"The Man from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E." Review

To think--it all started wit a childhood birthday gift. That's all it took for me to become a lifelong fan of Archie Comics. I've been reading Archie Comics in some form for 33 years. Comic books, digests, double digests, subscribing, buying old ones from friends, and yes, online. I pretty much know the odds and ends of Archie Comics, from the stories to the TV adaptations--one of the most notable ones being the Riverdale series that aired for seven seasons on The CW.

One of the many things I love about Archie Comics is the alternate universes, and there are a long list of them. A few weeks ago, for the first time in a long time, I ordered some Archie Comics stuff--a pair of graphic novels. One of them is one I just absolutely love: The Man from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E.

Regarding The Man from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E., this universe set Archie and friends as secret spies fighting all sorts of unsavory and sinister villains who want to take over the world by any means necessary. The stories were released throughout 1966 and 1967, and served as an homage to the spy genre that hit TV and film during that same decade. Despite the broad similarities, it's clear that The Man from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E., is a clear homage to the series, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., which aired from 1964-68.

While The Man from U.N.C.L.E. had the titular heroic organization, The Man from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E. had its characters as part of the organization known as P.O.P., which appears to be named after Pop Tate, but is an acronym that stands for "Protect Our Planet." The TV series' enemy group was known as "Thrush," but in The Man from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E., the villainous group was known as C.R.U.S.H., and they had various notorious villains and even evil agents working for them. Another trait was that the names of the Archie gang were written in acronym form; i.e., A.R.C.H.I.E., J.U.G.H.E.A.D., B.E.T.T.Y., etc.

The graphic novel is not a "complete collection" books, as while 25 such stories were released, mainly in issues of Life with Archie, 19 of them are featured in the graphic novel. It's an amazing graphic novel; I've read some of the stories in digests before, so I knew I would be getting something good when I ordered this novel from the Archie Comics website.

Out of the many traits I adored about The Man from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E., there's one I just have to mention:

See, not all of the members of the Archie gang were heroes. While Archie, Jughead, and Betty were fighting for P.O.P., some stories had some of their friends on the side of C.R.U.S.H., usually Reggie (stylized as R.E.G.G.I.E.) and Veronica (stylized as V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A.). So yeah, Veronica was a villainess in some of these stories, which is no surprise; some role playing stories I've read have cast Veronica in antagonistic roles. Even less surprising was that Veronica was the lead villain, because let's face it, she's much smarter than Reggie.

The first time I ever read a Man from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E. story was when I read "The Clip Pressing Affair" (which is not featured in the graphic novel), and this was Veronica's best villainous role in the series. Though Reggie, Veronica, and Moose were P.O.P. agents in the story, it was clear that they were plotting to overthrow the organization. Veronica's evil plan included stealing a fountain pen that could fire one of three things: a laser beam, a samurai sword, or a custard pie. Jughead's suspicions about the group stealing the pen were quickly confirmed when the evil Veronica pointed the pen at Jughead, only to fire the custard pie.

Later stories showed Reggie and Veronica on the side of good with P.O.P., but even then, they just couldn't let go of those rivalries. Archie and Reggie were at odds, usually for Veronica, but also for leadership on P.O.P., and Betty and Veronica dueled over Archie. In spite of it all, the group often stood tall against C.R.U.S.H.'s most dangerous foes.

When I received this graphic novel in the mail, I couldn't put it down! I re-read it so many times in such a short span; it is just so amazing! I love Archie Comics; have for years, and I am ecstatic that they are out in the form of graphic novels! The Man from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E. is a fantastic read, and I absolutely love the mix of action, intrigue, and hilarity that only Archie Comics can deliver!