I was obsessed with Archie comics in my younger years, hoarding a massive collection of digests that would have been worth a small mint today if I hadn’t sold them at the time to a wealthier friend of mine from school. The Archies favourite band would have been, err, The Archies. But as for other cartoon heroes?

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I grew up on Archie comics, learning how to relate to the mysteries of the world through the squeaky clean antics of Jughead, Moose, Betty and the gang. Who would’ve imagined that the whole thing could have taken such a dramatic twist? Mike Hawthorne, that’s who, who envisioned the Riverdale series as a prison drama for the Comic Twart website.

Oh man! Take me back. Yup, drag me kicking and screaming into those halcyon days of the mid to the late 80s when all I cared about was Archie Comics, extra full cream milk, and getting my hands the latest release off New Zealand’s Flying Nun label. This track — Pink Frost — from Dunedin band, The Chills, is a window back to a time when melody ruled, guitars were always slightly out of tune, and haircuts were just five dollars down at your local barber shop.

Ok, a confession: I once owned an enormous garbage bag full of Archie comics. Yes, a giant green bag bursting with all the antics of the Riverdale collective, whose squeaky clean adventures framed my earliest impression of life in the suburbs of America. It was all a long way removed from the bustling streets of inner-city Sydney. Yet somehow my pre-pubescent self developed quite a cartoon crush on Betty, the All-American girl next door. So it was with some shock that I read today that after years of facing the most pleasant choice in comic book history, Archie has finally decided which of his two female companions to call his own. Forever. Or for the next few issues at least. That’s right, Archie is proposing to Veronica in an upcoming issue of the magazine, and life in Riverdale may never be the same again.

In my teenage years, I was a fanatical collector of Archie Comics, living my life vicariously through the mischevious misadventures of Archie, Betty, Veronica and the gang. Eventually I sold my collection to a high school friend, who bought several garbage bags worth of digests along with my prized Ozi skate deck. This vibrant artwork by Singapore-based designer Hanyi Lee takes me back to that time and I kinda wish that I’d kept the damn things, if only for a few more moments of saccharine sweet escapism within their apple pie, primary colour world.

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