You shouldn't miss the chance, when you have the chance to say

[skjam]

Time to look at Life With Archie #3.



Yeah, Mr. Lodge is still evil. This time, let's do some relatively heartwarming scenes.



The Veronicaverse chapter is told as a letter Archie is writing to the missing Dilton Doiley. To recap the relevant bit, the once honest and decent Hiram Lodge has been seduced by the dark side of capitalism. He's engaged in blockbusting to bring the value of Pop's Choklit Shop to an artificial low, buy it for a song, then salt the earth and pave it over. Mr. Lodge has put Archie in charge of acquiring the property, forcing our protagonist to betray his best friend Jughead, who has been trying to take over the restaurant himself. Lodge has also been using the fact that Veronica is Archie's direct supervisor to pressure her to pressure Archie to follow through on this acquisition.

As a result, the young couple has been bickering lately, as Archie puts it, "It's as though we've forgotten how to be nice to each other, which is strange, because--"




Over in the Bettyverse, we're going to ignore the main plot altogether. As a result of Archie finally tying the knot with his Victorious Childhood Friend, several of their acquaintances have also decided to act on long-smouldering passions they've hidden for years. Case in point:




Mr. Svenson comments that both he and Mr. Weatherbee are very lucky men and Waldo agrees.



Your thoughts and comments?

Suggested tags
character: Archie Andrews
character: Geraldine Grundy
character: Veronica Lodge
character: Waldo Weatherbee
creator: Andrew Pepoy
creator: Joe Rubinstein
creator: Norm Breyfogle
creator: Paul Kupperberg
publisher: Archie Comics
title: Life With Archie

Comments

[punishermax]

I think I'd like to say that it's pretty depressing when Archie manages to get romance and love better than fucking Spider-Man.

[auggie18]

Just wait until Archie sells his marriage to Satan in order to save Miss Grundy's life...

[skjam]

Mr. Lodge will certainly be looking into the possibility of using this gambit once he discovers Miss Grundy's condition.

[skjam]

Yes, for these special plotlines at least, they're doing the opposite of the current direction for Main Spidey--Archie and his friends are allowed to age and mature into adult relationships, while poor Peter is stuck with regressing to his inept college dating days.

[dejadrew]

Archie is good! Spider-man sucks! Night is day! Up is down! NOTHING MAKES SENSE! I DON'T KNOW WHAT IS REAL ANY MORE!!!

[icon_uk]

I don't even follow Archie (never a hit in the UK) and I think that that's rather lovely.

[cuntfucius]

The Veronica-Archie story is my favourite, and I love that it's not going the path of "ARCHIE AND VERONICA ARE SO TERRIBLE TOGETHER BECAUSE VERONICA IS SHALLOW AND MEAN AND EVIL"

But I loooove the subplots that the Betty-Archie story has. And the subtle class commentary :) very .. very elementary and subtle, but still.

[cuntfucius]

WAIT I got it mixed up, the Veronica-Archie story has the subplots I like. THE ARCHIE-BETTY ONE JUST HAS CUTE INTERACTION BETWEEN THEM but overall weird mr. lodge being ooc lol

[sandoz_iscariot]

The Veronica-Archie story is my favourite, and I love that it's not going the path of "ARCHIE AND VERONICA ARE SO TERRIBLE TOGETHER BECAUSE VERONICA IS SHALLOW AND MEAN AND EVIL"

For real, I really like that too. I love Veronica.

[destroyed]

I'm disappointed that you didn't post the "Halloween Hotties" B&V posters.

[skjam]

Four pages from the most recent issue (plus cover) per member, you know that.

[starwolf_oakley]

Does anything thing Carter Pewterschmidt from Family Guy was based on Mr. Lodge?

[pepperspray101]

Is Mr. Lodge the guy who looks like Comissioner Gordon? O.o

[skjam]

Yes.

Btw, good to see you.

[psychopathicus_rex]

The uncomfortable implication here is that, despite the fact that this isn't the 'real' Archie continuity, Miss Grundy has the seeds of this disease in her RIGHT NOW. So regardless of what choices Archie makes, she's still going to die shortly after he leaves high school. I'm honestly not sure how to feel about that.

[skjam]

This is after trhe cast graduates college, and there';s still the chance for a miracle cure.

[psychopathicus_rex]

I suppose so. Still, it's a little weird to see characters that have been functionally frozen in time for their entire existence suddenly confronting their own mortality. It's like 'what the hell?! This isn't supposed to happen! There are rules... somewhere... I mean, there must be, right?'

[mcity]

>He's engaged in blockbusting to bring the value of Pop's Choklit Shop to an artificial low, buy it for a song, then salt the earth and pave it over.

...The Shop is a historical landmark. A president had lunch there once. It can't be town down.

[skjam]

Mr. Lodge has convinced the city government to lose the paperwork on that, which is one of the reasons Marmaduke Mason is running for mayor.

[mcity]

Wait, so they actually remembered that plot point? I could've sworn it was a national landmark, not a local one, but I'm surprised they remembered it at all.

[dejadrew]

This is sooooo not canon. We all know Ms. Grundy is already married to Steve.

[skjam]

That was back when the kids were in elementary school. Perhaps Steve died (again) since then, changed personalities (as he does) and she's lonely again.

[leikomgwtfbbq]

...This is actually pretty good. Very sweet and well-written.

Better, in fact, than the clusterfuck going on with Spidey.

I DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING ANYMORE. Archie comics aren't supposed to be this good!

[octavius-rodens.livejournal.com]

And then Mr. Weatherbee and Ms. Grundy crashland on a mysterious island...

[lbd_nytetrayn]

I love this magazine, though with all the teen-idol stuff, it seems like a mixed-demographic thing going on.

Nonetheless, I'm more interested in Archie now than I've been in years. I actually find these stories to be rather compelling, plus it casts a new light on teen Archie stories.

I love it.

--LBD "Nytetrayn"