Summer of Love 50th: Archie and friends get drafted!

[alicemacher]

Yes, you read that right. In 1971, Archie Comics took a rare foray into current events and an even rarer stance on political issues with "Summer Prayer for Peace," which sees Archie, Jughead and Reggie inducted into the army, then debating the morality of draft dodging with a radical friend.


From Everything's Archie #16 (October 1971). Script: Dick Malmgren, pencils: Dan DeCarlo, inks: Rudy Lapick.



At a local induction centre, Archie, Jughead and Reggie are informed they've passed their physicals and are now in the U.S. Army. Outside, they run into Clyde, a fan of the Archies who, aware the group is appearing at an upcoming peace rally, asks them if they actually want to be shipped off. They say of course they don't, but neither (despite Clyde's urging) do they intend to "cop out" and disobey the law. Rather, as much as they themselves oppose the Vietnam War, they feel that the system must be changed from within, not without.







Note that at no point does Clyde so much as suggest committing violence. Burning draft cards is illegal but not violent, Mr. Malmgren.

That Sunday afternoon, a day before they (well, the three males) are to report back to the induction centre, the Archies take the stage at the rally.










And there you have it, complete with "Ha! Gotcha, this is an Imaginary Story...or is it?" ending.

You can listen to "A Summer Prayer for Peace," from the 1971 Archies album Sunshine, here. It failed to chart in America but was a hit in Sweden.

Should Archie Comics have tackled sociopolitical issues more often? If so, how? What do you think?

Comments

[starwolf_oakley]

ARCHIE #635 was an "Occupy Riverdale" issue.

http://cdn.bleedingcool.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Archie_635-2.jpg

[lilacsigil]

That's magnificent Peak Jughead there.

[lilacsigil]

You should write a prayer for peace and be pro-peace and...not actually do anything about it? Archie should definitely steer clear of this kind of story.

[kd_the_movie]

I'm sure the drill sergeants at basic would love to hear your rational and constructive anti war argument, Archiekins :)

[beyondthefringe]

Now I'm trying to imagine Archie, Reggie, and Jughead... in Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, or something else of that ilk.

[burkeonthesly]

"I love the smell of burgers in the morning!"

[alicemacher]

Full Metal Jughead: In basic training, Jug learns the mess hall isn't all-you-can-eat, and only rarely serves burgers. As a result, he gradually loses his mind and plots revenge on Gunnery Sgt. Weatherbee Hartman.

[tripodeca113]

"I think the writers were twisting themselves in knots here trying to address controversial issues without actually being controversial themselves. It's tough sometimes out there in the middle of the road."

This overview sums it up pretty well.

[grapeweasel]

What is this preachy junk?

I want to hear 'Sugar, Sugar'!

[owlbrigade1]

Be nice, be respectable, don't create a disturbance.

No great event of social change ever happened without acts of violence happening to show the alternative to not changing.

For proof I present the Occupy movement, which has achieved nothing because it was too busy being peaceful and constructive, and thus was s easily swept away.

I'm not saying that there shouldn't be people who are invested in being constructive and being advocates for peaceful change, they are absolutely essential to constructing the future beyond the moment of change, they are the carrot to show that if change happens there is "someone like us" "someone we can do business with" "someone respectable" to ensure social continuity to make change seem unthreatening. However you also have to have the dark half to that, the someone you'll have to deal with if you don't change.

I think we do a great disservice to modern social activists by trying to hide that nasty part, that harhser part, that violent part. Certainly too many of the violent people have glamorized it and too many of them hung on for too long after their objective was achieved, but every great movement operated in tandem, with communication between those two halves and not in opposition to them.

That peace concert? Great, but without the threat of something worse as an alternative? It is just a concert full of pretty songs.

[alicemacher]

"No great event of social change ever happened without acts of violence happening to show the alternative to not changing."

Oh really? How about...

The 1986 The People Power or Yellow Revolution which ended the 20-year authoritarian Marcos regime in the Philippines.

The 1989 Peaceful Revolution in East Germany that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The 1989 Velvet Revolution that ended one-party Communist rule in Czechoslovakia.

The 1990 Mongolian Revolution.

In NONE of these cases was there a violent "counter-threat" of any note.

[burkeonthesly]

A calm, reasoned, sourced counterargument. It's a thing of beauty.

[ozaline]

Occupy's main failings were structural.

[killnotic]

Unfortunately, none of the examples you listed happened in the United States.