Suspended Animation Review

Betty & Veronica #234/23 pgs. & $2.25/Jeff Shultz, artist; George Gladir and Kathleen Webb, writers/sold in lots of places and at www.archiecomics.com.

Well, the girls are at it again. In this issue, Betty and Veronica bicker about boys and fashion, make up, and resume bickering about boys and fashion. Their’s has to be the longest running love/hate relationship in comic books. But it’s all done in well-drawn and well-written light-hearted fun, and these two girls are destined to remain friends long after the Human Torch and The Thing hug each other, Lois Lane and Superman tie the knot (for real and for ever), and Blondie divorces Dagwood and runs away with his boss.

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Suspended Animation Review

Jughead #186/23 pgs. & $2.25 from Archie Comics/pencils: Rex Lindsey, words: Craig Boldman/ sold in lots of places and at www.archiecomics.com.

I never imagined that the last comic book I’d ever review would be Jughead, but it somehow seems appropriate. After all, old Juggie never grew up, and neither have I.

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Suspended Animation Review

Veronica #s 180-184, 185-188/approx. 21 pgs. & $2.25 each from Archie Comic/sold in lots of shops and www.Archiecomics.com.

There has long been speculation and never much agreement about what makes something an icon. If it were possible to reduce the creation of such a symbol to a formula, that illusive secret would make everyone rich.

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Suspended Animation Review

Archie & Friends #117, 23 pages and $2.25 from Archie Comics. Sold in comic and other shops, and on-line at www.archiecomics.com.

The format of Archie and Friends usually includes a story focused on Archie and a story about a secondary character like Dilbert (the resident boy genius), or Katy Keene (the fashion model), or Jughead (the jughead). Not so for issue #117 in which Archie, assorted pals, and several high school teachers travel to London with promised trips to Madrid, Nairobi, Rome, and Zurich.

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Suspended Animation Review

Betty & Veronica Spectacular #s78-83/26 pgs. & $2.25 each/Dan Parent, principal artist and writer/sold in lots of places and at www.archiecomics.com.

Who reads about Archie's girlfriends, Betty and Veronica, in B & V Spectacular? Here are a few clues. "How to Have Your Own Beach Bash!", "Home EC. Or Shop?", "Eco Friendly Tips, Fashions & Fun!", and "Cool Summer Fashions!" are all cover blurbs for this Archie Comics title.

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Suspended Animation Review

Betty #s 165, 166, 168, 169, 170-173/approx. 23 pgs. & $2.25 each from Archie Comics/principal artist, Stan Goldberg; various writers/available in lots of places and at www.archiecomics.com.

Betty is a good girl.

There was a time in America when saying someone is a good girl wasn’t insulting. Betty still lives in that time, along with Archie, Jughead, and the gang in Riverdale. In these reviewed issues, she spends her hours looking for a lost five dollar bill, reliving memories while cleaning her room, enjoying Friday night football, introducing romance into Pop’s eatery, playing pranks with a cell phone, planting trees, and dreaming of being a super heroine, among a host of other quiet, real world activities.

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