Alternate Universes in Archie Comics
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of various alternate universes regarding the characters from Archie Comics. While continuity between the "mainstream" Archie stories is loose at best and nonexistent at worst, there is a series of stories that definitely do not cross over into these regular stories.
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[edit] Archie I
Thousands of years before recorded history, the ancestors Archie and the gang live as cavemen, interacting with dinosaurs and other prehistoric beasts. The characters generally make discoveries that will not be considered significant for centuries later, and there is often irony in the characters denouncing as impractical wheels, houses, and so forth.
[edit] Archie 3000
The complete opposite of Archie I, Archie 3000 displays the (presumed) descendants of Archie and the gang living in the year 3000, which is realized as a 1950s-style art deco world of flying cars, moving sidewalks, domed houses, and gaudy "futuristic" hairstyles and clothes (similar to the Jetsons). Despite the many new breakthroughs in technology, life for Archie and the gang notably hasn't changed much.
[edit] Archie's R/C Racers
Two teams of Riverdale teenagers, led by Archie and Reggie, travel across the United States racing radio-controlled cars, while foiling the dastardly schemes of the villainous Babette and her bungling henchmen. Given its limited premise, it is hardly surprising that this series was never revived after its 12-issue run was up.
[edit] Betty Cooper, Betty Cooper
A satire of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and other such melodramas, this multi-issue epic placed Archie and the gang in one outlandish, tragic situation after another. The characters spoke in hesitant, over-dramatic tones, and the narration breathlessly underlined the lunacy of the whole affair. Notable subplots included Jughead being stalked by a homicidal "limping man", Betty being possessed by a Puritan witch named Felicity Goodbody, and Betty's uncle Draco, a vampire (who never appeared in any other stories) being hunted by a vampire-hunting count. A running gag involved the mysterious "gypsy lady" who apparently would be able to explain everything, but she failed to show up until the final story (much to the narrator's annoyance) and in truth proved to be no help at all. In typical Archie fashion, the entire story wrapped itself up neatly in the final story, with a happy ending and everything returning to the status quo.
[edit] Dilton's Strange Science
Dilton Doiley's solo comic, as he travels through a series of bizarre locales and encounters with alien creatures and monsters. A supporting character in this series was Danni Malloy, a female teen genius serving as both best friend and love interest to Dilton.
[edit] Explorers of the Unknown
A parody of Jack Kirby's comic Challengers of the Unknown, this comic cast Archie and friends as an elite group of adventurers who were dispatched to combat mad villains and explore uncharted areas. The characters were:
Red Andrews, Soldier of Fortune (Archie)
Wheels Cooper, Mechanic and Pilot (Betty)
Nitro Mantle, Explosives and Demolition Expert (Reggie)
Angel Lodge, Martial Arts Expert (Veronica)
Squint Jones, Daredevil and Escape Artist (Jughead)
Spike Mason, Stuntman (Moose)
Gizmo Doiley, Inventor (Dilton)
F/X Clayton, Illusionist (Chuck)
The Explorers' adventures were based heavily on classic comic adventures and pulp novels, and paid many homages to Jack Kirby: one adventure pitted the Explorers against the morose Doctor Gloom, an obvious spoof of Doctor Doom.
[edit] Hot Dog
Jughead's faithful dog received his own comic, in which he - rather more humanistic than in other depictions - lived in a high-tech dog house with a robotic butler named Bertie, and consorted with several other anthropomorphized dogs. The plots often delved into fantasy and science fiction, with Hot Dog and Bertie often travelling across dimensions or through time.
[edit] Jughead's Diner
One of the strangest of Archie's spinoffs, Jughead's Diner took Jughead to another dimension (via a "magic stool"), where he tried to help the bizarre and eclectic patrons of Dinnerville keep their property from the clutches of the dastardly real estate agent Slimy Sal Monella. The quirky art style and surrealistic humor were a departure from other Archie titles.
[edit] Jughead's Time Police
Upon receiving a special beanie from an unknown benefactor, Jughead gains the ability to travel to the past and future at will. Joined by Deputy January McAndrews (Archie's descendant from the 30th century), Jughead travelled across history, ensuring that history stayed on its proper course. Paradoxes and existential dilemmas were often plot developments. The main villain was the time-travelling sorceress Morgan le Fay, who may have been a descendant of Reggie Mantle. Jughead has a secret love interest in Archie's descendant January McAndrews.
[edit] Little Archie
Little Archie features characters Archie and his friends as elementary school-aged children. It is arguably the most successful of the alternate versions of Archie. The world of Little Archie is remarkably similar to that of his teenage counterpart. Most of the same characters are featured, albeit usually in younger versions. Miss Grundy and Mr. Weatherbee appear as a teacher and the principal at Riverdale Elementary School. Little Archie is always referred to and addressed as "Little Archie". Although stories featuring one of the other characters would be titled "Little Jughead", "Little Betty" and so on, the characters themselves were always addressed by their regular names. Keeping in mind its younger target audience, Little Archie stories tended to have more educational and moral content than standard Archie stories.
In the early 1990s, partly due to declining sales, there was a radical redesign of the Little Archie universe. Renamed as "The New Little Archie", it featured the Little Archie characters with contemporary fashions, hairstyles, and sensibilities, and with a more modern-looking art style. One notable change was that Archie was now addressed merely as "Archie" and no longer "Little Archie". This relaunch was by and large unsuccessful, and the Little Archie universe soon went back to its old style.
[edit] The Man from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E.
Parodying 1960s spy shows (especially The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.), this comic portrayed Archie and the gang as a group of high-tech spies, as part of world-defence organization P.O.P. (an acronym for Protect our Planet). Their chief enemy was a counter-group known as C.R.U.S.H. (a spoof on T.H.R.U.S.H., but whose acronym was never explained). Although Reggie, Veronica and Moose were initially cast as C.R.U.S.H. agents, they later became members of P.O.P. All the characters also had undefined acronyms for names (A.R.C.H.I.E., B.E.T.T.Y., etc.).
[edit] The New Archies
A comics adaptation of the animated series The New Archies. Recasting Archie and the gang as junior high students, the New Archies offered radically redesigned versions of the Archie gang, with contemporary clothing and hairstyles. Oddly, Dilton was changed to an African-American named Eugene, and he had a girlfriend named Amani. As with most redesigns of classic characters, the New Archies did not last long.
[edit] Starship Rivda
A spoof of Battlestar Galactica and other such programs, Starship Rivda involved Archie, Betty, Jughead and Veronica as explorers of uncharted galaxies in the titular Starship Rivda. Not to be confused with Archie 3000.
[edit] Super Teens
Archie and friends become superheroes and battle a host of bizarre supervillains in a series of tongue-in-cheek adventures. The heroes include:
Pureheart the Powerful is born when Archie attempts to tap into the "PH Factor", a superpower only accessed by those pure of heart. Pureheart is super-strong, super-resilient, and can fly using his "jet-boosters". However, his powers only exist as long as his heart is pure, leading to embarrassing situations such as him losing his powers after an appreciative kiss from a damsel in distress, causing the car he was holding up to fall on him.
Superteen is created by Betty merely twisting her "magic ponytail". Superteen's powers are roughly similar to Pureheart's.
Captain Hero appears when Jughead recites a magic incantation (similar to Green Lantern's oath):
Teeny weeny magic beanie,
Pointing towards the sky;
Give me muscle, power, vigor,
Form a super guy!
Unlike Pureheart and Superteen, Captain Hero has an arsenal of bizarre weaponry (like exploding bubble gum), and demonstrates other powers, such as "super-breath" and transforming his head into a steel drill.
Evilheart is Reggie using a variation of the PH Factor, instead using his villainous half to transform into a superhero with Pureheart's powers. So great is Evilheart's villainy that it actually proves a strain to revert to the lesser evil of Reggie Mantle. While Evilheart antagonizes the other superheroes, he will team up with them to battle a common foe.
All of these heroes have inherent "mind foggers" that cause all civilians to forget the Super Teen's secret identities (even the teens themselves).
A 1990s revival of the Super Teens (complete with new stories by famous superhero artists and writers) introduced two new Super Teens:
Miss Vanity is Veronica, who gained her powers through unknown means (they appear to be stress-related). Her powers are roughly similar to Superteen's, although her outfit is more provocative. She appears to have a "super-sonic" scream, a la Black Canary.
Mighty Moose is, naturally, Moose with the gift of flight and augmentations to his already formidable strength.
