Jughead #14

Writer: Ryan North

Artist: Derek Charm

Publisher: Archie Comics

I really, truly never thought I’d say what I’m about to say, because I’m an Archie girl through and through. I root for the underdog, always feel a sympathy for the character who means well but isn’t always the smartest cookie in the box. This is absolutely a description of Archie himself, who I’ve adored since childhood.  And yet I find myself preferring the current Jughead book to just about anything else that Archie Comics is putting out these days, except maybe the horror line.

That’s partly down to Jughead’s inherent weirdness and lack of respect for authority. But the the rest of my love for this book rest squarely on the shoulders of the creative team. Derek Charm’s art is is gorgeous and goofy and just a little bit off-kilter, not unlike Jughead himself. Betty and Veronica are conventionally pretty, but not over the top in ways that they’ve been in the hands of previous classic Archie artists. Nor do they look like cheap knockoffs of Erica Henderson’s Squirrel Girl heroine. Everyone is, pardon the awful pun, just charming in this book.

But art aside, what’s fished me into this current story arc is Ryan North’s amazing, laugh-out-loud writing. Not only does he let the characters tell the story, he comments on it at the bottom of just about every single page. There are throwaway gags in that fine print that are completely worth the eyestrain of reading them, trust me. And as hilarious as Ronnie’s description of her dad’s marketing efforts were, even there the jokes in the background are the best parts. Mr. Lodge’s chart referring to “dank memes” was ridiculous in the best of ways. Also, eagle-eyed prestige TV fans will notice some familiar phrases in Veronica’s notes about his sales pitch of Jughead’s video. (Who knew Mr. Lodge was such a fan of Don Draper?)

It’s too bad that this issue is likely to be North’s last writing credit on the book, as Mark Waid is set to take an expanded role at Archie Comics later this year and will start writing Jughead himself. That being said, I enjoy what he’s been doing with Archie’s book, I just hope he continues to keep the gang together in this book. It’s been a small, steady complaint of mine that the kids seem to run in such different circles in the main Archie storyline; it doesn’t really feel like “the gang’s all here”. That’s been rectified a great deal in Jughead, and I really hope it stays that way.