Archie in "Will You Marry Me?"

First up in Catching Up With Archie Week is marriage. For this book, writer Michael Uslan, probably the first person to teach an accredited college course on comic books and also the producer of the 1989 Batman movie, tells a landmark story. After decades of asking which character Archie would end up with in the end, Betty or Veronica, the answer was finally revealed: Both of them!

Now that is bad timing on Betty's part!

Archie is into PDA apparently. Plus, all his friends are just too psyched. Except Ronnie, of course.

This collection contains a six issue span, with three issues each devoted to two alternate futures, one where Archie asks Veronica to marry him and another where he asks Betty. There are common features to both. The entire teenage cast goes to the same university and stays completely in touch with each other. In each, the woman says yes. The couples get married in what seem to be the happiest of circumstances ever. And in the end, they have two children, a boy and a girl naturally, and both favor their parents and, remarkably, are named Little Archie and Little Veronica/Betty. Creepy.

And now we return to Archie's Very WASPy Christmas...

Aside from the cookie cutter heteronormativity and over-the-top ecstasy about the weddings from everyone in Riverdale, I found a couple parts interesting, mostly the interactions between ancillary characters. Seeing how Archie finally stood up to Mr. Lodge was novel, and seeing who Jughead ended up marrying was interesting, but the only real bits of substance came from exploring how Betty and Veronica dealt with each other after Archie had popped the question. Apart from those bright spots, I found this book to be incredibly treacly and self-serving.

Everybody is just SO HAPPY.

Another aspect that struck me about the book was how sketchy and loose the artwork seemed in places. For a book that is rather monumental, I thought that long-tenured artists Stan Goldberg and Bob Smith's figures look a bit wonky and off-model in places.

This book is available here for purchase.

Tomorrow, I will be talking about the series that follows this cheesefest, The Married Life, and I hope things get better...

Superman: Red Son

Originally published as a 3 issue series under DC Comics' Elseworlds imprint, Red Son reimagines Superman, the defender of truth, justice, and the American way, as a hero of the Soviet Union. Instead of landing in the American Midwest, Superman's rocket lands in a communal farm in 1938 and he grows up to become a hero who fights for "Stalin, socialism, and the international expansion of the Warsaw Pact." Superman's presence and support for the eastern bloc countries radically changes history and the outcome of the Cold War. The US sees the great disparity in power and seeks balance by funding its greatest scientist Lex Luthor to combat the superhuman communist. In the course of this conflict, Lex creates versions of some of Superman's greatest foes, including Bizarro, Metallo, and the Parasite.

Red Son also casts different roles and personas for DC's classic characters, including Wonder Woman, who is an ally from Paradise Island who seeks to promote Superman's mission of a world-wide socialist state, and a Batman who emerges to overthrow the social order. Brainiac appears and attacks the Soviet Union only to be repurposed in an interesting way. Lois Lane still works for the Daily Planet and meets Superman, but only long after she has been married to Luthor. A few other characters are conspicuously missing but play a role in the eventual climax of the story.

This story was conceived and written by Mark Millar, a Scottish comic book writer who has left a big mark on modern comic books and movies. His The Ultimates series has shaped the tenor and tone of almost all the Marvel Comics movie adaptations of Avengers characters, and his work on The Authority and Civil War combined contemporary events and superhero stories. Additionally, he has done creator owned works such as Wanted and Kick Ass, which have been successful as movie adaptations. The art was rendered by Dave Johnson and Kilian Plunkett.

Reviews of this graphic novel have been mostly positive. The Guardian's David Thomson called the book "a charming and potent work." The Daily Raider's reviewer Nixon wrote that "Red Son falls in the rare category of comics good enough that anyone should be able to pick up and enjoy." Nicholas Demers found some faults with Millar's storytelling but finally admitted that the book "was fun, occasionally clever, and had lots of nice visuals and cool fight scenes."

This collection is published by DC Comics. A preview is available at Amazon.com.