30 Days of Scans--Villain Day--A surprise entrant

[skjam]

You may remember that in addition to adding a gay cast member, Archie Comics had a publicity stunt where they finally allowed Archie to choose between Veronica and Betty, and followed the two separate paths for three issues each.

Evidently, it did well for them, since there's now a new newsstand magazine called "Life With Archie" which continues the stories of the Andrews, both versions. Technically, these are interquels, between the second and third issues of the original storylines. Four pages from #1, where conflict is introduced by means of a villain....





First up, the timeline where Archie married Veronica. (Since this is a soap opera strip, I'm going to elide most of the subplots. Those of you who want to see what happened to your favorite minor character will just have to buy the magazine.) Archie has been given an executive position at Lodge Industries. But Mr. Lodge mitigates the possible damage by appointing Veronica as Archie's supervisor, directly below himself.

There's an amusing interlude where Betty reveals her post-Archie dating history: "Henry Aldrich, Andy Hardy, Richie Cunningham, Zach Morris, Troy Bolton..."

Midge and Moose break up over his anger issues. He gets help, and meets someone new.

Meanwhile, two Lodge-owned franchises have opened next to Pop's Choklit Shop--between them they offer the same food, but in a slicker, nationally-supported format. And they're using price undercutting to squeeze the Choklit Shop.



He instructs Archie to make sure Pop Tate sells by next week. Mr. Lodge is also planning to secretly buy the Yellow Woods and Memory Lane and demolish them for expensive condos and a new mall--he decides to keep Archie and Veronica out of the loop on that.

Archie plays golf with Ethel's new fiance, financier Fred Mirth. Mirth reveals what a callous ass he is by claiming that the only "green" that matters is money. The rest of the foursome looks at each other uncomfortably.

At the reunion of the Archie gang at Pop's, Archie reveals Mr. Lodge's offer to Pop and Jughead (who is saving up to take over the restaurant himself.) The exact figure isn't mentioned, but it's implied that it's not enough for Pop Tate to retire on--he'll need to take on a menial position at one of the franchise joints to make ends meet.

Everyone starts fighting over the fate of the restaurant, and Fred Mirth lets slip the entire Lodge Industries plan "and meanwhile you local yokels cry over a sad old man and his sad old shop...that looks like it's outta 1941. It needs to go." Ethel returns his engagement ring at baseball speed. Archie can't go directly against his father-in-law, but clearly this situation is intolerable. If only there were someone who could step up to the plate, someone like...



Didn't see that one coming, didja?



And now, over to Betty-World.



Archie and Betty have moved to New York City, where Betty has a job at Sack's 6th Avenue, and Archie is pursuing his musical career. They have quirky neighbors, and the creative energy is strong with them.

Sadly, although Archie acquires an agent, he seems stuck in low-paying opener gigs at dinky locations. Meanwhile, the poor economy has hit even Sack's, so Betty takes a nasty pay cut. Archie is told his next booking is "special," and Betty promises she'll be there. But at the last possible moment, Betty's manager sticks her with an emergency project and she can't get hold of Archie to tell him.

The club Archie is playing is sold out, but the place is empty. It turns out one customer bought all the tickets, a mysterious figure sitting in the shadows. Well, a gig is a gig, so Archie is going to play his heart out--"I did not pay to hear you sing." The mysterious figure wants Archie to listen, instead. It is, of course, Mr. Lodge. It seems Veronica is not doing well in her new responsibilites at Lodge Industries. It would appear she's distracted, that she needs Archie.




Discouraged, Archie wanders through the rain, until a chance encounter rekindles some of his hope. He returns to his apartment, where an exhausted Betty awaits, their spirits much improved. But there is a mysterious figure observing their window....



Your thoughts and comments?

Suggested tags
creator: Andrew Pepoy
creator: Joe Rubinstein
creator: Michael Uslan
creator: Norm Breyfogle
publisher: Archie Comics
theme: 30 Days of Scans
title: Life With Archie

Comments

[seriousfic]

Marmaduke at last casts off the veil of the canine, only to masquerade as one of the many souls he has devoured. Riverdale will fall to him. And then, the world.

[skjam]

A Comics Curmudgeon reader, I take it.

[falseaesop]

My thoughts are that Mr. Lodge is a massive dick, moreso in the second story. In the first he comes across as a dick, but he's not wrong about the shop or urban renewal, but that doesn't make him less of a dick. In the second... wow, there is not a shred of human decency in him.

[skjam]

That's why I picked him for Villain Day, yes.

[jlbarnett]

still Pop Tate's place can and has been successful in Riverdale.

[silverzeo]

Wow... Mr. Lodge is jerk...

[joasakura]

moose's real name is... MARMADUKE?

Good grief, Riverdale, what the HELL is in your water?

[psychopathicus_rex]

Well, it gives him a good reason for going by 'Moose', anyway...

[lonewolf23k]

And Jughead's real name is "Forsythe", too.

[morgana006]

At least it explains all the nicknames!

I suspect the only baby-name book the town has was damaged, and they've had to piece together whatever names were left.

[mistervader]

That is *not* the Mr. Lodge I know and love. :(

[kirayoshi]

He was secretly replaced with Henry F. Potter from "It's a Wonderful Life"! At least in the Archie-marries-Veronica scenario he seemed more pragmatic than full-on evil.

The best representation of old man Lodge lately was in one of the "New Look" stories, from Betty and Veronica, I think. Veronica learned that her dad was turning her favorite stretch of woods into an industrial park and led a campaign against her father to save the woods. Apart from the environmental anvils being dropped, he didn't come across as a Captain Planet villain.

[skywaterblue]

Erm, is the Betty story supposed to seem biased towards Archie/Veronica? Or is the whole set up of this that the characters in one universe are constantly trying to be in the other universe?

This seems like the sort of thing you could get a Star Trek episode out of, at least.

[skjam]

Well, Veronica wishes she was in the other universe, and her father is trying to approximate it for her. No one else is into it.

[akodo_rokku]

Y'know, you could replace Archie, Betty, and Mr Lodge with Pete, MJ, and Norman pretty easily... and hilariously.

[gehayi]

Or Pete, MJ and Mephistopheles, if I may mention The Comic That Should Not Be Named.

[althechi]

Norm Breyfogle worked on this?! Woah.

[thehefner]

My thoughts exactly! This is even odder than seeing Graham Nolan draw REX MORGAN MD (I think it's REX that he draws)!

[thandrak]

Is Archie playing an acoustic guitar? That's an acoustic neck.

[skjam]

Well, there's no amps or anything shown during his performances, so I'm going to go with yes.

[sinorhizobium]

I'm loving Archie's YEAHBUHWHAT face in that bottom panel XD
Wow...Mr. Lodge is a massive jerk in this story...

[psychopathicus_rex]

This is an awfully cynical look at Mr. Lodge. I mean, yes, he's always been a bit of an antagonist towards Archie, but that's mainly because, well, Archie's ARCHIE - he's a force of well-meaning chaos that never fails to make the life of Mr. Lodge a misery. He has never, however, been portrayed like this - if anything, it's been emphasized how he's really a basically decent guy who loves his daughter, works hard and runs his company ethically. I really can't see him as the 'money overcomes all obstacles' type he's presented as here. (Of course, these are both ALTERNATE futures, so presumably, this is a somewhat alternate Mr. Lodge, as well.)

[fifthie]

I liken it to how when you're a teenager you think lots of adults are basically well meaning people who do the best they can and then you grow up a bit and realize wait no, they're just motherfuckers.

[icon_uk]

Somewhere, on some parallel earth Byrne-era Lex Luthor is reading Mr Lodge's antics and thinking "Respect!!"

[halloweenjack]

Nice to see oldskool Marvel types like Breyfogle and Rubinstein get the work. Also, in that panel where Lodge is saying, "I can buy Betty's happiness, too!", I was all like, TWIRL THE MUSTACHE LODGE TWIRL IT

[auggie18]

Is that Moose with some other, non-Midge girl? Wow. I always figured that by the laws of Riverdale, Moose would have to end up with Midge.

Or maybe Dilton.


I've always liked Moose in the stories where he's portrayed as a dumb, but nice guy who happens to be friends with the smartest kid in town. The subversion of the old "jock vs geek" thing was nice, and it was cool seeing Moose and Dilton hang out. (There was this one story in which Midge got jealous because Moose was bench-pressing Dilton in public.)

[nezchan]

Bench-pressing another man is illegal in Texas, isn't it?

[recognitions]

These actually look really interesting. It's been a long time since someone actually took a chance with these characters. But where's Jughead's hat?

[mistervader]

The ultimate mystery... what does "S" stand for in Jughead's sweater?

[alexanderlucard]

Selby High School. it's where he lived before he moved to Riverdale.