ARCHIE DIGEST MAGAZINE #230 REVIEW

[Blake Petit]

Review by: Blake M. Petit Blake@comixtreme.com
Quick Rating: Good
Title: Holidazed and Confused and other stories

When Archie loses his voice, the gang’s Christmas Caroling goes down the tubes.

Writer: Fernando Ruiz and others
Pencils: Fernando Ruiz and others
Inks: Jon D’Agostino and others
Colors: Holly Daiz and others
Letters: Jon D’Agostino and others
Editor: Nelson Ribiero & Victor Gorelick
Cover Art: Stan Goldberg & Jon D’Agostino
Publisher: Archie Comics

Archie gets seasonal again with this months’ 96-page digest full of new and classic stories. Kicking off the collection is “Holidazed and Confused” by Fernando Ruiz. Archie convinces the gang to organize a Christmas Caroling event to help raise money for the local senior citizens’ center. When Archie gets sick and his voice goes out, though, the gang’s good will may be thwarted.

This is just the first of a pretty fun collection. “It’s a Mess” shows Archie getting distracted as he tries to clean his room in time for a date with Veronica, and in “That’s the Breaks,” Archie and Reggie concoct a scheme to meet new girls when the guys take a trip to a ski lodge. Naturally, as always seems to happen with Archie, things backfire in a particularly humorous way.

In “Test Case,” Betty and Veronica get competitive over who can get the best chemistry grade, with poor Archie caught in the middle, and “The Big Turnaround” shows how even on the sidelines, Archie can be the star of the football team.

The book comes back around to some seasonal tales at the end, such as “Chill Thrill” – in which Jughead tries to escape the frozen Riverdale winter with some warm thoughts – and “Good Skates,” featuring Archie and Reggie getting competitive on the ice. The book ends with perhaps the sweetest story, “Whatever Happened to Mom and Dad?” When Archie blows off helping his parents decorate their Christmas tree, Fred and Mary Andrews spend the day remembering their own teenage years, and how they fell in love. Not your typical Archie story, but a very sweet one that I enjoyed quite a bit.

As always, the Archie digests are a really good buy, and well worth it for the comic fan who wants some quick grins.

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