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What? Archie is dead?

By Catherine Toth Fox • April 9, 2014 • Musings, The Daily Dish

archie ap comic

Maybe news of the death of Archie Andrews, the beloved redhead protagonist in the popular comic book series, didn’t rattle your morning.

But it did mine.

My mom texted me the link to a CNN article announcing the tragic news of his impending death come July, when the series, “Life With Archie,” ends after a 73-year run.

The #36 issue hits stores on July 16.

This is devastating to me. Very, very few people know I’m a hardcore Archie Comics fan. My parents would buy me issues all the time, feeding my addiction to all things Riverdale.

These characters — Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica, Reggie, Moose, Midge — were my childhood friends, and I followed their teenage exploits since the time I could read.

It’s hard enough knowing that the comic series will come to an end. It’s like a part of my life is over. But it’s even stranger — and, frankly, difficult to accept — that the freckled-faced teenager who always tried to do the right thing is going to die.

Die.

Sure, he supposedly will die saving a friend. (“Archie dies as he lived — heroically,” Archie Comics CEO Jon Goldwater told the New York Post. “He dies saving the life of a friend and does it in his usual selfless way. Archie has always been a representation of us — the best of us. Our strengths and our faults.”) But it’s just tragic. I mean, what’s the point in killing the poor guy? Doesn’t this just add weight to the argument that nice guys finish last?

In a way, I suppose it’s much more interesting than ending the series with Archie finally choosing between the saccharine-sweet Betty and spoiled-but-fetching Veronica. (I’ve always been a Betty fan, so there’s no argument there.) But death? Isn’t this going too far?

It actually makes me sad to think a whole generation of kids won’t grow up with Archie Andrews and his Riverdale High classmates. But I suppose, like all good things, this, too, had to come to an end.

What has amazed me with this series is how, well, normal it was. These characters didn’t have superpowers, they didn’t live in far-off galaxies. These were regular teenagers dealing with the same problems we all face with — love, rejection, heartache, trust, envy, friendship. And that’s what has made them all so lovable.

So why kill him.

I’m not about to stage a protest — though I’ve seriously thought about it — since, to be honest, it won’t help. But I just don’t think it’s necessary to do something this tragic and heartbreaking. Let Archie live. Let him grow up, find a job, pay taxes, maybe get married and then divorced. Let him live that normal life trajectory he was already on. It would make me feel better that he’s still out there, trying to do the right thing and giving us hope that it’s OK to fail at it.

Who’s with me?

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About the Author

Catherine Toth Fox

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7 Comments

  • Reply rayboyjr April 9, 2014 at 10:21 am

    Hey Cat: … Andrews??? … Archie’s last name was Andrews??? … do you know any of the other last names too??? …

    … anyway, I’m with you on this one … they didn’t have to kill him just to end the series … I think a better way might have been a flash forward … move the series to a time far in Archie’s future where he’s old and grey and retired … and settle all the questions that were never resolved …

    … although the end is heroic … why end it on a sad note??? … I didn’t read the comics that much … but from what I gather, the whole comic was about fun carefree times in their lives …

  • Reply winnie April 9, 2014 at 2:23 pm

    Archie Andrews
    Jughead Jones
    Betty Cooper
    Veronica Lodge
    Reggie Mantle

    It has been years, OK decades, since I have read an Archie comic, but I too loved them. I agree I don’t see the point of killing him off.

  • Reply Eric April 9, 2014 at 11:05 pm

    You do realize that he dies only in this series which “imagines” life after high school. In this series he alternatively is married to Betty or Veronica. He will still be around in his traditional high school self which continues in the original comic book series.

  • Reply Betty April 10, 2014 at 2:27 am

    I see writers are changing direction with Betty and Veronica. They like single independent and liberated women and new age now. In past they cling on to Archie making him feel so special. It time they move on and show a side of them new age.

  • Reply Dennis April 10, 2014 at 6:39 am

    OMG! Last of my childhood days will be snuffed out with the end of Archie. He would have had to draw on his IRA at 70-1/2 and worry about Obama care! Oh we’ll, being 17 all these years isn’t that bad. I guess I’ve always wanted to be that age forever. Now I’ll have to grow up. Yuk!

  • Reply WildeOscar April 10, 2014 at 7:59 am

    As Eric commented before me, we’ll still see Archie in new comic situations with his posse at Riverdale High.

    It’s only the older version of Archie that’s going to die. Drama, I suppose.

    All of the television shows I watched as a child are out of production, and I’m in my 50s, so most of the actors in those series are now dead, even if the funding plug got pulled without a climactic kill-off ending to their series. They just stopped being. In a way, this narrow slice of Archie drama at least has a conclusive ending.

  • Reply Annoddah Dave April 10, 2014 at 10:08 am

    CAT: I wonder if Archie becomes old, fat, and poor….

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About Me

About Me
Born and raised on O‘ahu, Hawaiʻi, Catherine Toth Fox has been chronicling her adventures in her blog, The Cat Dish, for more than a decade. She worked as a newspaper reporter in Hawai‘i for 10 years and continues to freelance—in between teaching journalism, hitting the surf and eating everything in sight—for national and local print and online publications. She’s currently the editor of HAWAIʻI Magazine.

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