This digest was a collection of most of Jughead's short-lived superhero series, Jughead as Captain Hero from 1966-67. It's pretty obviously "inspired" by the Batman TV show, but it's fun. Archie also had a superheroic identity, Pureheart the Powerful, with an amusing explanation on why no one notices his super-powered antics: his power "fogs the mind of ordinary beings." Reggie gets into the act as Evilheart the Great, only doing good deeds incidentally to showing Pureheart up: his unrepentant dickishness seems more amusing to me as an old grouch. Betty appears as Superteen in one story to bail out PH; while Veronica was usually the hostage to get the plot going and sadly doesn't get her own heroic identity.
I'm not sure what happened to my copy; it could well be somewhere. But I'm not sure I ever looked for a replacement, since there are like fourteen million Archie digests, and I thought it would be under "Archie" or "Laugh" or something. There's another old digest story I remember, with Reggie claiming to have the power of mind over matter, as he's able to withstand winter chill in a light sweater; but of course there's a trick and comeuppance to it. Finding that one, though...that's going to be trickier.
Wait, your dad was a principal and your mom a teacher? Jesus, dude, my sympathies. No way you got away with ANYTHING school-related back then huh?
ReplyDeleteOh, and while comical (especially when they're unconscious) even resting a half-eaten burger on someone's unconscious ass (drunk or otherwise) would probably spark another #metoo movement, haha.
Archie Comics put out a couple trades with those stories. They focus more on the Pureheart stuff but you should be able to find them on one of the online book sites.
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