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Common Knowledge

Canonical name: Archie Comics
Other names: M.L.J. Magazines
Birthdate: 1939
Gender: n/a
Nationality: USA
Associated Place (for map): USA

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56 reviews

NurseBob 214 reviews

Archie 1000 Page Comics Digest (Archie 1000 Page Digests) by Archie Comics

One thousand pages of bad jokes, weak puns, and silly "plots" yet these little comics continue to be a pop phenomenon. Maybe it's the innocent naïveté or the bright primary colours or perhaps it's the fact that even as the technology around them changes (they have computers!) the gang just never grows old.

Jan 5, 2024

RoshReviews 3,259 reviews

The Archies in India by Archie Comics

In a Nutshell: Super cringe-y!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My younger daughter warned me against reading this book, saying she found it utterly boring. But my curiosity got the better of me. It's the Archies, after all! The staple comic of my youth, despite its obvious red flags. I used to love the characters, and assumed that seeing them in India would work as a pleasant combination of nostalgia and curiosity.

Remind me never to question my daughter's tastes again.

Not many outside India might show more know that there was a special Bollywood adaptation of ‘The Archies’ released in 2023 by a top production studio. Don’t bother looking it up. The movie was awful! But on that momentous occasion, the producers and the Archies team teamed up to release this special comics collection. Turns out, this collection is even more awful than the movie.

This book includes every story where Archie and his friends have travelled to India. Of the seven stories, only one is an original work. ‘Veronica in India’ is the oldest of the lot, taken from a 1989 issue, so I suppose that explains why it feels so stereotypical. The remaining five are republished comics from between 2007 to 2017.

Because of this hodgepodge collection from varied comics, the stories don’t have any continuity. Several situations are repeated, as though the characters in each tale have no memory of their earlier sojourn to India. One of the storylines was weird, with Betty and Veronica swapping places but the swap was clearly much more than a simple interchange of places; they seem to have changed their appearance as well. It was tough to remember that Betty was Veronica and vice versa when they were sketched the usual way.

The endings also feel quite abrupt in most cases. One story even has a cliffhanger, with a continuation in some other comic altogether – not fair to have such a story in a special collection!

Though the characters are in India, their behaviour is exactly the same. Archie is still running behind every pretty girl he can find, and Betty and Veronica are still (mostly) running behind him. In fact, in one comic, Archie is juggling across four girls, though he "loves" (His word, not mine!) only one of them. It was quite strange for me to see the target of this “love” being Valerie from ‘Josie and the Pussycats’! In my childhood comics, the two never even interacted!

Strangely (to me), many of the Indian characters are also depicted the same way, with more interest in dating and flirting and partying. It felt like a “wishful thinking” portrayal of India. None of the Indian characters or their behaviour felt realistic to me.

As this is an American version of India, it goes without saying that stereotypes abound. Almost all the storylines were idiotic, whether in terms of plot development or character development. The worse was the depiction of Bollywood movies, though honestly, I can't say that it was entirely undeserved. But to my surprise, there is plenty of positive reinforcement as well. Except for the outdated 1989 story, the comics highlight the appeal of Indian food, monuments, culture and the friendliness of the people.

That said, there are plenty of errors about India in the book. (Some of you might just ask me to chill as this isn't historical fiction. But would you react the same way if you see an Indian comic depicting characters visiting the White House in one panel and being at the Golden Gate Bridge in the next, on a single day with no obvious plane/car travel?)

Here’s a list just in case any American wants to do a True or False check against the “facts” depicted in this comic.

❌ There’s no tuktuk in India. We only have auto rickshaws.

❌ Only one person can sit at the front of the auto, and this would be at the centre. No auto has two seats in the front with steering in one side. Don’t assume that it’s like a car.

❌ There’s no way a character can travel to Taj Mahal (in Agra) and the Ganges (possibly at the Benares ghat) and Jaipur Zoo within a day without using the airplane. Another comic shows a character going from an Agra monument to a Mumbai museum within the blink of an eye. Someone in the publisher’s team needed geography lessons.

❌ You can't ride elephants in any Indian zoos, definitely not at Jaipur Zoo. Don’t confuse zoos with safaris.

❌ Curry isn't an Indian spice. show less

Oct 21, 2025

danielx 1,036 reviews

World of Archie Vol. 1 (Archie Comics Presents) by Archie Comics

It's surprising that this ancient comic strip is still being published, 80 years after its debut. This particular collection is of comics first published in the early 1990s, and was reprinted in 2019. The cover reflects a traditional theme: as an ordinary goofy teenage male, Archie has two gorgeous teenage "girls" (Betty and Veronica) passionately interested in him, though in a G-rated manner. That the females are built like supermodels (with spectacular, Barbie- doll proportions) may not show more have occurred to readers in the 1950s and '60s, but it's hard to believe that modern readers don't notice. At least the storylines in this collection extend beyond the boy- girl stuff of the comic's distant forerunners.

Despite a lifetime appreciation of comic strips, I experienced no enjoyment from this collection. I found the story lines juvenile, contrived, trivial, boring, and dumb. show less

Jul 2, 2022

SDPogue 128 reviews

Archie Americana Volume 3: Best of the 1960s (Archie's Americana) by Archie Comics

Darn it, I got a short sample again. I do prefer full graphic novels to samples but in this case it didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the book.
Archie is one of those comics that has delighted readers, young and old, for decades. This particular volume is from the 1960’s. I think some of the jokes are lost but not enough that you don’t find them funny.
For me, it was an interesting peek into a time when my parents were young. I could picture them the age of the Archie gang and going through show more similar trials.
I think this is a great series to read for all kids. The humor is clean but there’s an understanding of what it means to be a teenager and growing up. The parents don’t understand. The kids make mistakes. They are all trying to find their place in this world. That’s the magic of Archie. show less

Apr 13, 20121 other review

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