Archie #26

Story by: Mark Waid

Art by: Audrey Mok

Colors by: Kelly Fitzpatrick

Published by: Archie Comics

This iteration of the Archie comics continues to impress from month to month. And that is no easy feat, especially when you have such an extensive cast - and thankfully, Waid has decided to utilize pretty much all of the extended Archie universe which is a lot of fun.

This month, Waid concentrates on the relationship aspect of the characters, namely Archie, Betty, Veronica (of course), but with a surprise addition: Dilton Doiley! Waid has been dropping hints throughout the series of Dilton having feelings for Betty, and we finally get somewhat of a payoff in this issue.

Additionally, we continue to see the continuing evolution of the friendship between Archie and Betty. Ever since being confined to a wheelchair, Archie has tried his best to be there for Betty in any fashion he can, even if it means drawing the ire of Betty’s dad. Waid also, in a masterful stroke, gives a callback to an earlier issue where we saw a young Betty tell a young Archie that she would always be there when he falls. This time, the roles are reversed as Archie wants nothing more than to be there for his friend on her road to recovery and utters that same line back to her.

From Veronica’s point of view however, this new evolution of Archie and Betty’s friendship seems to be, at least for her, bringing out Archie’s true feelings that she is unable to deal with. This all leads to the end of the issue confrontation between the two. This is all parallelled with the situation brewing between Betty and Dilton.

Month in and month out, Audrey Mok is fast becoming one of my favorite artists. Everything she does is crisp and clean and jumps off the page. However, I have to give her extra props this month for the incredibly fun sequence of Moose riding Tonie’s Dilton-modified scooter. Visual gags are a staple of Archie comics, and this was an extremely fun one this month.