If you’re looking for some early Halloween ideas, try this mask out for size.  It’s really disturbing/oddly realistic.

What’s even more disturbing is that there is another Jughead mask and other Archie masks to choose from. Basically, it seems like if you want a detailed, creepy mask, this website is where you need to go.

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A backlog of Archie reviews is coming your way! Let’s dive in, shall we?

World of Archie Double Digest #9

Credit: Archie Comics

SCRIPT: Tania del Rio
ARTIST: Bill Galvan
COVER: Bill Galvan, Al Milgrom

Synopsis (from Archie Comics):In Love Me Baby, Mumbai, Raj Patel dreams of being a film director! His current ITube movie “Love Hate Triangle’ has over 10,000 views and has caught the eye of Kunal Desai, one of the biggest Bollywood producers in India! Can Raj turn Love Hate triangle into an epic film?

My review: I was waiting on pins and needles to get this one, and I have to say that I was not disappointed. In fact, I was saddened by how little effort Outsourced put into portraying India versus how much effort Archie Comics put into portraying the same country. We get more of a sense of actually being in India in World of Archie than we do in Outsourced, which not only has a bigger budget, but is a television show full of actors and sets!

The script was very creative and engaging, and the story seems to be one of the most up-to-date stories Archie Comics has ever done. What I mean is that everyone sounds like they’re from the 21st century. The story is also moves at a good pace, and there’s nothing that weighs it down.

There’s a little bit of a love angle here for Raj, which is highly intriguing. Actually, let me just say that the decision to give Raj his own storyline is genius. I’m glad to see that he has been given a character (hardworking, focused on his craft, creative) and that he’s not going to be treated as a token. The fact that he’s getting a love story as well is AMAZING. Bravo, Archie Comics, bravo. I can’t wait to read the rest of the story next month.

The other stories in this digest are all really good, ranging from Josie, rare Space Patrolman, Alice: The Astronaughty Space Girl, and Captain Sprocket comics, to really un-PC Archie and Friends stories (featuring one set in ancient Rome, complete with Caesar Archie buying Betty as a slave). Good selection of comic stories this time around.

Jughead #207

Credit: Archie Comics

SCRIPT: Craig Boldman
ARTIST: Rex Lindsey
COVER: Fernando Ruiz

Synopsis (from Archie Comics): When Jughead moves in with Archie, he not only brings Hot Dog but he brings all the problems that made him leave his own home! How will Mr. Andrews react to losing his favorite chair to a dog and having a freezer full of dog treats that he accidentally eats?

Jughead #208

Credit: Archie Comics

SCRIPT: Craig Boldman
ARTIST: Rex Lindsey
COVER: Fernando Ruiz

Synopsis (from Archie Comics): We all know Jughead is known for one thing and one thing only, and that’s food! But in “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Jughead,” we soon find out that the guys want other information from Jughead! Since he’s moving in to a house with all women, the guys want to know everything about girls!

My review: I’m writing about both of these issues in one review, since they are two parts of a multi-part story (I think there are going to be three parts in all).

I like this story only for the reason that Jughead and his dad finally had a falling-out. Jughead fighting with his dad and moving out was bound to happen eventually; we all know Mr. Jones is very disappointed in his son. Right now, the reason for the fight is a mystery. Is it simply dealing with Jughead not applying himself? Not doing chores? Something bigger? I hope it’s something bigger. I also hope it’s explained, since we don’t get any more clues as to the nature of the fight in #208.

Aside from the big familial issues mystery, the stories movie along at a good pace and are full of the things that make Jughead comics fun–Jughead dealing with the hijinx that surround him (both the ones he creates and the ones that are created by others).

But, seriously. I have to know why Jughead and his dad basically hate each other now. I must know this answer!

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(Technically, it’s Saturday, but I got caught up in the Royal goodness.)

I know this is during Archie Comics’ “New Archies” phase, and this was during the time they were trying to revamp Jughead’s image due to small-scale outrage about his not having any girlfriends whatsoever. And I know this is the late ’80s-early ’90s when all this revamping was going on. But for the love of all that’s good, Jughead was called “Riverdale’s Loverboy”?!? I mean, it’s an awesome cover. It’s very well drawn, and the deatil on the clothes, particularly Jughead’s is AMAZING. but seriously?!?!?! AAAUGH!

Yet on the other hand, I’m sure the stories made for very entertaining reading. I’d like to find a vintage copy.

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I know I post a lot about Jughead on this site. What can I say? He’s my favorite character. So much so that I scour the ‘net for interesting Jughead pictures, which led to me coming across a picture of an unhinged door with Jughead painted squarely on it. Take a look for yourself:

It has that grungy aesthetic 20th-21st c. Jughead has come to be associated with, so if he were real, I’m sure Jughead would be proud to represented in such an alt way. I’m not sure where I got this picture from, so if you own this door or know where it came from, leave a comment; I’d love to hear the story behind this door.

It’s finally back!  (I finally remembered!) Friday’s Archie is back! And, since it’s finally the weekend, I think here’s what we all feel like doing:

Between reviewing movies, doing work for Shockya.com and applying for jobs and doing other post-grad stuff, I haven’t had time to even change out the theme of my site for Valentine’s Day. But that doesn’t mean that I’ve forgotten about it. I frequently blog about love and relationships on Moniqueblog, so I thought I’d highlight some of my “love” posts, organized by fandom:

Harry Potter

The Worth of Draco Malfoy: Draco and Hermione, sittin’ in a tree…

The Worth of Draco Malfoy: The life and times of Severus Snape *or* Draco and Hermione, sittin’ in a tree, pt. 2

The Worth of Draco Malfoy: Draco and Myrtle, odd friends

The Worth of Viktor Krum: Nice guys finish last

The Worth of Viktor Krum: What becomes of the broken-hearted?

The Worth of Viktor Krum: For the love of Hermione

Sherlock

“Sherlock and Watson: Anatomy of a Relationship” series

Sailor Moon

“Uranus and Neptune: Anatomy of a Relationship” series

Archie Comics

REVIEW: Archie #608 (Archie and Valerie)

Analyzing Jughead: Betty or Veronica?

Analyzing Jughead: Gay or straight?

Analyzing Jughead: Gay or straight, pt. 2–Kevin, sexuality and subtext

Analyzing Jughead: Jughead’s familial relationships

Star Trek

Spock/Uhura analysis

I think that’s it! Stay tuned tonight for some late-night reviews on love-themed films, Sunday in New York and Speed-Dating. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Life got in the way, what can I say. In any case:

Glow in the dark! Not really, but this is one of those “EDGY! EXTREME!” Jughead covers from the early ’90s, if not 1990 exactly. This is when the company decided to indulge in Jughead’s alternative leanings and just make him a full-on skater punk. Neat experiment for a while, and it produced some great covers.

Batwoman, the first openly lesbian superhero, wages war against Gotham's crimelords

Read the edited version at Goodkin

Recently there’s been a lot circulating about gay bullying, what with the string of suicides that have come to light in the media. Usually after a sentence like this, one might write about how children are mirroring their parents’ prejudices or are exercising some sort of control that they can’t find at home. Both (and other familial problems that lead to kids becoming bullies) are very real issues to talk about. But I am neither a child psychologist nor a parent. However, I am a daughter a girl (or I guess I should say young lady) who reads comics, and I think that while children learn a lot from their parents in terms of how accepting they are of others, there is also a lot children can learn from comics as well.

A few weeks ago, I’d made a post of some prominent LGBT cartoon characters on television within the past 10-15 years. Many of those characters originally came from comic books. Comic books have always had a relationship with the LGBT community even before openly gay characters were introduced. Of course, there’s the salacious stuff that was brought up by Seduction of the Innocent’s author Dr. Frederic Wertham, like the supposed gay relationship between Batman and Robin (which doesn’t really address gay relationships so much as it addresses a totally different issue entirely—pedophilia and/or pederastic relationships) and supposed lesbian subtexts in Wonder Woman. While the Batman and Robin pedophilic idea can be easily argued down as a false assumption of Batman and Robin’s relationship, the Wonder Woman subtext doesn’t have to be viewed as something that illustrates horrible deviant behavior. In fact, it can be viewed as something that, like Wonder Woman herself, is empowering and refreshingly unapologetic.

by the Asheboro Public Library under Flickr's Creative Commons licence

During the time Wonder Woman was originally created and written, gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals were still part of a fringe community; transsexuals were part of an even more exclusive community and the idea of changing genders hadn’t even been thought of in western society. Also, the Comics Code in America, implemented after Seduction of the Innocent was published and became a sensation, had extremely strict prohibitions on sex and violence. But, as the west became more sophisticated and realized that many of their friends, colleagues, and family members were differing in their sexualities, gay and lesbian characters came out of the closet, as it were. The first comic dealing with gay issues is Doonesbury in 1976, introducing character Andy Lippincott. Sandman, Constantine, and other comics in the ‘90s introduced minor gay characters and themes. One of the first prominent gay characters in comics, Northstar, came from Marvel’s X-Men, a comic book with a reputation for addressing discrimination and tolerance through the allegory of having mutants fighting discrimination against non-mutants. Marvel rebooted one of their old ‘50s characters, The Rawhide Kid, and made him the first leading character of a comic book. DC’Comics’ Batwoman, a character who is also a classic DC character who was shelved, was reimagined in 2006 as a lesbian socialite and has since become a highly successful character for the company. (In an ironic twist, Batwoman was originally introduced in the ‘50s after the homosexual allegations in Seduction of the Innocent.) Also worth mentioning are other characters who are also prominent in comics who happened to be gay, bi, or gay-friendly: Richie Foley (Static Shock), Brainiac 5 (Legion of Superheroes), Rictor and Shatterstar (X-Men), Renee Montoya (Batman, Batwoman) and Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn (Batman), who, while not technically lesbians, have a highly ambiguous relationship. This is only a small listing of characters; there are plenty more comic book characters that have been written to be part of the LGBT community.

The Rawhide Kid

by Danielle_blue under the Flickr Creative Commons license

An article about LGBT characters in western history wouldn’t be complete without touching on Archie Comics. The characters in Archie Comics have always been at the center of talk about sexuality, including same-sex interests. Sure, Kevin Smith made fun of Archie and Jughead in his movie Chasing Amy, but his joke only underscores a conversation that has been going on ever since people became aware of different types of sexuality; sometimes, the jokes came from Archie Comics themselves.

Jughead is usually at the heart of this conversation, due to the fact that he doesn’t date girls. The original reasoning behind his decision is because he didn’t want to get involved in the many messes Archie ends up with by dating, but various writers have portrayed from being interested in girls but simply refusing to date them to having an extreme aversion to girls and hating even they touched him. And at other times, he’s written as giving in and actually dating girls. During the ‘90s, Archie Comics wrote him in a love triangle in order to squelch the talk of him possibly being gay; however, the story quickly ended when the fans overwhelmingly disapproved of him being in relationships. Even with the introduction of Kevin Keller, the first openly gay character in Archie Comics, almost everyone in the media, including Contessa Brewer of MSNBC, asked or assumed that Jughead was the one finally coming out. I’ve written more on this issue here and here my site, but it would seem that even with the introduction of Kevin in Veronica #202, Jughead’s sexuality (whether he’s gay, bi, or asexual) still remains delightfully ambiguous.

by Joelk75 under Flickr's Creative Commons license

Earlier in the post, I made specific mention of western society because historically, the western ideology about different sexualities is much stricter than eastern ideology. This post is already long enough, so I won’t write five more paragraphs on eastern philosophy concerning sexuality, but I will say that due to the influx of anime in America and elsewhere, quite a few kids have become very familiar with the idea of gay and lesbian couples (just ask your kid about anime slash pairings). In both the manga and cartoon versions of Sailor Moon, two of the Sailor Scouts, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, are in a healthy relationship. Another group of do-gooders, the Sailor Starlights, are comprised of three characters who, in the manga, were cross-dressing women and in the anime were males who transformed into women, and one of the Starlights, Seiya/Sailor Starfighter, has a one-sided crush on Usagi/Sailor Moon. The idea of transforming between different sexualities and genders has always been a part of Japanese culture. In Japan, having gay characters isn’t seen as a radical idea, unlike in American society.

The Sailor Starlights/"male" pop group "The Three Lights" (Sailor Moon)

Sailor Neptune (left) and Sailor Uranus (right) (Sailor Moon)

Also, even within western ideology, Europe is more open to addressing LGBT issues, as well as other issues that America still believe are taboo. Take Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta; the graphic novel not only focuses on a lesbian couple, but the overarching storyline involves a tyrannical dictatorship of England where people who are deemed “different”—non-white, and/or non-heterosexual people—are taken to concentration camps and experimented on for the “good” of the state.

However, to go back to American culture for a moment, our comics have come a long way, even though there are still gains to be made. To be fair, there is a lot of criticism of the book’s campy tone and how “fabulous” they made The Rawhide Kid; quite a few people feel that Marvel made The Rawhide Kid’s sexuality a joke instead of a healthily integrated part of the character. Similarly, there was a lot of criticism when Batwoman was re-released, where people thought Batwoman’s sexuality was at the forefront of her character, not just a part. Since then, Batwoman’s characterization has grown, but the overall problem remains in comics as well as in other forms of entertainment; the idea that an LGBT character is defined only by their sexuality is wrong. It’s just like how ‘70s Affirmative Action characters such as Black Lightning, Apache Chief, and Samurai that, even in their names, were defined solely by their culture instead of their talents. In order for America to catch up, we have to stop defining characters by the one trait that makes them “different”. Let’s face it; a lot of our favorite characters on TV right now—Mitchell and Cameron from Modern Family, Kurt Hummel from Glee—are gay, and because they’re our favorites, we recognize that they are multifaceted people just like us. Similarly, comic books are a large part of the conversation, and comic book readers, including comic book-reading girls, can learn not just the history behind LGBT representation, but also how LGBT characters are no different than other characters. Once a person becomes tolerant of a character, it can lead to tolerance of the people that character represents.

Read my comics column every month at Goodkin

Sources:

Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_characters_in_comics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batwoman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor_Starlights

CNN

http://articles.cnn.com/2002-12-09/entertainment/rawhide.kid.gay_1_marvel-s-web-character-comic-book?_s=PM:SHOWBIZ

Comicvine

http://www.comicvine.com/wonder-woman/29-2048/

Technically, this was published at 2:00 Saturday morning, but whatever.

I get why Archie Comics went through a period of being obsessed with the idea of Jughead suddenly becoming a willing chick-magnet (I say “willing” because due to his stance against never dating, it comes off as being hard-to-get, and girls like challenges). This cover is part of a Trula Twyst story (she’s the only angry girl on the cover), but while Archie Comics toyed with the idea of Jughead being actively heterosexual, I rather like the idea of him being asexual or even latently homosexual, both sexualities seeming to be closer to Jughead’s sensibilities. Asexuality is probably the closest to describe Jughead’s sexuality (read all about my musings on him having either one of these sexualities here, here and here).

I didn’t post a Friday’s Archie; I meant to make up for this on Saturday, but school and life came in the way. So to make up for it, here are three days’ worth of Archie comics covers:

Some things get to be so old that it becomes current again solely due to the changing times. With how the recession is going, this cover has gone through that circle of “new is old is new again”.

This is one of the last, if not the last, cover for the Debbie-Jughead-Joani horrorfest saga.

As you can tell, this is during Jughead’s extreme punk phase in the early ’90s when punk was way out in the mainstream. I’ll let you be the judge of this cover.

So there you have it, three days’ worth of Archie Comics covers. Enjoy!