Veronica #207 (aka Kevin Keller #1)

September 4, 2011

Title: Meet Kevin Keller!

Writer: Dan Parent
Pencils: Dan Parent
Inks: Rich Koslowski
Colorist: Digikore Studios
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Cover Artist: Dan Parent
Editor: Victor Gorelick
Publisher: Archie Comics

Archie Comics made a big deal out of giving Kevin Keller his own “miniseries,” but that’s not technically the case. Rather, they’re giving him the spotlight for four issues of Veronica and doubling up the numbers. (Officially, this is Veronica #207, but it’s also labeled as Kevin Keller #1.) In this issue, two old friends of Kevin’s from his younger days come to Riverdale for a visit with the traveling army brat, just in time to help everyone get ready for the big Fourth of July parade and tell everybody how awesome Kevin is.

Honestly, that’s what happens in this book, and in so doing, it commits not one, but two cardinal sins. First, and most obvious, there’s no real story here. It’s basically just Kevin’s friends telling stories about him. There’s no conflict or struggle, save for a quick gag about Kevin and Jughead in a pie-eating contest and a short scene in which Kevin is worried how his father will react when he comes out to him. All of this could easily be fodder for good stories, but what little tension the writer manages to create always evaporates immediately.

This gets us to the second problem: Kevin himself. For a character that brought Archie Comics a wealth of media attention, he is mind-numbingly boring. Honestly, the stories his friends tell us amount to the following:

• When he was a kid, Kevin suffered from bad teeth and acne, problems that disappeared when he entered high school. Despite his newfound hunkiness, he didn’t ditch his old friends.
• He took a friend to a junior high dance to protect her from a jerk that tried to hurt her feelings.
• His parents love him, and always have, and always will.
• He’s going to join the military, and everybody is proud of that.

And it all adds up to a great big ball of, “so what?” I get what Dan Parent is trying to do with this character: he wants to make him a well-rounded character that escapes all of the traditional gay clichés and stereotypes. And that’s good. That’s even admirable. But he’s simply gone too far in the other direction. Kevin, as presented in this issue, is a character utterly without fault, and I don’t care if you’re gay, straight, male, female, black, white, or a cocker spaniel, it’s dull to read about somebody who’s perfect. Even in the squeaky-clean world of Riverdale, most of our characters have faults: Archie is a chronic screw-up and indecisive, Veronica is spoiled, Betty is a bit of a pushover, Jughead is a glutton, Reggie is a jerk… I could keep going here for a long time, because over the decades these characters have been introduced, the writers have found niches for them that include character faults that provide easy avenues for storytelling. Kevin has no such faults, resulting in a story bereft of conflict, which is a story that any first-year creative writing student will tell you isn’t actually a story.

I’m always in favor of expanding the cast of characters in Archie’s universe, and I think there’s a place for Kevin Keller, but the writers are going to have to work a lot harder to make him feel like a character instead of just a bone to throw to a certain portion of the audience.

Rating: 5/10

Betty #193

September 4, 2011

Title: Fantasy Flair and other stories

Writer: George Gladir, Mike Pellowski, Tom DeFalco, John Rose
Pencils: Pat Kennedy, Tim Kennedy
Inks: Mike DeCarlo
Colorist: Digikore Studios
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Cover Artist: Fernando Ruiz
Editor: Victor Gorelick
Publisher: Archie Comics

This issue of Betty brings us a whopping four all-new stories, which is pretty much the formula for some of them to suck. The first one, “Fantasy Flair,” is okay. Betty is lounging about reading back issues of Pureheart the Powerful, and begins to imagine life as the girlfriend of Archie-as-Pureheart. Being a superhero’s gal pal sounds like it’d be a blast, but Archie’s essential… “Archieness” begins to encroach on Betty’s fantasy, showing it to not quite be all it’s cracked up to be. Many of the weaker Archie stories across the board suffer from the same problem this one does – a lack of an actual story. There’s no plot here, no conflict, just Betty daydreaming for eight pages.

The second story, “Just Relax,” looks like it’s going to escape that trap, but quickly falls into the same problem. Betty’s summer job is wearing her out, and her father’s job isn’t much better. The Cooper family decides to take a vacation, and Betty invites Midge to come along. (I’m assuming either Veronica was on a ritzy vacation in Europe or – perhaps a little more entertaining – Betty is currently angry with her over some Archie-related shenanigan.) It’s a good set-up, but from there it’s just several pages expounding upon how Betty’s definition of relaxation differs from her father’s. Not… not really a story.

The third story, “Love the One You’re With,” is a bit better on this front. Written by Tom DeFalco, who has shown he knows a thing or two about writing teenagers, this story features Betty getting jilted (again) by Archie for a fancier date with Veronica. She turns to Dilton for a comforting shoulder, which leads Moose to make an observation about his little buddy that Betty would never realize and Dilton would never admit. You know that any time somebody tries to add a side to the Betty-Archie-Veronica love triangle it’ll only be temporary, but this is one time I think it may actually be interesting to play with it for a little while. If nothing else, it’s fun to see a story where Moose gets to be the smart one for a change.

Finally, we have “Shell Belle,” in which Betty and Jughead take a group of brownies to the beach and then help them out with an arts and crafts project. You know what, I take back what I say about the first two stories in this issue, this is a story with no plot. For heaven’s sake, the biggest word balloon in the story literally says “LET’S CLEAN UP OUR MESS!” Seriously. I suppose there’s an attempt here to give kids a project they can do at home, and you can probably use Betty’s instructions to copy their project if you really want to, but for those of us actually reading the comic, it’s unbearably dull.

Honestly, this isn’t a great issue, but it’s helped by good art throughout and a very interesting Dilton story.

Rating: 7/10

Veronica #204

August 28, 2011

Title: All That and a Bag of Chips (New Kids Off the Wall Part Six)

Writer: Alex Simmons
Pencils: Dan Parent
Inks: Andrew Pepoy & Bob Smith
Colorist: Digikore Studios
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Cover Artist: Rex W. Lindsey
Editor: Victor Gorelick
Publisher: Archie Comics

In the final chapter of “New Kids Off The Wall,” we see…

…I… I’m sorry, I can’t do this. I’ve gotta say it. “All That and a Bag of Chips?” Really. That’s the title you go with. Whew.

Anyway, in the final chapter of “New Kids Off the Wall,” Veronica has been stunned to learn that one of the new kids at Riverdale High is in her own category of the wealthy elite. Veronica, being Veronica, decides to seek out the young moneybags and size up the competition for the top of Riverdale High School’s social pyramid. I liked this storyline all around, to be honest. The writers found a quick, plausible way to introduce several new characters into the world of Riverdale High School quickly, and they managed to make several of them stand out, with well-rounded and well thought-out personalities. This issue is a nice counterpoint to all of that, building on Veronica’s established personality to tell the sort of story that wouldn’t work with the likes of Archie, Jughead, or most of all, Betty. Veronica’s the only member of our cast to really be threatened by social competition in this way, and this gives us a totally different story than Betty facing off against one of the new kids for a job on the newspaper or the others competing for girls or in sports. This is a case where the competition, frankly, need only be in Veronica’s mind, and she’s the only one who fails to recognize that. It makes a solid story and gives her a chance to grow a little – at least as much as Archie characters ever do. After all, in this universe, we always come back to the status quo in the end.

Rating: 7/10

Archie and Friends #154

August 28, 2011

Title: Buck-Bucking the System

Writer: Angelo Decesare
Pencils: Fernando Ruiz
Inks: Rich Koslowski
Colorist: Digikore Studios
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Cover Artist: Fernando Ruiz & Rich Koslowski
Editor: Mike Pellerito
Publisher: Archie Comics

Archie and Friends has become the place for Archie Comics to tell stranger tales that don’t necessarily fit in their other titles. Bring in Archie’s Superhero identity, bring in Little Archie, whatever, this is the place for it. In this issue, Angelo Decesare seems to want to introduce a new series to the line, “Little Archie’s Power Pets.” Little Archie and the gang bring their assorted pets to the state fair to take part in a pet pageant. Sabrina’s cat, Salem, decides to have a little fun and casts a spell that allows the pets to hear one another thinking. Able to communicate, the pets uncover a plot to rig the contest, and hilarity ensues. As far as Archie sub-series go, this is by no means the most ridiculous one I’ve ever heard of. The story is fairly funny, and the pets do get to demonstrate some fairly separate personalities (although, to be fair, most of their personalities are based on those of their respective owners). By the end of the story, the spell has gone noticeably unreversed, which leaves it open for a return to this series some time. I wouldn’t mind that so much – there’s potential here.

Rating: 7/10

Archie #622

July 17, 2011

Title: Prisoners of the Prehistoric (King of the Los Land Part Two)

Writer: Tom DeFalco
Pencils: Fernando Ruiz
Inks: Rich Koslowski
Colorist: Digikore Studios
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Cover: Fernando Ruiz
Editor: Victor Gorelick     
Publisher: Archie Comics

Archie and the gang have taken a trip with Mr. Lodge to the mountains of San Montana. As the archeological expedition began, though, the kids fall into a mysterious lost land full of rampaging dinosaurs and Amazon women. Archie, as you can imagine, is pretty happy about this. Betty and Veronica, not so much. The girls get separated, make a discover of their own, and… well… there’s an implication here of some decidedly un-Archie behavior. I’ve been impressed lately with the ways that Archie Comics have been working to create new, different comics that push the boundaries of what you expect from them… but man. The end of this issue feels like it’s virtually handing things over to fanfic waiting to be written. Aside from that rather shocking finale, it’s a pretty standard Archie comic. Tom DeFalco understands these characters very well. The one thing he’s not doing is pushing the envelope with them. For the most part, this is the sort of stuff we always get out of Archie, and while there’s nothing wrong with it by itself, I’m kind of reaching the point where I want to see more. That’s a compliment for the rest of the line than it is an indictment of this fair-to-middlin’ issue.

Rating: 7/10

Solo (2004 Series) #2

December 19, 2004

Quick Rating: Fair

Five tales of the bizarre by Richard Corben

Writers: Richard Corben & John Arcudi
Art: Richard Corben
Colors: Richard Corben, Lee Loughridge & Dave Stewart
Letters: Richard Corben & Jack Morelli
Editor: Mark Chiarello
Cover Art: Richard Corben
Publisher: DC Comics

I think DC Comics deserves a lot of credit for trying something like this, an anthology series with a definite hook: give an artist 48 pages to do whatever he wants. Period. By the very nature of the project, though, some issues will be better than others, and this one doesn’t quite click for me. Richard Corben is best known for his artwork in underground comics and dozens of projects full of monsters and magic. He serves up five short tales here, most with “Twilight Zone-Style” twists at the end, and while they’re all okay, none of them are outstanding.

“Belzon’s Treasure” shows a treasure hunter who stumbles upon a legendary crypt in Egypt, only to find a mysterious guardian, and other even more ruthless treasure hunters behind him. It’s a quick little horror tale with a nice ending.

“Cyclops” may be the weakest tale story-wise. We have two mysterious, alien races at war, one of them on the brink of loss and extinction, but the big twist at the end isn’t surprising at all, it’s the sort of thing that has been done time and again. Visually it’s a different story – Corben seems to do this story digitally, giving it a different art style than the rest of the issue without losing any of his trademark body shapes or monster designs. It’s like the difference in seeing a character in a 2-D animated movie then seeing that same character done in CGI.

“Homecoming” is a western – a man young catches up with his father only to find his brother has been killed for a crime he didn’t commit. This is probably the strongest Corben-written story in the book, even though it’s a quickie, and has a great twist. It’s a shame that westerns don’t get too much attention these days.

“The Plague” shows a king barricading himself in his palace as protection from both invaders and from a horrific disease that may or may not exist. This may be the longest story in the book, but really, it’s the least memorable.

The only story written by someone other than Corben is also the only story in the book starring a DC character – John Arcudi provides the story for “A Missing Life,” starring the original Spectre, Jim Corrigan. Corrigan gets a lead from one a ghost that helps him solve a murder – but it’s not a job for Officer Jim Corrigan, it’s a job for the Wrath of God. Corben really delivers a great-looking Spectre, and he does an equally good job on all the phantasms that populate his world.

While not as strong as last issue, I still think Solo is a fine, worthy experiment from DC, and I’m anxious to see who they line up in the future. (Next issue, by the way, will feature the work of Paul Pope.)

Rating: 6/10

Archie #621

June 1, 2011

Title: The Lost Land Part One

Writer: Tom DeFalco
Pencils: Fernando Ruiz
Inks: Rich Koslowski
Colorist: Digikore Studios
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Editor: Victor Gorelick     
Publisher: Archie Comics

Mr. Lodge takes Veronica and her friends off to an Archeological Expedition on their summer vacation. While this isn’t exactly the sort of summer vacation they had planned, the crew quickly learns to make the best of it, as Jughead finds the catering table and Archie finds the young college lasses working on the dig. Dilton, of course, is ever the scientist, and soon makes a discovery that tosses everything into upheaval.

Interesting issue. Tom DeFalco really does have the voices of these characters down, and he plays with their vices just as you would expect. The whole “lost land” concept isn’t original at all, but that’s okay. Archie adventure stories have never really been about breaking new ground, but about giving an Archie twist to an established story type. The book has moments of excitement mixed in with the comedy, and that’s all good. The new character Raj is fun, and works with the rest of the gang. It does seem a little pandering, though, to find a “lost tribe” in the center of the Earth that happens to be perfectly ethnically diverse. Come on, guys, I know there’s a mandate to make the world of Archie more multicultural, and that’s all well and good, but this just strains credulity too much.

Despite that, it’s a fun issue, and I very much like Archie’s new cover treatment. It’s a classic look that works for the characters – giving an old-school flavor to the book while still allowing room for modern art on the covers. Nice.

Rating: 7/10

Betty #189

March 17, 2011

Title: What’s Old is New Again (New Kids Off the Wall Part 5)

Writer: Alex Simmons
Pencils: Dan Parent
Inks: Rich Koslowski
Colorist: Digikore Studios
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Cover: Rex W. Lindsey
Editor: Victor Gorelick
Publisher: Archie Comics

The integration of new students into Riverdale High continues this issue, and this time it’s Betty who’s trying to find a way to compete. One of the new girls, Chloe, seems to be outdoing Betty at everything she’s good at. To try to compete, Betty convinces another of the new kids, Sayid, to help her meet up with the rest of the incoming students, hoping to earn her reporting stripes.

This issue is okay, but not great. The burgeoning Sayid relationship is actually well done, but that’s sort of what causes the problem. He’s not a bad character, and Alex Simmons is doing an admirable job of making him seem like a guy Betty would genuinely develop a romantic interest in. But they very fact that they’ve taken that path with the character limits him severely, because we know that it can’t last. Aside from “possible” futures like we’re getting in Life With Archie, we know the Betty/Archie/Veronica love triangle is eternal, and any time an angle is added or cut off it’s only temporary. The result is that the character is already doomed – he’ll either eventually go away or he’ll have to lose the thing that makes him interesting in order to stay in the spotlight in Riverdale.

Dan Parent and Rich Koslowski always do solid artwork, and this issue is no different. They’ve mastered the Archie style, and while neither of them are breaking any new ground, they’re both doing top-notch work in the realm of what they do.

I’ve liked the new characters. I just hope that some of them, Sayid included, find some say to stick around.

Rating: 7/10

Archie and Friends #111

June 29, 2008

Quick Rating: Good
Title: Making it Big and other stories

Is this the end of the Archies? (Again?)

Writers: George Gladir, Mike Pellowski & Craig Boldman
Pencils: Stan Goldberg
Inks: Bob Smith
Colors: Barry Grossman
Letters: Jack Morelli
Editor: Victor Gorelick
Cover Art: Stan Goldberg
Publisher: Archie Comics

After a series of mishaps causes half the band to quit, it looks like it may be the end for the Archies. Of course, since roughly half of the stories featuring the band involve members quitting, there isn’t too much suspense here. Salvation comes in the form of a stranger who used to play in his own band in Archie’s garage – and who has a dandy surprise.

The lead story in this issue is actually kind of dull. “Cool Customers” is better. A traffic mishap on a trip to the beach leads Jughead to play mediator. His calm demeanor continues to serve him throughout the day, but naturally, there are some things even Jughead’s cool head can’t stand.

The final story, “Ms. Match,” is the best of the book. Nancy is so happy with Chuck that she gets it in her head to try matching up all her single friends – starting with the notoriously single Jughead. Her hints that Jughead should date Betty, however, backfire when Jughead mistakenly thinks Nancy has a crush on him herself. This is the sort of misunderstanding farce that the Archie gang does extremely well. The end of this story is particularly funny, and a bit perplexing.

This is an issue that gets increasingly better as it progresses.

Rating: 7/10

Jughead (1987 Series) #204

January 17, 2011

Title: A Tan and Sandy Snooze (Jughead Jones, Semi-Private Eye Part Three)

Writer: Alex Simmons
Pencils: Rex Lindsey
Inks: Jim Amash
Colorist: Digikore Studios
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Cover: Rex Lindsey & Tyra WM
Editor: Victor Gorelick
Publisher: Archie Comics

Jughead’s new task as a private investigator takes him back to the Riverdale Amusement Pier, site of many a childhood binge. Several of the teen employees of the pier have found themselves fired without reason and without notice, so Jug decides to go undercover to figure out the truth. With a little help from Ethel, he begins to find some fishy goings on in the salt spray of the sea.

This has been a cute storyline, but this issue is a real knockout. Alex Simmons has really found the perfect synthesis between an old-school film noir detective story and the silly nature of Jughead’s world. The story itself is solid, the sort of thing that would have made for a decent pulp story back in the day. The script, especially Jughead’s running inner monologue, is just hysterical. I don’t want to know you if you don’t laugh at the line, “Something was wrong. As wrong as watching Weatherbee work out in a Speedo.”

Rex Lindsey and Jim Amash do a nice job with the art. Most of this issue takes place down at the Pier, away from the usual settings of Riverdale High or the Chocolate Shop, and so they get a chance to cut loose and do some new designs. The booths, rides, and attractions of the carnival look really good, better in fact than many carnivals I’ve seen in real life. The covers for this story have been particularly good – a funny, old-school cover with truly beautiful colors by “Tyra WM” (the only signature I could see) that set this apart from usual Archie Comics cover and turn it into something really beautiful.

I’ll be sorry to see this storyline end next issue. This is great stuff.

Rating: 8/10