Archie #390

June 13, 2006

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Once Upon a Prime Time Dreary and other stories

Archie is on the air!

Writers: Hal Smith, Frank Doyle, Bill Golliher
Pencils: Stan Goldberg
Inks: Mike Esposito
Colors: Barry Grossman
Letters: Bill Yoshida
Editor: Victor Gorelick
Cover Art: Dan DeCarlo
Publisher: Archie Comics

As a long-time Archie fan, I’m going to try to work in the occasional Archie review at this site. I chose this issue for a specific reason – and I’ll get to that in a bit. Like most Archie comics, this issue is a collection of short stories, and we’ll take those one at a time.

First is “Once Upon a Prime Time Dreary” by Smith and Goldberg. Archie has a part-time job as a janitor at the public access TV station, but when a storm keeps the on-air talent away, Archie is forced to do an impromptu one-man telethon to keep the station on the air. This is a classic-style story, featuring the inimitable Archie Andrews bad luck.

“Stop the Presses,” by Doyle and Goldberg, introduces the gang to “Scoop” Scanlon, an eager freshman trying to make a name for himself on the school paper, and messing up things for the gang in the process. Scoop is one of those thousands of characters to cross the path of Archie’s gang once and never again – a nice story, but not a particularly memorable one.

Next is the real reason I decided to feature this comic, Bill Golliher and Stan Goldberg’s “Fed Up with Archie.” The Archies get lost and run out of gas on the way home from a gig, and as usual, it’s all poor Archie’s fault. He boldly strikes out to find the gang some food and fuel to get them all home. What’s Archie’s salvation” A Burger King. I’ve seen a lot of stories lately about Marvel and DC working in more product placement in their comics – a character wearing a Nike t-shirt or driving a specific make of Dodge car. But this issue the product placement is actually a plot point. Not only do they use a brand-name restaurant rather than a generic “Burger Doodle,” but the restaurant is clearly drawn to match the model of the real eateries and the BK logo (circa 1991, at least) is prominently displayed for the rest of the story. Were it not for the four-page length, one could almost mistake this story for the ad comics the characters starred in for the likes of Capri Sun or (going back to the classics) Hostess Twinkies. As an Archie story, it’s just fine. As a curiosity, it’s better.

We also have a one-page “Aunt Hilda and Aunt Zelda” gag and one last comic – Smith and Goldberg’s “The Fight with the Bumblebees,” in which Archie and Jughead accidentally knock a beehive into Mr. Weatherbee’s office and have to find a way to clear them out before they wind up in detention. This goes into seriously zany territory, and it’s entertaining for that purpose if nothing else.

This is your typical issue of Archie, when you get right down to it, but the major ad placed in the middle of the issue got my attention and made me want to share.

Rating: 6/10