C-T: One of the many reasons I love Archie Comics is because they have word balloons on the covers! Archie Andrews is not in a bad place on the cover with Betty on his left and Veronica to his right. Why would he possibly be yelling “Why won’t this holiday ever end?”

S-B: Could it possibly be because of the presence of the bewildered looking elf also on the cover? Let’s go inside and find out, shall we?

C-T: Archie has the kind of friends that wait outside his house to watch him run around in a late holiday panic!

S-B: Well yeah, while some characters like Reggie might watch it like a train wreck, most of the other Riverdale residents treat it like a time honored yearly tradition. Even though Arch is kind of manic, he is definitely full of holiday spirit.

C-T: He runs, carols, and makes snow angels before hitting the stores, but he is a bit too panicked for Santa’s alpha-elf ‘Jingles’ not to notice. Have you seen Jingles berfore?

S-B: Nope, I’m not familiar with Jingles. At first I was a little annoyed actually that the story seems to expect the reader to know him, but it was apparent really quick what Jingles’ motivation/character was, so that was nice. Anyway, our little elf friend was watching America’s Favorite Teen and decided he isn’t getting to enjoy the holiday to the fullest, and that’s where the real story starts.

At least someone knows who Jingles is.

C-T: I hadn’t seen him either, anyway he’s there to torture Archie and throw him into Bill Murray’s role in Groundhog Day, wherein he re-lives the same day over and over.

S-B: And at first, things go as planned, Archie gets to actually enjoy Christmas Eve, because even though the day repeated, everything Arch did the first time seems to have stuck, so it seems like Jingles did a good thing, but…

C-T: Santa has feelings of deja vu and Arch catches on! But not before he experiences Christmas eve so many times the six panel page explodes into infinity!

"To Infinity... Not so much beyond."

S-B: Unfortunately, this has taken a toll on Archie’s holiday cheer. He’s so grouchy about repeating Christmas Eve for the umpteenth time that he actually end up on *gasp* Santa’s naughty list! And Jingles can’t do anything to fix it, because he’s been afflicted with what I like to call “A Christmas Story” syndrome.

C-T: I actually got a little chuckle out of how nonchalant St. nick is about adding Archie to the list saying ‘it is what is’, I wonder what side of the list Jughead is on, or Betty, or even Kevin.

S-B: In my own breakdown, Everyone is usually on the Nice list except for Reggie and Cheryl Blossom who flip yearly. Anyway, as it is, Arch’s bad mood kind of sours Veronica’s own disposition. Betty, ever the voice of reason, points out it’s “good will towards men” time, and things start to wrap up rather nicely, with a bow, you might say.

C-T: Good call on Reggie, I think Cheryl is always on the nice list because Santa likes a ginger! This book was a lot of fun with some perfect pencil work from Dan Parent and a great story by Craig Boldman, I’ll be reading this to my kids for the next few years.