“You are my obsession, You’re my obsession” - Archie Comics

Day 86

One of my earliest memories of living in Orem, Utah was when I was given an Archie comic book. It was just a few years later that I became a collector of these comic books and developed quite an obsession.

For those unfamiliar with Archie comic books here’s the lowdown: Archie Andrews is the main guy, a red-headed teenager surrounded by several friends in the town of Riverdale U.S.A.; Veronica Lodge is the wealthy and spoiled, ravishing raven-haired love interest of Archie (but not his only love interest); his other love interest is Betty Cooper, a kind and clever, beautiful blonde; Archie’s best friend is Forsythe P. Jones (whom everyone calls ‘Jughead’) with an insatiable appetite--a true food lover; Archie’s friend/rival (I guess you’d call him the original “frenemy”) is the conceited, egotistical dark-haired Reggie Mantle. There were several additional characters, but these were the main ones.

Anyway, back to my collecting days. I started collecting Archie comics in 1985. Often I would walk to the nearest 7-11 and buy the comics off of the stand (as well as a Slurpee). When I moved with my family to Rigby, Idaho I would buy the comics at the mall, usually at either Waldenbooks or B. Dalton bookstores. I built up a decent collection, but then one day my cousin Matt (a truly avid, dedicated comic book/graphic novel collector) donated all of his Archie comic books and digests, which practically tripled my collection! [In case I didn’t thank you, THANK YOU MATT!!] This is what my collections look like today:

Back in the day (gee, I feel so old when I use that expression!) the comic books cost about 65 cents when I started collecting, and soon the price went up to 75 cents (the 1980s were all about inflation, you know); eventually these flimsy, thin comics cost as much as $2.00, if not more!! And then there were the comic digests, which originally cost $1.25 and gradually spiked up to almost $4.00!! I stopped collecting in the early 1990s, but I saved all of the comics and digests.

When I started my new obsession of scrap booking, I decided to devote a scrapbook to Archie comics, and using my printer/scanner I was able to copy various covers and items from the comic books. I loved the “Pin Ups.”

Then there were the “Fashion” pages in the comics, where readers could draw and submit their fashion ideas, and many would be chosen and featured. Because I loved drawing and I loved the Archie comics I sketched some fashions from time to time, although I never was brave enough to submit them.

I never quite got into the Marvel comics or any of the graphic novels, like my cousin Matt did, but I did love Archie comics and I am glad that I’ve kept these comics all of these years. Maybe someday I can share them and pass them on to someone else…