A tired comedy of shudders

In the late 1930s, super-heroes moving faster than speeding bullets or striking fear into the hearts of criminals gave hope to those who despised international fascism and domestic extortion. The incorporation of heroic values translated into high sales, birthing the Golden Age of comics.

Then, by the 1960s, heroes became more psychologically tormented, and people like the unassuming scientist Bruce Banner transformed into the Hulk the same way as Laurence Talbot would become the Wolfman. Soviet Communism and American scandals were equally turbulent in the wake of the Vietnam War and beyond. By that reckoning, one can go on about the current terrorist influence on comic book literature. Keeping all that aside, it is refreshing to read an Archie Digest.

Archie Comics seldom allowed its teen protagonist to grow up, since 1941. Plus, Riverdale was a city of multiple climates. While it got as sultry as Miami during summers, it became as snowy as Chicago in the winters. There is no telling whether Riverdale was on the West or the East Coast. It was a land, though not far, far away, where readers laughed at anecdotes ranging from three small boxes to 20+ pages. Geographical inconsistencies and conflicting storylines notwithstanding, the static world represented the delicate period between childhood innocence and adult responsibilities.

 However, by October 2009, that universe came to an end of sorts, with spice added to the Betty-Archie-Veronica love triangle. It is another matter altogether that months before the publication, the mainstream media announced that Archie was going to marry Veronica. The Wedding Story is just a precursor to an entire line of new books hitting the stands.

Usually, such dramatic creative moves are made when the traditional formula begins to exhaust public goodwill. When Gene Rodenberry fathered the Star Trek franchise across television shows, motion pictures, video games, novels and comics, the forty-year-history was on the verge of extinction after Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) was released. Therefore, Hollywood filmmaker J J Abrams (Mission: Impossible III) did not let the Star Trek concept cater to hardcore fans alone and opened the business to regular moviegoers.

Was Archie: The Wedding Story an excuse to expand readership, to bridge its comical side to a more serious angle? Post-2000, graphic novel patrons have become fickle, cynical and most of all, demanding. Children even laugh sarcastically at movie sound effects of blockbuster movies of the 1980s. Thus, as an Editor-in-Chief, Victor Gorelick (who probably would never have allowed an American Pie-like treatment of Archie) and his production team possibly ran out of alternatives to revive the series.

In a way, marrying off Archie to Veronica was like taking a sitcom to the next level, where it should ideally acquire a maturity meriting credibility. Unfortunately, in Archie’s case, the whole idea falls flat, and readers have to suffer all the way to Part 4 to find something of substance. As for its comedic reputation, this story is disappointing and one could call it a comedy of shudders.

  This is the fate of any major concept. Artistic works attaining mass appeal inevitably fall under the corporate scanner, and Archie is no exception. Beautiful premises are compromised for unimaginative plots by using grand locations and relevant nostalgia (relevant meaning references to key parts of the Archie mythology). Masterpieces may be only one of a kind, but a franchise is like fossil fuel, which will be depleted when the resources run out.

— The writer is based in Bangalore, and blogs at www.atlasreborn