues dream has him as Captain Hero. Teaming up with the rest of the Super Teens and facing their gender swapped twins. We find out that Iron Mantle is behind all the chaos and that story ends.

Back in Riverdale Jughead wakes up in time to see that somehow Stanger got Pop's lease on the shop to end sooner than it should. Jughead admits defeat to Stanger and walks off.

Once this gets a trade of the first story out I am gonna have to buy it.

Jughead #05 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 149 Jughead #04

TITLE-Jughead #04
PUBLISHER-Archie Comics

Jughead is back in school,and still suspects something major is going on with all the personal changes at Riverdale High School.

Like with every other issue so far Jughead goes into his fantasy world. This time it is pirate themed. But the lady from the time police in issue 2 shows up near the end of Jughead's fantasy. So I am wondering these dreams are just dreams or are they leading to something in a future issue.

Jughead is sure the new principal is up to something. So he talks Dilton into installing a device on the new Principal's computer. So that they can see everything he does on the computer. Jughead invites the entire gang over to Dilton's to prove the new principal is up to evil. And quickly finds out the principal knows what Jughead did. But this is enough to convince the Riverdale gang that something is strange.

Jughead #04 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 043 Jughead #03

TITLE-Jughead #03
PUBLISHER-Archie

Over the last year and a half Archie has become one of my favorite comic companies. Starting off with their two horror series,Afterlife with Archie and the Sabrina revamp. Then The Black Hood and SHIELD from the Dark Circle imprint have been damn good. But the revamping of Archie and now Jughead are the real standouts.

After being expelled from school in the previous issue,no worries Jughead was set up by the new principal,our titular hero is trying to get back into Riverdale High.

Like the two previous issues we get Jughead daydreaming. This time he is a super spy like Jame Bond. Which is also a nice nod to the old Archie spy stories.

I have no idea how well these revamped Jughead and Archie comics are selling. But at least for me they are great. They managed to not only bring both ancient characters into the modern age.But at the same time not losing what made they so compelling.

Jughead #03 gets a Buy.

Strange find in the cheap bins-Jughead 's Soul Food

I got this recently in a box of comics from one of my cousins. It is from the short lived line of Archie comics published by Spire. Spire was a company that published Christian comics. The Archie titles they put out seem to be the most remembered and the easiest to find. The first story "A La Carte" is all about Jughead trying to bring in what seems to be a hot dog vendor's cart into the Riverdale high school cafeteria. Mr Weathersbee tells Jughead he can't bring the cart inside. And so Jughead takes it out side,and this not so good story ends with Mr Weathersbee getting a hot dog with lots of mustard from ole Juggy and praying. The second story doesn't seem to have a title,but it begins with Big Ethel and Betty Cooper outside Jughead's house. Ethel freaks out when she sees Jughead and what looks to be a girl sitting on his couch. She gets really pissed cause "He says he can't STAND girls!!!". So she goes and knocks on his door and confronts him. Jughead seems to be very confused by this. And in the final panel we see why. Turns out Jughead was sitting on the couch watching tv with his dog Hotdog. Next one get a one page gag story,in which Jughead is eating and sharing his food with Hotdog,and so in the last panel Hotdog brings over his bone to share with Jughead. Ok so far this comic has been bad,but hasn't had much Christian propaganda. "Calorie Gallery" is the next story. Jughead is excited to see a help wanted sign in the window of a local bakery. He gets the job,but in typical Jughead fashion fucks it all up by "taste testing" all the food. A really lame story with a lame gag to end it. There are a couple of more stories but truthfully they are all uniformly shitty. Then towards the end of the comic,we are "treated" to a Big Moose story. The Archie gang notices that both Big Moose and Jughead both have trays full of huge piles of food. Juggie ask Moose if they should pray for their food. Moose mentions that he never does that. And Jughead compares Moose to his dog,who also never prays for his food. Jughead goes on a long tirade about how God creates the food. And how Moose should be thankfull for having food. LAME LAME LAME. Next up we get "Jughead Prayer Page" which has various Archie charecters praying for various things. Finally this steaming pile of feces is wrapped up with a short story were Prof. Flutesnoot is educating the Archie gang on how to eat properly. But Betty and Archie have to interupt him to go into a two page speach about how God created our bodies and other such shit. OK I have read about 10 or so of these Spire Archie comics,and I consider myself to be agnostic/atheist. So I know these comics aren't aimed at me. But outta the ones I have read this has to be one of the worst. Jughead's Soul food earns a F-.

Strange find in the cheap bins-Jughead 327

Jughead #327

Published by Archie comics group

The year is 1983 and this issue seems to be Archie comics attempting to show they aren't stuck in a time warp and are hip to the current trends. In the first story "The Punk" ,the story starts with Archie and Betty in the offices of the school newspaper. Archie is looking out the window and sees a girl and guy. Who both are dressed in the "punk" style. Archie makes a comment about how he finds that style utterly revolting. And the guy hears him and turns around and makes a comment. Archie is surprised to see the guy looks like Jughead but has a mohawk. He ask Betty if she saw this but she was busy typing up a story. So Archie goes out in search of Jughead and he finds him. "Back off NERD!" is Jugheads response to Archie. And then he says his new name is Captain Thrash. Archie ask if Jughead's dog,Hotdog, also has a new name. And he sure does it is Vicious,and now Hotdog has a golden chain for a collar and has a yellow stripe down his back and a purple one down his side. Archie goes to Dingy's ,which is the local punk hangout. Archie sees a guy who while doing "the Slam" ends up punching Jughead in the face. So Archie comes up behind the guy and restrains him. This pisses Jughead off and he takes Archie and throws him outta Dingy's. The next day Archie is outside the school talking to Veronica,and he happens to notice Jughead is in the newspaper office and is talking to Betty. Archie assumes Jughead is talking Betty into joining the Riverdale punk scene. So Archie and Veronica go to confront Betty. It turns out that Jughead was going undercover so he could write an article on the local punk scene. So the story ends with the gang all going to Dingy's so Jughead can get a hamburger. The rest of the stories in the issue are your typical Archie stories. But just for the scenes with Jughead as Captain Thrash this comic earns a B.