Today we take a trip back to June of 1972. The image above is the cover art of my Betty and Veronica from the Archie series. However, it doesn’t seem to reflect summer at all. Note the brown leaf on the ground. It reads more like a back-to-school issue.
Obviously, when I started collecting Archies as a child, I had no notion of female objectification, and was clueless to the rampant innuendo in the comics. All I knew is I liked the artwork, teenagers were cool, and they had style. In fact, if nothing else, Archie magazines reflect the style of the times. I mean, how much shorter could Veronica’s mini skirt get? She had a wardrobe malfunction nearly 50 years ago. Plus, we get a bonus shot of a coiffed hairstyle and checkerboard collar. Yay, 70s!
For a fashion-focused lass like myself, Betty seemed the height of fashion in her mushroom blouse and patchwork pockets.
In fact, patches were de rigueur for males as well. Archie forfeited his time with Veronica, in order to have Betty sew patches on his army jacket. Note two things you rarely see these days: a woman sewing and a TV with legs.
So while you may not count me among the comic book nerds of The Big Bang Theory, I do assert the value of comics in reflecting the current times. (They were a’changing.) Dig Archie’s groovy stripes and denim vest. Right on!
I Don't Get It 
As you might surmise, I am horrified by the objectification of women in this old comic. Having said that, both Betty and Veronica have a nice rack.
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I know! It’s one of the things I coveted, for myself, of course. Nobody wants to look at a comic full of Big Ethels.
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I used to do some of that coveting too along with detailed perusal of the Sears catalog ladies under garment sections. Ah, the pre-internet years of youth.
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You use what you got. Plus, you develop necessary skills of imagination that watching an orgy of furries on your new iPod just doesn’t foster.
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Woah! How’d you get access to Beto O’Rourke’s iPod? (My one and only Texas political joke.)
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Well-played. Well-played. (It fell out of his back pocket made of sustainable denim, while he mounted yet another reclaimed wood restaurant table to deliver an ill-founded speech. He does so love standing atop things. It’s like a reverse Napoleon complex for a tall man who desperately needs validation.)
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😂😂😂😂
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Whether you were camp Betty or camp Veronica probably played more of a factor into whether boy Archie readers’ first real-life crush was on a blonde or a brunette than society realized back then, Kerbey. Betty, here, I somewhat recall more than a half-century later.
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I bet you’re right.Plus, Betty was much less high maintenance!
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I remember Archie and company very well. I’m with you about the artwork. Also it had some clever writing and humor. Of course the more violent ones were my faves. I started reading them when they cost a nickle; stopped when they reached a quarter. Thanks for the memories.
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Comics for mere coins! I suppose it is the nature of man to like the violent ones. Men and women are so different.
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