Archie at 600

Nothing says protracted adolescence like "Archie Andrews". Say what you want about Doonesbury, at least all their primaries survived their respective Mid-Life crises. Now, when the plot starts to actually develop, we see Archie proposing -- to Veronica rather than Betty, indicating Archie's failure to cultivate a learning curve -- which explains why he's been in high school for six decades.

Still the story begins by displaying some higher order alertness, such as reference to Archie as a Peter Pan. But the integrity of the story seems more due to viscosity than to coherence. Finally proposing to either member of Archie's harem would be a groundswell -- if it were really happening. But unlike recent "demises" of Superman and Capt. America, Archie comics lets the cat out of the bag right away. Commit-o-phobic males should take note of what happens when you go down memory lane the wrong direction. You can't call that a spoiler.

The first comics I ever collected where Archie's at 15 cents each and I thought prices were excessive at 30 cents. But here's to a revisit to the land of denominational requirement, monoxidal jalopies, and all you can drink milk shakes, and more states.