What surprised me the most was how faithful this is to the long established & unchanged Archie myth is, for lack of a better word. Very much modern teen stuff filtered through Riverdale without losing--in fact gaining--edge or relevance. Kudos to Waid & Staples! ( )

Sooo wow. This was a thing. So when I was a young teen I loved Archie. I had subscriptions to all the comics (they came to my mailbox!), but I wasn't much into the romance so much as how much fun Betty & Veronica had as friends. I read the Betty and Veronica digests like they were going out of style (in between reading Witchblade, Young Justice and Parasyte...my tastes were very eclectic). Yeah Archie was in the middle of their ongoing feud, but when it came down to it, they were there for each other and I loved that.

Maybe because we're in the early stages - Veronica "Ronnie" Lodge just moved to Riverdale after all - but that friendship was not there yet. Betty and Archie had just broken up, and Veronica had started to cling to "Archikins" incessantly, so while Betty was her usual sweet, helpful self (when Veronica ran into a spot of trouble), Veronica was...well...dismissive, conceited and snobbish. All things that Veronica is in the old comic, but it comes off as obnoxious here since there isn't that underlying "I tease because I care" affection yet.

Mark Waid, who forever has my regard because of creating Bart Allen/Impulse, was a really good fit here. I like that Archie is basically pulling a Zack Morris by addressing the audience. I liked that Betty was a tomboy but she learned to incorporate being a girlie girl. The #lipstickincident was a typical thing that as usual with teens got blown out of proportion due to miscommunication and misunderstanding. Neither side is right, neither side is wrong - it really is something that they should figure out for themselves, not something others should work out for them.

I just didn't like Veronica. She comes off as a Mean Girl almost. Reggie is Reggie, I don't expect much from him, but Veronica I guess I expected more from her.

Jughead is so cool though. He gave such good advice (which he should have followed later on, but that's not here or there). "You are who you are, not what people think you are." I love the update to him, while still retaining that...easy, go with the flow vibe. I want to pick up his title now actually...
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Fun graphic novel that both teenagers and adults could relate too.
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I never read Archie as a kid (because it was a "girl" comic and I went to an all-boys school and have a rather sexist father so the societal pressure to conform to hetero/cis-normative views of masculinity were... extreme) but I was aware of it and had flipped through a few issues here and there.

But it's Mark Waid and Fiona Staples. How could I pass up ANY series by that creative team. And they don't disappoint. It's fun. Well written. Well drawn. And the characters are fresh and relatable and just... such a great relaunch of Archie for a new generation taking into account everything that's changed in society and culture since the original Archie debuted in the 50's (or 60's? I dunno... ages ago). ( )