Customer Reviews

Archie Americana Series Volume 6: Best Of The Forties Book 2

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While the first volume of "The Best of the Forties" concentrated on presenting the first appearances of Archie and the rest of the gang, the second volume is strictly slapstick. All of the stories from this volume are reprinted from Laugh Comics while the first re-printed stories from Pep, and Archie comics. The girls take a bit of a back seat in these dozen stories as Jughead becomes the main co-star. Even Mr. Andrews gets more strip time than Betty and Veronica. The stories are more slapstick, than other Archie stories relying on a lot of physical humor. While maybe not as historically important as the one in volume one, these stories present a side of Archie rarely seen by us baby boomers who were so used to adventures centered on Riverdale High and the ongoing love triangle. In this regard, the stories are less time-sensitive and could easily be dropped into modern times as references to current events of the 40's are kept to a bare minimum.

Among my favorite stories are:

"Mr. Blunk Comes to Town" from Laugh #21. Archie's dad is, of course, a real estate agent and a man named Mr. Blunk comes to town to buy a seemingly worthless plot of land. Unfortunately, Archie takes the contract out on his date by mistake. Through a series of car breakdowns and other mishaps, Mr. Andrews and Archie keep missing each other which turns out to be a good thing as Mr. Andrews soon learns that oil was found on the land and Blunk knew about it all along!

"Go Fly a Kite" from Laugh #23. Archie and Jughead are trying to build a kite and their racket disturbs their fathers. Soon Mr. Andrew and Mr. Jones take over building the kite with disastrous results.

"Double Trouble" From Laugh #25. Archie wonders why the new girl in school, Alice Adams changes from nice to mean to him at the drop of a hat. What Archie doesn't know is that the girls are twins!

"It's a Dog's Life" from Laugh #27. Archie and Jughead agree to bathe Veronica's dog. Jughead grabs hair remover instead of shampoo by mistake resulting in a hairless pooch right before the big dog show!

"Lady Killer" from Laugh #28. Archie decides to start an escort service to earn some extra money. He doesn't want to be recognized as a kid so wears a beard and dark hair to disguise himself. His first customer named "Peaches" turns out to be Miss Grundy! The pair go out to a nightclub and Archie has to dodge Reggie and Veronica who are there as well.

"Nature Boy" from Laugh #36. Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica go out on a picnic and in wild slapstick fashion, virtually everything goes wrong from Jughead smashing a cake, to Archie burning the burgers, Betty and Veronica sitting in poison ivy, and Jughead playing with a skunk!

While maybe not as historically important, these stories were very funny and a change to those of us who only knew Archie from the 60's and 70's.

Not quite as fresh as the previous volume - "Archie Americana: Best of the Forties, Book 1," but still a must read for the die-hard Archie afficionado. While Book 1 was lovingly crafted to showcase material with historic value (e.g. - the first appearance of key characters, locations, etc.), Book 2 comes across a bit more lightweight in comparison as the stories seem selected more for the zaniness of its humor and the timeframe that the stories were selected from (1946-1949) seems somewhat narrower. Still, this being Archie comics and all, it still manages to be an enjoyable read all the way through, but do make sure that you read/purchase Book 1 first.

That is all that I have to say... LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!! The artwork is beautiful... I love the classic Archies' drawings... I read them all, now what do I do?

...then you will enjoy this for about an hour and then pass it around to old - I mean old - friends.
It's kind of like cotton candy -sweet and ephemeral. Good color, okay story selection, you get to know Mr. Andrews, his father.