Archie Andrews (comics)

This article is about the U.S. comic book character. For other uses, please see the disambiguation page.

Archie Andrews is the name of the main fictional character in a American comic book series, and the title of a long-run radio series about that character, created by Bob Montana.

Archibald "Archie" Andrews debuted in Pep Comics #22 December, 1941, and six decades later is still a redheaded 17-year-old. He lives in Riverdale, attends Riverdale High, and is the only son of Fred and Mary Andrews.

A number of stories have revealed the Andrews family has its origins in Scotland. Archie has been depicted wearing the traditional kilt of his ancestors and playing bagpipes.

Archie has many hobbies, drives an old car and takes jobs to pay for dates.

Archie's love is divided between the upper class and refined Veronica Lodge and the middle class and athletic Betty Cooper; Betty is humble, and Veronica is a snob; the two girls often fight over him. Archie is the lead singer of The Archies, performing with Betty, Veronica, Reggie Mantle and Forsythe Pendleton "Jughead" Jones.

Archie is a good fellow, but also an accident waiting to happen and always gets involved in the funniest situations. Some of the many adults who try to be far away from this walking hurricane are Hiram Lodge and Riverdale High's principal, Waldo Weatherbee.

In the TV movie and subsequent comic book "To Riverdale and Back Again", which portrayed all the characters 15 years after their graduation from high school, Archie is a lawyer with a practice in Riverdale -- and still gets to Pop Tate's Chock'lit Shoppe as much as possible.

The Spanish version of Archie Andrews is named Archi Gómez.

Bob Montana's characters were adapted to radio in the early 1940s. Archie Andrews began on the Blue Network on May 31, 1943, switched to Mutual in 1944, and then continued on NBC from 1945 until September 5 1953. Archie was first played by Charles Mullen, Jack Grimes and Burt Boyar, with Bob Hastings as the title character during the NBC years. Harlan Stone portrayed Archie's pal, Jughead, known for the catchphrase, "Relax, Archie, reeelax!" Jughead was also played by Cameron Andrews. Alice Yourman and Arthur Kohl, amongst others, played Fred and Mary Andrews.

After four years in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, Bob Montana returned in 1946 to launch the Archie newspaper comic strip, which he drew until his death in 1975. Bob Montana's main characters were all based on real-life individuals he knew in Haverhill, Massachusetts, where he went to high school from 1936 to 1939.

Archie in the movies

On May 6, 1990, NBC released a TV-movie that focused around Archie and the gang titled "Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again". Instead of having them stuck in Riverdale High, they were now adults and preparing for their fifteen year high school reunion. Archie was now a lawyer engaged to the image-conscious Pam. His best friend, Jughead, was a neurotic psychiatrist with a troublemaking son (Archie dubbed him "Jughead Junior").

Betty was an elementary school teacher and aspiring novelist engaged to a jerk named Robert who was jealous of Archie. Veronica was living in France and chartered a Concorde to Riverdale for the reunion. She was still tied down by her dad's money and still in love with Archie. Reggie worked for Mr. Lodge and owned several businesses. Moose Mason and Midge Klump were married and worked as chiropractors, while Big Ethel had turned into a beautiful model.

The film focused around the good times the gang had during the weekend reunion. Reggie planned to demolish Pop Tate's so he add could extra space for his gym. Archie decided to fight this in court. Meanwhile, Archie still wrestled with his feelings for Betty and Veronica.

In the end, Archie breaks up with Pam and decides to stay in Riverdale, Jughead moves back to Riverdale to open a practice, Betty decides to teach in Riverdale, Veronica decides to stay in Riverdale for a while before going back to Paris and Reggie is forgiven for trying to destroy the gang's local hangout.

The film was a pilot for a possible series. It was panned by fans and critics alike, and never picked up for a series run.

External links

• Haverhill cartoonist Bob Montana (http://mcnsclips.blogspot.com/2002_06_09_mcnsclips_archive.html#77553536)
• Trivia on the character (http://www.geocities.com/jughead_p_jones_12/archie_andrews.htm)