The debut of Cheryl and Jason Blossom!

[alicemacher]

Long before Cheryl and Jason Blossom were the victim and victimizer within a taboo relationship in Afterlife with Archie, or respectively mentally disturbed and dead in the Riverdale TV series, they were more lighthearted elitist troublemakers in the old Archie Comics continuity. That doesn't mean what they got up to wasn't envelope-pushing in its own way for the relatively family-friendly venue. Especially in this, their first appearance.


From "Dare to Be Bare," Archie's Girls Betty and Veronica #320 (Oct. 1982). Story by Frank Doyle, art by Dan and Jim DeCarlo. 1.67 of 5 pages.







Exit Cheryl. Enter Jason, who shows Betty and Veronica how to get around the "no beer on the beach" rule.









Pretty daring stuff for the company's output at the time. Of course, it helped that the story treats the implied public nudity and drinking as The Wrong Thing to Do, thus satisfying both the Comics Code Authority and Archie Comics' internal standards.

Even so... that very same month, in Josie and the Pussycats #106, Doyle and artist Stan Goldberg did a story in which Alex Cabot makes out rather heavily with a girl in his car (her legs are shown hanging out) and buys beer--and that's when he's trying to avoid getting in trouble with his dad. Maybe Doyle, who'd been writing Archie stories for three decades, was getting a bit bored with the content restrictions and trying to see how far he could go before he was reined in?

Comments

[kamino_neko]

Jason really, really needs to learn to look around before openly flouting the rules.

[freezer]

Seems Riverdale did more with the Blossoms in one season than the comics have in the last decade.

[icon_uk]

Which is quite the achievement, given that one of them is dead before the start of episode 1.

[riddler13]

In the end, "good and upstanding citizens" save the day. *le sigh*

[icon_uk]

Those are some tiny, and very well packed, briefs, Jason is almost wearing.

[alicemacher]

Hehe yeah. Cheryl gets all the pop culture attention, but Jason fills out a swimsuit or pair of shorts quite nicely himself, and is buffer than the male characters who aren't Moose.

[dustbunny105]

Betty looks more excited to see Cheryl than I'm sure she's meant to.

[icon_uk]

I wouldn't put money on that "than she meant to"! ;)

[shadur]

Is it me or is there something malevolent about the male cop's facial expressions in the last two panels?

Joney's looking semi-cheerful -- she's bagged someone clearly breaking the law, she's made the beach a bit safer.

The dude, though - he's looking vindictive and gloating. He's caught himself a miscreant, and she's gonna suffer for it and he's already enjoying the prospect.

[alicemacher]

Or it's just the way DeCarlo draws men's eyebrows. Note that Jason's are also thick.

[zachbeacon]

Love the guy in the background of the second panel

[jgeils]

I remember back in the 90's seeing Dan DeCarlo drawing for a Penthouse comics magazine in the Archie style. I also think Chuck Austen did some adult Archie parody back in his Worldwatch series.

[fra080389]

'A liberal trying to liberate more than law allows'

Say what you want, I laughed ...