Archie #2
Writer: Ben H. Winters
Artist: Fabio Moon
Colorist: Jason Wordie
Cover Artist: Stuart Immonen
Publisher: Oni Press
Archie takes the wrong lesson to heart and fumbles his big date with Betty.
Yes, again.
Pop Quiz, Hotshot
Archie, Betty, and Jughead are working as servers at a Riverdale High Class Reunion for folks of an... advanced age. Two old men in particular—one sober, one anything but—give Archie dueling pieces of advice. One says "have all the fun you can," while the other says "achieve all that you can."
Archie, being himself, tries to do both at once. That's how he ends up taking Betty to the movies, then disappearing partway through to study for his chemistry quiz in the morning.
It... goes as well as you'd expect. Both the date and the quiz.
Elsewhere, Jughead is having a bit of an existential crisis of his own, and finds himself face-to-face with... his future self?
Taking Advice from a Cartoon Dog
Hilarious and easily resolvable misunderstandings, thy name is Archie Andrews.
I made a comment in my review of Dynamite's Archie vs. The Terminator that one of the things I love about Archie is how he is 100% the same, no matter the context you put him in. So even though the stories in this new Oni Press series have a more modern look and feel, he's still classic Archie.
I'm sure in his head, the idea to disappear halfway through his movie date with Betty and study for his quiz made perfect sense. For any normal person, it would be obvious how badly that will end, but he's Archie Andrews, darn it. Logic need not apply. And besides, Betty will forgive him for almost anything.
You've gotta love Archie's parents and how used to their son's antics they are. After seeing the bad grade on his quiz, they immediately grounded him (which I'd probably do too). But then when they find out who he took his bad advice from, they let him bolt out the door to try making it up to Betty. They still remind him he's grounded when he gets back home, though. Mr. and Mrs. Andrews are kind of like Bandit and Chili from Bluey—sure they're fictional, but they're the kind of parents I'd really like to be. I'm definitely not, but I'd like to be.
As for the Jughead backup story, it's kind of odd. I'm not used to Jug being so gloomy and existential. But I guess Pop saying he was thinking of retiring and selling the diner is exactly how you would trigger something like this in everyone's favorite crown-wearing teen. Although I must say, I am very curious to see where this goes. Even with all the crazy stuff that happened on a regular basis on Riverdale, that version of Jughead still stayed somewhat upbeat. So I'm hoping there's a good payoff to the classic-style comic version being this morose.
Old School Meets New School
Ben H. Winters delivers classic Archie fun with a modern coat of paint, exactly what Oni Press advertised this series as. When you take into account his speculative fiction roots, this series seems like an odd choice—then he hits us with something like Jughead being met by his future self, and it all makes sense. The stories here move fast and deliver plenty of chuckles, if not outright laughs. As long as you have a little bit of fun, I count that as a success when it comes to Archie stories.
Fabio Moon has a slightly messy, almost chaotic art style that fits Archie's brand of clumsy craziness quite well. His characters are very expressive, and he does a good job with physical comedy—a must with Archie and his pals. The Jughead backup has a more somber feel to the artwork—everything is a bit more subdued compared to the hijinks of the main tale—which helps give Jughead's crisis a bit more impact.
Colorist Jason Wordie keeps things a bit more grounded than the classic Archie Comics-published books I've read recently—there, everything is old-school bright in color and tone. Here, everything is more realistic and modern, with the colors a bit more subdued but still brighter than your average Big Two book. As with Moon's art, the Jughead backup's palette shifts toward blue, adding to the somber tone of Jughead's crisis.
Makeup Quiz
Archie #2 is another fun installment in Oni Press's new "modern" take on the characters. It delivers the classic Archie fun of a misunderstanding, followed by clumsy efforts to make things right, followed by a life lesson. Nothing new or groundbreaking, but sometimes you just want to have fun with your funnybooks, and you'll definitely find that here.