<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Archie Andrews is a fictional comic book teenager.

Archie is an iconic character, with many references to him in popular culture.He premiered in Pep Comics #22 (1941) created by Bob Montanna and has represented the comical lighter side of the American teenager in the ensuing decades. He and his supporting characters have entitled countless comic book series, providing light fun and enjoyment to millions of readers.

Archie has been a popular and enduring character over the years, and has had runs in other media, such as cartoons, live action specials, and a long running comic strip. The musical group, The Archies, (created for an animated series) even had the popular musical hit "Sugar, Sugar". This was during the time of other TV bubblegum rock groups, like The Partridge Family and The Monkeys.

Some of the classic stories have been collected into trade paperback by decade, so that you can see the styles and fashions change, but Archie and his characters are never changing, and have remained essentially the same through the years. Unlike superhero and fantasy comics today, Archie had no real continuity. His characters learned or changed only in a particular story, so that no lessons were ever carried to the next issue. Nothing that happened in one story ever affected another story. Everything always reset to zero at the end of any tale, so that no past story or lesson was ever recalled. It didn't matter what order you read Archie stories, because every tale was truly timeless.

The two girls he likes (usually), rich, snooty Veronica Lodge, and sweet, girl-next-door Betty Cooper, have become a classic "this or that": Betty or Veronica? Some other characters were Reggie Mantle, the hated hansome and wealthy rival, Jughead Jones, the alway hungry best friend, Moose, the super strong low IQ kid, and Dilton Doiley, the science nerd. Midge was Moose's girlfriend, Ethel was the homely girl in love with Jughead, and then there were parent and teacher characters as well.

So, what makes Archie Sci Fi? Two main elements.

In 1965, Archie became Pureheart the Powerful, a caped superhero. This was the year before the debut of the Adam West Batman TV series. As the comics continued to use the Pureheart character, it became more camp. Different superhero and supervillian characters were introduced, and other members of the Archie supporting cast became super characters as well.

In 1999, a new animated series (Archie's Weird Mysteries), perhaps inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer, featured Archie and the gang encountering all sorts of supernatural menaces.

External Links

• Article on Pureheart at the Official Site

Related Terms and Articles

• Archie's Weird Mysteries
• Pureheart the Powerful