Customer Reviews

Archie Comics Presents: The Love Showdown Collection (Archie Americana)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the 1990's there were a lot of epic comic book storylines that made major news such as the death of Superman and Superman and Lois Lane getting married. Archie Comics proved it, too, could generate national publicity with their own major storyline. Namely, after over 50 years of a love triangle battle, Archie was finally going to choose between Betty and Veronica! You can imagine how much interest this generated among long-time fans. Often overlooked is the fact that Archie and the gang had been among the longest running comic book series in history with legions of fans, young an old. Could it be that the love triangle that started before WWII would finally be resolved? The tale would play out over the course of four issues in 1994: Archie #429, Betty #19, Betty & Veronica #82, and Veronica #39, and they are all collected in this one historic volume. As noted in the introduction, fans were clamoring for months, begging for hints as to who would finally win Archie's affection.

The tale begins as Archie is seeing hearts over a love letter he received. Betty and Veronica demand to know who sent Archie the letter but Archie is having so much fun seeing them squabble he decides to make them wait. Betty and Veronica each think the other sent the note and so begins a no-holds-barred battle for Archie as we've never seen before. The under-handed tricks fly fast and furious! Veronica fools Betty with some tickets to a charity dance with the wrong date. Veronica ends up at the dance with Archie while Betty is fixing his car! Betty crashes the party in style wearing one of the skimpiest dresses ever seen in an Archie comic. Veronica fights back in her own "dress to kill" style, eventually leading two a duel of super soakers between the two long time rivals. But in the end, Archie has a big surprise for both of them.

This was just a fun story from beginning to end. Betty and Veronica are at their most "catty" with claws fully extended as they go after each other like never before. And one cannot but laugh as Archie sits back, watching the pair fight over him, knowing he has a huge ace up his sleeve. Absolutely hilarious! Reggie, of course, makes an appearance and stirs up as much trouble as he can and Jughead makes a brief cameo as well. Archie Comics proves that in 1994, and now in 2005, that they can still delight their fans, young and old. The great thing is that even if you have not picked up an Archie comic in decades, you can still read this story as it is truly a stand-alone classic for the ages. This is a 48 page Prestige format comic with the beautiful Archie-style art that you've come
to know and love.

This comic is so poorly reproduced, that the text and linework is blurry. It's published on high gloss paper, which only makes the blurriness worse. Unusual for Archie TPB's, which usually have good reproductions. After the build up, this story disappointed right out of the gate. Archie Comics was trying to jump on the crossover bandwagon, Paul Castiglia admits it in his Intro. However, they obviously know nothing about how to create a crossover. One refreshing change, they actually give credit to the artists and writers of the comics. Something Archie should do more of.

The first chapter, from Archie 429, is an awful attempt to set-up the "Love Showdown," the plot is contrived, centering on trying to find out who wrote a letter to Archie, a task they never complete - and thru some pretty boring plot twists, Betty and Veronica decide to finally settle things between them regarding Archie. We all know this is where the story is going, but they take 11 unhumorous pages to get there, and it is so contrived, it's hard to understand what, exactly, is it that made the girls decide that this was the last straw. The art by Stan Goldberg is disappointing, considering he is a master artist.

The next story is better, with a more modern look to the art by Doug Crane, which, tho a bit jarring at first for us old timers, is actually refreshing. The story is not very humorous, but the plot finally gets moving, and there are some interesting plot twists. The third story is by far the funniest, and is drawn by the great Dan DeCarlo, and he does an amazing job. Interestingly enough, the writer for this story and the very unfunny first story is the same, Dan Parent. The more I read about behind-the-scenes production of comics, the more I learn that the artists have more to do with plotting and story writing than the credits would lead one to think. DeCarlo obviously injected his trademark humor into this story, with plenty of physical comedy, which at this point was sorely needed in the crossover.

But Archie's inexperience with crossovers really shows between the second and third stories, as continuity goes out the window. Archie and Veronica leave for a dance, dressed in gown and tux in the second story: the third story opens with them at the dance wearing different and more casual clothes. Out of anger Betty returns everything she ever borrowed from Veronica in the second story, and shows up at the dance wearing a dress Veronica gave her in the third????? Betty finds out Veronica purposely gave her tickets to the dance with the wrong date on them, so she could take Archie, and she is determined to expose Veronica's scheme - but in the third story the scheme is never mentioned again.

The concluding chapter is all right, with the story building to a super soaker showdown watergun fight between the girls. It should be funnier than it is - it seems like it has all the ingredients to be hilarious, but it just rates a few chuckles. The climatic moment is predictable, and even tho sometimes the funniest comedy can be seen coming, this ain't it. Archie should stay away from crossovers, it is obviously not their thing,

And oh - this TPB is a pretty slim volume - it's basically a long comic book with glossy pages. Five bucks is on the high size for something this slim, and giving it glossy pages doesn't make up for it. An easy one to skip, you won't be missing anything earth shattering, believe me, and there are plenty of other good Archie TPB's - the Americana Series, the Josie and the Pussycat TPB, The Betty and Veronica Summer Fun TPB, and I have heard that the Katy Keene TPB is good too. I suggest getting those instead.

Fun book! A little expensive for an Archie comic that is so short, but fun and stays true to the original Archie comics form :)

This comic is the same old comic I remember just BETTER!!!! It is a new print and bigger!!!!! Love it

I remember buying the comics that this epic story appeared in. There was a lot of excitement and promotion around the time of this story being released. Part 1 appeared in Archie #429, Part 2 in Betty #19, Part 3 in Betty & Veronica #82 and Part 4 in Veronica #39. The story revolves around the central conflict, and practically the basis of Archie Comics: Will Archie choose Betty or Veronica? Of course there was no resolution, he didn't choose, but there was Cheryl Blossom thrown into the mix. Overall it's a fun story and definately a collectors item!

Obviously we know going into this story that there will be no resolution given that this would change the very fabric of the Archie universe. However, this very slight story simply ends without any sort of conclusion about anything. In fact at the end of the story it is suggested that you read additional issues of Archie comics for the rest of the story. Five bucks is a fair price for this short, graphic novel, but as others have indicated the art is all over the place and there are many inconsistencies. Granted this is an Archie comic and not Shakespeare, but the whole affair comes off as lazy and uninspired.

This was so great... it was in comic format but they collected all the, "to be continued" parts and put them in order. The story is so great, the artwork beautiful as usual; and the twist at the end is hillarious. I only wish that these books could be longer because I read through them too quickly. LOL