Adorable child pictures

[skjam]

Let's check in with yet another of the future timelines Archie Comics is doing--the one where he marries Valerie of Josie and the Pussycats!



Previously: Valerie walked into the Memory Lane section of the forest while thinking of Archie, and wondering if she should pursue a relationship with him. In this timeline, the Archies band got some breaks so they went beyond a local band status. They kept running into the Pussycats, and Archie and Valerie started going steady. (In the background, Betty met and started dating Valerie's brother Trevor.)

Eventually, they eloped and got married, but the two bands' touring schedules meant the young couple wasn't getting much together time. Alex (the Pussycat's PR guy) put together a reality show where Archie and Valerie helped teach kids at music school. This was so successful that Mr. & Mrs. Andrews decided to go full-time.



A&V start their own music school, and a small private label for their new duet name "Him and Her." Alex protests that this won't make them insanely rich like his plan, but the young couple is okay with that. More to the point, this leaves both the Archies and the Pussycats short-handed. Archie points out that Reggie's wanted the lead singer job for a while, and nominates him. The rest of the band refuses to rename themselves "The Reggies" yet.

There isn't so obvious a replacement for Valerie, and the auditions are not going well. It hits rock bottom when Alex's sister Alexandra tries out. Despite years of lessons and practice, she is still the anti-musician.

The Archies' first concert with Reggie in the lead stinks on ice, alas. He's finally convinced he's better off as the harmony singer. Fortunately, it turns out Trevor meshes well with the band's style.



Yes, Veronica's been working on her guitar playing, and unlike Alexandra, actually has talent.



We'll skip over the firestorms this ignites in rock/pop fandom as the story itself does, to note that Valerie's worried about being ready for kids because she's pregnant. Most of the gang is thrilled to hear this, but Veronica is kind of miffed, especially when Betty brings up her own impending marriage.



There's an amusing panel with paparazzi going so far as to lie on top of the car Archie is driving Valerie to the hospital in. I hope he brakes suddenly.

As you might have guessed from the cover, the Andrews family has a girl who they name Star. Time passes, and the baby takes up all their time, but as we've all been told before, it's well worth it. And then...



So! Happy ending, it would seem. But there's still one issue left to go in this plotline....




Your thoughts and comments?
SKJAM!

Comments

[auggie18]

For reason, seeing interracial couples makes me weirdly happy. Like, I'm way more likely to buy a product if the ads for it have mixed race couples or watch a show if such a couple is prominently featured. I don't know why, it just makes me really happy.

Also, good on Betty for not having a crappy life just because Archie went and married someone else. Go Betty!

[q99]

You associate it with how times have changed positively, perhaps? I think I do too ^^

[skjam]

Betty had a crappy life for a while in the Veronica-verse, so they've already done that one. (Things have picked up for her a bit.) It did lead to a hilarious panel where she lists her post-Archie boyfriends...all fictional "typical American teenage boys."

[jaybee3]

They've been several comics over the years that have shown Betty is actually more compatible with Jughead (despite his girl hating ways). I'm surprised none of the alternative futures have them together (I've always had a hard time figuring out what she sees in Archie anyway).

[skemono]

You may want to try attending some Loving Day celebrations, then.

[bewareofgeek]

I get a little chuckle out of the obscure Spice girls ref.

[mistygeek]

Me too!

[icon_uk]

Do the Spice Girls and their most famous song really count as obscure?

[mistygeek]

This make me want to pick to Archie again. I haven't gotten anything since Borders went out of business.

[q99]

I started picking up Archie because I thought this story looked fun ^^

[halloweenjack]

A red-haired, dark-skinned girl? Somewhere, John Byrne must be having himself a conniption fit.

[crabby_lioness]

I don't think anyone's cared what Byrne thought since 1989.

Except for DC, which in an amazing fit of blindness cared until about 1993.

[espanolbot]

Also that terrible collaborative Superman comic he did with John Cleese.

[icon_uk]

In the 2000's they still let him kick the Doom Patrol in the nuts... I mean "reboot" it.

[michael_ellis_day]

Archie seems one step closer to becoming Silver Age Superman with the "In this Imaginary Story, Superman marries Lori Lemaris" type stories. Next thing you know it'll be "Oh no, not Red Riverdalite, the mineral from my hometown that always produces a strange transformation in me! What will I turn into this time?"

(Just kidding, I love the alternate reality stuff they've been doing in Life With Archie and can't wait to see where they take it next. This post tells me I need to expand my Archie purchases even further.)

[icon_uk]

Archie being a cousin of Jimmy Olsen works surprising well as a concept.

[arilou_skiff]

Yes, yes it does.

Now I want a crossover.

[greenmask]

A crossdressing crossover!

[arilou_skiff]

Crossdressing is optional but welcome.

[salamangkiero]

I would pay good money to see that. And if Jughead crossdresses, I'd just be one happy camper.

[kenn_el]

I'm looking forward to the Post-Crisis polygamy of the combined universes! "What? We're ALL married to Archie?!"

[salamangkiero]

Big Archie Lovin'. Given the situation, I wouldn't be surprised at all.

[cleome45]

Marvel and DC waste kids and couples right and left, thinking it'll make them a fast buck.

Archie Comics does pretty much the opposite.

I think I know who I want to see win in this scenario. :p

[jaybee3]

I actually like this whole concept (and the Archie folks can keep doing it on and on given there's no end of couples they could create down memory lane - even crackships like Josie and Jughead). I can't help but thinking that given this is ARCHIE, most of these storylines (despite the downs like Mr. Lodge being a supervillian in some of these timelines all of a sudden) will end up happily which leads to the question - if this is what Valerie sees when she goes down Memory Lane what prevents from pursuing it when she returns to the "present day"?

[lbd_nytetrayn]

Hmm, I wonder if Life with Archie is going to have to trim the Arche Marries Betty and Archie Marries Veronica stories down by a third...

[queenrikki]

I'm so looking forward to reading this. I've been reading all of the back issues of Life With Archie and I love the whole multiversal thing they have going on (though I occasionally had to make a chart to keep everything straight). I bought all the issues that have Archie and Valerie as a couple but I haven't got around to reading them.

[fredneil.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure why it mattered that Veronica had been practicing guitar when she didn't play it in Josie and the Pussycats, or why she took over as lead singer from Josie, or why anyone would be surprised that she was musically talented, since had been a keyboard player in The Archies, but what the hell, I'll just go with it.

But in return, I want a crossover where Archie marries pre-Hellcat Patsy walker.

[skjam]

The page between Veronica putting on a Pussycat outfit and the one where she's singing features her rocking out on guitar while Josie sings (probably the same concert), so the only question remaining is why *josie* was surprised at how well Ronnie plays guitar...you'd think they'd have practiced together beforehand.