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.

There are no intergalactic wars for Betty, or alien monsters, super villains, or even the hedonistic folly that mars the real world. In short, Betty does not live in “fanboy”, i.e. superhero geek, heaven.

Betty does not live in the world in which I live, but in a world in which I wished I lived. And if I were able to live there, I’d want Betty to be my girl.

Why? Betty works hard at being good, and succeeds most of the time. She is a girl with high standards. She is honest and has integrity. She is kind, and unselfish. Betty is compassionate. She’d never lie, betray, or cheat on me. Her one fault is her blind love for that dunderhead, Archie.
Yep, Betty is the girl next door in a house that isn’t really next door. But that doesn’t mean she can’t be a role model for young girls. In fact, there’s a whole bunch of not-so-young girls in the real world who could do a lot worse than use Betty Andrews as their role model.

End of sermon. Betty is recommended.

Michael Vance

Check out Dark Corridor #1 for two Michael Vance short stories at www.mainenterprises.ecrater.com.

Betty #173	Betty #172	Betty #171
Betty #175	Betty #174	Betty #176