709 Wrong Kind Of Special.

Some of you may remember this special schedule being mentioned before, but not quite in the way Reggie sees it. Early on in the second day Carol tells Jolene it’s her turn to have Reggie in her department. This is the “special” schedule he’s referring to, but from his perspective it’s a positive, which is probably how they sold the idea to him in the first place.

My Christmas stocking is usually filled with all manner of weird things. The jolly old elf knows of my fascination with do-dads and whatnot. This year was no different. It contained things ranging from a book of the most disgusting trivia in the world to wasabi flavored gum balls. (Not as terrible as you might expect.) There were also two DVD-Roms of Archie comics. All the issues from 1970 to 1979 of Archie and Jughead. My mild obsession with old Archie comics should surprise no one. What I like best about them has to be watching Reggie’s hairstyle change from year to year. My favorite version is the slicked back parted in the middle one that is the ultimate douche bag haircut in my mind.

I haven’t seen any of the possible future comics they are doing now. I’ve heard a little, and they are an interesting idea, but I wonder what their endgame is. Once you let the cast advance you essentially slaughter the cash cow that Archie comics has been for, what, 50 years or more? Then again maybe it isn’t the money maker it once was. It’s still almost the only comic I see at the store. Can’t be doing that poorly. At the same time I have to wonder what a little kid thinks every time they see Archie dialing a rotary phone, or going to the malt shop. The digests recycle a lot of older stuff. I’m not sure about anything else. I haven’t seen a regular comic book style Archie in ages.

18 Comments

If I ever see Reggie-flavored candy, I’m shutting down the candy store personally. And then do a mass cleansing.

Ah, rotary phones…I wonder what happen to my great-grandmother’s. I would love to inherit it, they are the best kinds of phones.

Christ, that delusion of his is the answer to all our renewable energy source needs. What would it take to get through to him that everyone hates him, and would such an event leave him crippled and broken?

Zetaphrem: I think you’d have to burn down the store as well… just to be on the safe side!

Blayze: There’d have to be extensive testing to see what would break Reggie. But I get the feeling it’d get old quickly – you’d have to rotate the testers so they don’t kill him ;)

Crave–

Okay, these little tidbits had not sunk into my brain before:

(1.) it will probably take Ed a while to meet Wesley, since they are on rotating shifts; and
(2.) Reggie is named after the most annoying comic antagonist evah.

And as you so correctly stated, Archie’s nemesis, that smarmy troll Reggie is the “ultimate douche bag.” I grew up with Archie in the Sunday funnies (how could I not — it’s been around since 1941) and while I thought Archie was a dork, I’ve always loved the girls. Please don’t make me choose between Betty and Veronica, but I will say my favorite artist for the strip was Dan DeCarlo.

By the way, I don’t understand your comment about Archie using a dial phone. I realize they’re still new and all, but I doubt a modern town like Riverdale still uses the old candlesticks and the wooden phones with the separate earpieces. B{)}

I agree Reginald Watson Boothe is special — like those ‘special’ children on the telethons. “We need your donations to send little Reggie to the Arizona Home for the Rude. Won’t you please help?” He is, sadly, blind to his own mental lameness and even large doses of sarcasm and reality have no effect on his condition. As I mentioned in another comment, I’ve worked with people like Reggie (and Wesley) before, and while they’re bad for morale, it’s almost impossible to get rid of them.

Incidentally, I’ve noticed that Wesley isn’t on the Cast page. Either he’s really temporary, or you got some ‘splainin’ to do.

–Perfesser

This comic reminds me of the SNL Dana Carvey skit with the church lady…..”Weeeeell, Isn’t that special….” :P

Methinks Wes has seen through Reggie already.

Makes me wonder if we’ll see a confrontation between the two later on if Reggie catches Wes talking trash about Nina. That thought, in turn, makes me wonder if it’ll be a Call Back to the Ed vs Reggie one–which itself makes me wonder if anybody will believe Reggie instead of just assuming he likes to attack new people.

It seems that once a writer of terrible fanfiction, always a writer of terrible fanfiction.

So, are you Team Betty or Team Veronica? Just kidding. I think one of the reasons Archie Comics still is around is partially because they’re still available in supermarkets. They’ve also pumped out their fair share of Sonic the Hedgehog, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Josie and the Pussycats comic books over the years. Part of the allure for parents is that Archie hasn’t (for the most part) gotten violent (except for a crossover with the Punisher, but that’s why I said for the most part) like other comic books have. He hasn’t had to deal with someone dying tragically (unless that’s what happend to little Ambrose…) or had to deal with saving the earth from the latest and greatest intergalactic threat. All he has to deal with is keeping his car running, not getting grounded, and having enough money for the date on the weekend.

Actually, Little Ambrose apparently moved to New York City. He shows up in the possible future series, which also seems to be a Random couples series. (Jughead + Midge Klump?)

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