Reggie Mantle
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Reginald "Reggie" Mantle III is a fictional character in the Archie Comics book. His full name is given as Reginald Mantle, but he is usually called by his nickname Reggie, and sometimes refers to himself as "Mantle, The Magnificent." The character was introduced in 1942. Like Jughead and Jellybean, he has been named after people in his family.
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[edit] Fictional history and character
Reggie at one point says he was born in Texas, and he comes from a fairly well-to-do family, although certainly nowhere near the level of Veronica Lodge's. His father Reginald "Ricky" Mantle Jr. owns a newspaper-publishing company with varying names, one of which is The Riverdale Gazette. Reggie seems to show journalistic aspirations himself, often working as the editor of the high school paper,Blue and Gold. He's quick to use the term "freedom of the press" to defend controversial or inflammatory articles. His mother's name is unknown. Two of Reggie's cousins have been introduced, May and Regina. (See below).Reggie is a very talented athlete who excels at American football, baseball, basketball and hockey.
Reggie is vain and thinks of himself as God's greatest gift to women (this may be the reason why Veronica likes Archie more than him). Reggie is also a bassist for The Archies and occasionally lead guitarist after Archie, and naturally thinks of himself as the most important and talented member of the group -- and has gone to great lengths to prove it, such as hiring groupies to scream his name during concerts.
In spite of his evident upper-middle class status, he's remarkably cheap, and the first time his schoolmates remember him inviting them to a party, he had filled the room with vending machines from which to obtain the party food.
Although Reggie constantly teases and pulls pranks on the group (with some of them related to 'leaf' jokes), his antics are completely harmless. On certain occasions when he's feeling generous or whenever it really matters, Reggie shows a kinder side where he will come to the aid of his friends or total strangers... although he prefers to keep these good deeds secret. In one comic, it showed he had a close childhood friendship with an elderly woman named Mrs. Finklehoff.
Somewhat of a fashion plate, Reggie also has the distinct trait of being the character (even when compared to Betty and Veronica) who updates his hairstyle the most to match current trends. To name a few, he has worn his hair with sideburns, slicked back, short, shaggy, and, in the early '90s, even a few ponytails.
[edit] Relationships
Reggie is Archie Andrews's rival, and he has a perennial crush on Veronica. The fact that Veronica loves only Archie makes Reggie jealous, so he enjoys making Archie's life miserable by playing practical jokes on him. Yet many of his schemes against Archie tend to backfire and allow Archie to be the victor. Veronica also tends to use him primarily to make Archie jealous. Despite the rivalry, he and Archie generally respect each other and remain good friends. Like the rest of the characters, he is eternally in Riverdale High School.
He is also interested in another girl, Midge Klump, who is the girlfriend of another member of Archie's gang, Moose Mason. This infuriates Moose and Reggie has received some unkind, almost brutal to say the least, treatment from Moose at times. But Reggie never gives up on his attempts to date Midge, often thinking of ways to get past Moose by taking advantage of the latter's low intelligence or any other weaknesses. On at least one occasion, however, Midge does date Reggie anyway, having prevailed upon Moose not to interfere; and, on another occasion, when Archie openly asks Moose's permission to date Midge (and Moose furiously forbids it), Reggie goes out with Midge on the sly.
His most successful relationship was with an albino Korean girl named Mina Lee. He showed his rare humble, compassionate side to her and bought her a pet caiman (she named it "Reji" after him). Reggie found a job at the zoo for Mina, and she taught him Korean. She later was expelled because she brought Reji to school. It is unknown if Mina will have another appearance.
Other than Mina, Reggie is mainly attracted to Veronica and Midge, but he occasionally seeks to date other women, including Betty Cooper. Their relationship usually consist a playful banter between them. Whenever Betty is down because Archie forgets that he had a date with her, Reggie always steps up the plate and offers her to be her date, not because he pitied her, but because he genuinely likes her [1].
Sometimes, Reggie targets Jughead Jones instead, thinking that he is too lazy or stupid to do anything about it, and receives some payback when Jughead proves that he is smarter than he looks.
Reggie's pranks are usually harmless, meant to embarrass his victims rather than actually hurt them. In one incident when he tried to humiliate Chuck Clayton during a sledding contest, Reggie dug a pit for Chuck to fall into when he landed. Reggie filled the pit with sawdust to soften the blow so Chuck wouldn't be hurt, adding crankcase oil to make it stick and covering it with snow to conceal it. As Reggie told a friend who was helping him with the prank, "I'm not cruel, dum-dum, just clever!" As per usual, his prank backfired when he ended up jumping the farthest on the sled, landing in his own pit.
In another story, Reggie is sent by Mr. Flutesnoot to Mr. Weatherbee's office for putting a tack on a chair as a prank. Defending himself, Reggie disdains such a simple prank, pointing out to the principal that his pranks are more elaborate and better thought out. The Bee writes a note to the teacher explaining this, but when Reggie returns to the classroom with it, he discovers he still has a lot to learn about pranks--Mr. Weatherbee wrote the note in disappearing ink!
In one story, mirroring the George Orwell novel 1984, we see the serious side of Reggie. His father has printed a story about U. S. government waste and incomptence, in a complicated matter dealing with Mr. Lodge's companies; and a judge, apparently acting under pressure from military brass, ordered Reggie's dad jailed until he reveals his source. Reggie is furious and looks for a way to get his father released. The opportunity presents itself in the form of a contact between the judge and his pretty young secretary. Reggie has a camera, and snaps a picture, telling the judge he'll get it printed unless the judge releases the elder Mantle.
In another story, Reggie portrayed the super villain known as The Punster who tells people puns to paralyze them. He is also an enemy to Archie's Ashly Ashford/Ratman character.
[edit] Reggie's Relations
In one story, Reggie introduced his "country cousin" May Mantle (he called her that because she lived 20 miles out of town) to the gang. Although sixteen years old, she is mistaken for a pre-teen because she is so petite. She attends the next school dance. Right away she attracts attention--and Reggie is proud; this time he has a right to be. Dilton is at the dance, but the taller girls turn him down. May dances with Dilton all evening.
Recently, Reggie's other cousin Regina has come to Riverdale. She seems to be the female version of Reggie, a wise-cracking smart aleck with a penchant for annoying practical jokes. However, after she conned Jughead into taking her out on a date, she told Reggie that it was the "best date she ever had in her life," possibly setting up a romantic relationship between Regina and Jughead.
In an Archie's Weird Mysteries episode titled Cinemadness, Reggie had a niece named Amy. Nothing is known that Reggie had an older brother or sister.
Reggie also had an uncle named Mike, who is a car salesman.
[edit] Publications
Reggie has starred in his own titles:
- Archie's Rival Reggie #1–14 (1950–Aug 1954)
- Reggie #15–18 (Sept 1963–Nov 1965)
- Reggie And Me #19–126 (Aug 1966–Sep 1980)
- Reggie's Wise Guy Jokes #1–60 (Aug 1968–Jan 1982)
- Reggie's Revenge #1–3 (Spring–Fall 1994)
[edit] Trivia
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Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
- In the Spanish versions of the comic book, Reggie's name is Carlos.
- The most common accessory associated with him is the mirror. A lot of jokes in the comics are on how he loves himself more than any girl, earning him the nickname "Reggie 'I-Love-Me' Mantle".
- Reggie is the only male in the Archie Comics history to have distinctly different hairstyles, including hippie sideburns, slicked back '50s hairdo, even a ponytail in the early '90s
- Reggie's favorite color is royal purple.
[edit] Friends
Archie Andrews, Moose Mason, Dilton Doiley, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Jughead Jones, Big Ethel, (also known as Ethel Muggs), Midge Klump, Nancy Woods, Chuck Clayton, and other characters from the Archie Comics.
[edit] External links
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