What am I doing here? Read this, this and this to find out more...

List of companies, brands, organizations, entertainments, fictional characters, celebrities, etc. in the Archie Universe(s)

Archie’s Pal, Jughead Comics #177 (December 2006)

Companies & Brands

Aqua Gulp – A brand of bottled water.

Junk Juice – A brand of bottled juice.

Gutbusters – A resturant in Riverdale.  Apparently part of a chain. 

What am I doing here? Read this, this and this to find out more...

List of companies, brands, organizations, entertainments, fictional characters, celebrities, etc. in the Archie Universe(s)

Archie’s Pal, Jughead Comics #189 (July 2008)

Grocery Mart – A grocery store in Riverdale.

What am I doing here? Read this, this and this to find out more...

List of companies, brands, organizations, entertainments, fictional characters, celebrities, etc. in the Archie Universe(s)

What am I doing here? Read this, this and this to find out more...

List of companies, brands, organizations, entertainments, fictional characters, celebrities, etc. in the Archie Universe(s)

Jughead’s Double Digest Magazine #138 (May 2008)

Companies & Brands

Annie’s Gifts – A store in Riverdale.  Only the sign is seen.

Bijou – A concert venue in Riverdale.  Given the name, it may be a former movie theater. (R)

Burger Palace – A diner-style restaurant in Riverdale. (R)

Charles Chocolatier – A candy store in Riverdale. (R)

Kwik Snak – A lunch-counter-style quick service restaurant in Riverdale. (R)

McWendles – A huge nationwide fast food burger chain.  They use a clown in their advertising.  Owned by Dave Krocker.  They bought out Pop’s (below).  Their name is a combination of McDonald's and Wendy’s. (R)

Myers Dairy – A local home-delivery dairy in Riverdale in 1949.

Pop’s – (Not what you are thinking!)  A small but growing fast food burger chain.  When they moved into Riverdale, they had a trademark conflict with Pop’s Choklit Shop.  The conflict was resolved when Pop’s (the fast food chain) was bought by McWendles and the Pop’s name was retired. (R)

QwikE Mart – A convenience store.  It only appeared in Jughead’s daydream; the brand may not actually exist. (R)

Rae & Roger’s Reality – A real estate brokerage in Riverdale.  Only the sign is seen. (R)

Riverdale Museum of Natural History – A science museum in Riverdale. A dinosaur skeleton discovered by Archie and Jughead is on display there. (R)

Vic’s Superstar Video – A video rental store.  It only appeared in Archie’s daydream; the brand may not actually exist. (R)

 Entertainments and Fictional Characters

Curse of the Mummy – A movie showing in Riverdale in 1949.

Gangsters, The – A movie showing in Riverdale in 1949.

Monster – A movie showing in Riverdale in 1949.

Petty Theft – A DVD available for rental.  It only appeared in Archie’s daydream; it may not actually exist. (R)

Suspicion Unknown – A movie. (R)

Celebrities

Airfield – An unknown act plying at the Bijou.  Maybe a rock band? (R)

Krocker, Dave – Owner of McWendells fast food restaurants.  A friend of Mr Lodge.  His name is a combination of Ray Kroc and Dave Thomas. (R)

Mysto – A stage hypnotist.  He appeared at the Bijou when he performed in Riverdale. (R)

Organizations

National Hamburger Buffet Club – Nothing is known about this organization except its name, and the fact that Jughead’s cousin Nathan thinks a membership would be a good gift for Jughead. (R)

Remember when I was doing this last year...why did I stop? Oh yeah, it was because I was going to find someplace else to do it besides here in my journal. Well, I still plan on doing that, but until then here are a couple more I just did today....

List of companies, brands, organizations, entertainments, fictional characters, celebrities, etc. in the Archie Universe(s)

Archie’s Pal, Jughead Comics #188 (May 2008)

Companies & Brands

Corn Dogs Plus – A fast food restaurant in Riverdale Mall. Jughead won a year’s supply of corn dogs there once.

Krusty Kreme Donuts – A donut shop in Riverdale whose donuts are best when they are fresh. A parody of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts.

Riverdale Men’s Wear – A men’s wear store in Riverdale.

Samm’s Hometown Bakery – A bakery in Riverdale. I assume it is named after longtime Jughead artist Samm Schwartz.

Stuff ‘N’ Stuff – A “make your own stuffed animal” store in Riverdale Mall. Jughead and Jellybean attended the grand opening.

Betty #173 (June 200)

Companies & Brands

Gerard’s – A fine dine restaurant in Riverdale. Betty waitressed there for a while. Owned by Gerard (unknown if that is his first or last name). Another waitress is named Leslie.

Shoe World – See Laugh Digest Magazine # 153. In this issue, it appears only in Ethel’s daydream.

Not everything I got today, but the ones I found notable...


Comic Book Comics #1

• Disney as Mickey Mouse -- it works better than you would think
• Cthulhu on the bread line
• Chesty the dwarf
• Blue Beetle with a plunger
• Golden-age super-heroes Tighty & Whitey

Jughead's Double Digest

• Contains a complete reprint of Archie's Pal Jughead #1 from 1949!
• I wonder if Jughead #1 was a rush job?  I ask because two of the stories have very similar themes (Jughead uses an experimental scientific discovery to help Riverdale win a football game) and it is weird that they would end up in the same comic book together.  If both stories were originally intended for separate issues of Pep or Laugh, then they make more sense...

• The silver foil effect on this cover is beautifully done 
• I didn't have the slightest idea what this was going to be about, and if I described the plot it would sound like pure comic book cliche, but it's Terry Moore and it's great

I picked up a few more new comics this week:


Betty #164 -- This is one of ArchieCo's most consistently good comics, but it's almost never great, and (due to the low-key slice-of-life nature of the stories) it is not very funny.  I'm thinking I've had enough of it, may drop it soon...  This issue also features a Batman/Cal Rifkin, Jr. team-up where bubble gum saves the day...


Jughead & Friends Digest Magazine #19 -- Featuring a new That Wilkin Boy story, only 18 months after the last one!  Jughead tries to set up Bingo and W.W.  Of course that doesn't work (there's no splitting up Bingo and Samantha), but it's another fun chapter in the W.W. saga, and a reminder that That Wilkin Boy still exists.

And again, a few more things are established about the revamped That Wilkin Boy:

1. Bingo and the rest live in a town named Midville.  Is that new, or from the 70s?  And is it related to Midvale, the town where Josie and the Pussycats live?
2. Samantha has a good friend named Emma.  Is she new?

Here's the review I promised yesterday...

After all the hype, the actual story is really pretty lame.  It's obvious that it only exists to re-introduce the cast of That Wilkin Boy to a new generation, and plot and jokes came second.  And as an introduction, it leaves out my favorite bit of shtick:  the fact that Bingo is terrible at sports, and Sam is really good  --  after all, this is the main reason why Sams's father doesn't think Bingo is good enough for his little girl.  Except for that, it provides some good context for the That Wilkin Boy reprints in the back, so I can't be too hard on it...

Now to talk about a few new fun continunity things this story establishes:

1) Uncle Herman is uncle to both Bingo and Jughead on their mothers' sides.  So Herman, Wilma Wilkin (Bingo's mom) and Mrs. Jones (Jughead's mom, whose first name I don't remember) are siblings (Herman is the oldest, which is obvious when you look at him, but is also confirmed in the dialog), and Bingo & Jughead are first cousins.  Herman's last name (which would also be Wilma & Mrs. Jones's maiden name) is not given in the story.

2) Bingo's real name is Woodrow Wilkin III.  (I don't actually know if this is new or not.)  That would imply that his father Willie Wilkin is really named Woodrow Wilkin Jr., but it's not absolute proof as Bingo could be named after another relative.

3) Jughead's real name is given (by Herman) as Forsythe P. Jones III.  I have never seen the "III" attached to it before.  Is this new, a mistake, or a little joke by Herman?

So, does this all fit with what has gone before?  Well, I am far from an expert on That Wilkin Boy, but one of the old reprinted stories in this very issue gives Herman's  full name as Herman "Scooter" Wilkin, meaning that back in the 70's Herman was supposed to be Willie's brother, not Wilma's.  Oops!

NOTE: If any of you are confused by all my references to the That Wilkin Boy cast, I would be glad to explain.  Just ask!