One thing that Archie comics has never shied away from is tying into current pop culture. Recent happenings like the Obama/Plain meet-up and the ‘Twilite’ parody exemplify this, but never was Archie Comics finger on the pulse of pop culture like it was in the 60’s. You got “The Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E.” & The gang forming “The Archies” as a Beatles stand-in among many others. The 60’s pop-parody that has always and will ever be my favorite though is what is now collectively known as Archie’s SuperTeens.
While Archie as Pureheart the Powerful always seems to get the most attention, I’m a Jughead guy myself. So where the be-beanied one makes the super-heroic scene as Captain Hero, I’m always going to be first in the comic shop to pick up a copy. I got my wish in this week’s Jughead Double Digest #175. Does it hold up to my scrutiny or does Captain Hero’s magic fizzle out? Read on my friends!
If you’re going to do a classic superhero parody, you may as well get a creative team who can play it to the hilt, and with Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz, that’s exactly what you get. These guys have worked together on Marvel comics for years and it shows (in a good way). The artwork is dynamic, the dialog is classic, and the bottom line is that the story is just plain fun to read. Above all else, when I read an Archie comic, I want to finish it feeling like I had a good time. “Captain Hero vs. The Rampaging Rebound” delivers on this promise admirably.
The story itself is one of those time honored tales where there are a bunch of disparate yet related threads that tie up nicely into a bow at the end. I don’t want to give away too much, but we’re introduced to the titular Rebound as well as a new heroine to help Captain Hero on his latest adventure. The Big “e” is a familiar face, but a welcome one, and her adventure is just as satisfying as Captain Hero’s own.
The story’s humor is a bit knowing, playing on familiar superhero tropes, but never in such a way that you feel like you need to be a guru of comic knowledge to “get”. The only thing I had a (very) slight issue with is the depiction of Captain Hero’s powers. He seems to be able to transform every part of his body as the situation requires. It’s a little inconsistent from previous “Hero” stories I’ve read, though I’ll admit I haven’t read them all. I just chalked it up to artistic license, and the fact that the SuperTeens have never been wildly consistent to begin with. I would have liked to see a re-use of the beanie dart gun, though.
So the main story is all well and good, but what about the rest of the book? A nice side-dish of Jughead reprints from all over the character’s publishing history like always. In fact, I would love it if the folks at Archie would include a little footnote indicating where the reprints first appeared so I could place them in time a bit better. At any rate, I must reiterate my belief that the Archie series digests are absolutely the most bang for your buck you can get in comics these days. To someone like me who has a limited budget, and I have a choice between 160 pages of Jughead antics and 20-odd pages of the latest Spider-Man? Well, I love ya Spidey, but Jug wins this round!
Jughead Double Digest #175 is available at any retailer worth it’s salt right now, what are you waiting for, go buy it!