Archie Andrews is not just your average teenager. He’s been a band member, a superhero, and even an apocalypse survivor. Let’s take a look through every Archie Andrews character.
Since his introduction in 1941, Archie Andrews has been a staple of pop culture, stamping his name across various mediums in multiple genres. From comedy to horror, musicals to superheroes, Archie’s done it all.
With Teen-drama Riverdale bringing about yet another resurgence for the character, Archie, Jughead, Veronica, and Betty won’t be going away anytime soon.
Let’s take a look at the many faces of Archie’s past. We might also get a quick glimpse of the future.
‘Classic’ Archie
Making their debut in Pep Comics #22, Archie and his friends were soon spun-off into their own series.
Archie Comics centred on the adventures of the teenage Archie Andrews in his home town of Riverdale. Many of these adventures include typical teen hijinks with his best pal Jughead. An ongoing rivalry with Reggie mantle was also featured. However, the core of Classic Archie’s story-line was formed by the title character’s never ending struggle to choose between his two love interests: Betty Cooper, the perfect girl next door, or spoiled rich girl Veronica Lodge.
The comics eventually spawned spin-offs of their own. Little Archie followed the characters as children, while Life With Archie portrayed them as adults. The latter series didn’t resolve the love triangle. It features a split timeline – one in which he marries Betty, and the other, you guessed it, Veronica. Both timelines end with Archie’s death, taking a bullet to save Kevin Keller.
While Classic Archie was phased out in 2015 in favour of a new look, many of the comics are still available in large collected editions.
The Archie Show
Airing from 1968-69, The Archie Show marked the first time Archie Andrews would appear in animated form, but not the last.
Aside from regular adventures, the show featured the gang as a band known as The Archies. Each episode included two ‘Archie’ stories, followed by a dance of the week. Archie would break the fourth wall to introduce the musical segments. The Archies produced one ‘real-life’ hit, ‘Sugar, Sugar’, in 1969.
The show is notable for being the first non-primetime animated series to use a laugh track. Filmation continued to produce animated Archie content until 1978.
Archie’s Weird Mysteries
In 1999, Dic Entertainment picked up the Archie licence. Soon after, Archie’s Weird Mysteries was born.
After an accident in Riverdale High’s physics lab, the town becomes a magnet for B-movie monsters and other unexplained weirdness. Archie Andrews, a reporter for the Riverdale High newspaper, makes it his mission to solve any mysteries that arise. As always, he is aided in his efforts by Betty, Veronica, Reggie, and Jughead.
The series ran for 40 episodes. A spin-off TV film, The Archies in ‘Jugman’, was released in 2002.
Archie Horror
In 2013, Archie Comics published the first issue of Afterlife With Archie, an alternate universe story in which the town of Riverdale becomes ground-zero of a zombie outbreak. Initially finding refuge in the home of Hiram Lodge, Archie Andrews and a dwindling band of survivors must eventually flee Riverdale after it is entirely swarmed by the undead.
Following Afterlife’s success, the ‘Archie Horror’ banner was launched for titles with a similar spooky theme. These include Vampironica, and werewolf AU Jughead: The Hunger. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, the inspiration for the upcoming Netflix series, was also released under the ‘Archie Horror’ banner.
All-New Archie
In 2015, ‘Classic’ Archie was phased out in favour of an all-new look for Archie Andrews and his friends.
The new, contemporary look aimed to bring Archie up to date with newer comic fans. While there’s plenty of the comedy ‘Classic’ Archie was known for, the All-new Archie upped the drama in a big way.
All-New Archie was a hit with fans and critics. Some of the comic’s darker themes served as inspiration for Riverdale.
Riverdale
This is not the Archie you remember.
Riverdale takes everything you expect from a teen drama and dials it right up to eleven. Then, it throws in murder, mayhem, and Mobsters for good measure.
Despite this, the core of what makes Archie Archie is still present in the show. Jughead may be more ‘outsider’ than goofy sidekick, but he still loves his burgers. Archie’s a bit of a rogue, but his heart is in the right place. Betty’s a ‘good girl’, but not too good. Veronica is rich, but less spoiled than her comic counterpart. The show’s Cheryl Blossom is far more than the occasional fourth point of a love triangle.
Riverdale strikes just the right balance between honouring its source material, and blazing its own way.
Riverdale is the version of Archie that will define the characters for the current generation of fans.
What’s next for Archie Andrews?
First up, Season 3 of Riverdale will premiere on October 10, 2018. A spin-off, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, should hit Netflix early next year. Any solid connection between Chilling Adventures and Riverdale is unknown at this time. The two do share a showrunner, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. They also share a universe in the comics.
Two new Archie-verse animated series have been announced. The first will focus on the day-to-day lives of Archie and friends. The other is a horror-themed show starring Josie And The Pussycats. Whether these series will share a universe is also unknown, but if they do, it may make for some fun crossover opportunities in the future.
We’ve got a lot of Archie Andrews heading our way. We can’t wait to see what the Archie of the future has to offer.
