Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 20, 1994 TAG: 9409230002
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By ERIC ZORN CHICAGO TRIBUNE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Comic-book teen Archie Andrews has been dithering and dissembling for more than 50 years now in his romancing of these two young women - chasing Veronica, falling back on Betty, over and over, never able to settle down or figure it out.
He's perpetually in swoon for the shallow, self-absorbed, wealthy brunette Veronica Lodge, while the wholesome yet somewhat low-octane blonde, Betty Cooper, remains loyally at his call. This soap opera of semi-requited love tends to capture the imagination sometime in the later elementary grades, then usually lets go when readers reach adolescence themselves and find that the puzzles of life aren't nearly so tidy yet madcap as they are at Riverdale High.
And in the same way that young women in other eras defined themselves as either Paul (McCartney) girls or John (Lennon) girls; Davy (Jones) girls or Mike (Nesmith) girls, young men since the early 1940s have thought of themselves as either Veronica boys or Betty boys.
Veronica boys like a little mystery and sass in their women, a generous dash of adventure and tempest in love. If it comes easy, Veronica boys don't think it's worth having.
Betty boys are wary of challenge. We're the same boys who preferred Mary Ann over Ginger in ``Gilligan's Island,'' admirers of a certain down-to-earth steadiness in women, a constancy in character, affection and mood. We like those Betty values. Also, frankly, the Veronicas of the world intimidate the hell out of us.
We understand Archie's hesitations, though. Many of us experienced them ourselves as we tried on different personalities while growing up, seeing if our lives could ever resemble cologne ads. We, too, were drawn helplessly to our Veronicas.
But now, according to the breathless publicity from Archie Comic Publications Inc., ``This fall ... Archie Andrews must make the decision of a lifetime!'' In a series of four comic books, the last of which will be published at the end of this month, Betty and Veronica will wage an ``all-out war'' for Archie.
``In the end,'' promises the press release, ``only one will be left standing'' - Betty, Veronica or a mysterious old flame who has resurfaced but whose identity has yet to be revealed.
Betty will be the wise choice. She has been the solid favorite of fans who have weighed in to the publisher, and she trounced her flighty, scheming rival in a recent Kansas newspaper poll.
``Betty would make a really good lifetime companion,'' said Paul Castiglia, spokesman for Archie Comics and a brother Betty boy. ``She's well-rounded, she's smart, she listens, she'll be your best friend. I don't know why Archie wouldn't just go with her.''
But would that really be a happy turn of events? This Betty boy has got to wonder if Archie and Veronica don't somehow deserve one another. He's been a shallow cad all these years, though an amiable one, hungering for Veronica at Betty's expense and taking advantage of Betty's good nature to play the girls off one another.
Truly caring Betty boys may root for Veronica to prevail. Doesn't our gal deserve a better mate? Jughead, say? He always seemed to have a certain blithe integrity.
Of course it will never happen. The whole ``love showdown'' reeks of a cheap ploy to sell comic books, a mock apocalypse along the lines of the death of Superman that, like the death of Superman, is fated to become an easily correctable plot digression.
The goofy but somehow resonant love triangle is, after all, the cornerstone of the entire Archie empire, an empire that sells a reported 14 to 16 million comic books a year and is now expanding its line of licensed merchandise and trying to start an Archie restaurant chain. Castiglia said a live-action Archie movie is under development at a major studio. Shannen Doherty is reportedly up for the Veronica role.
``We say Archie `may choose' between the two,'' said Castiglia, calling attention to the precise wording of his news release. ``We'll see some realignments in the character relationships after this, but the day we don't have Betty and Veronica fighting over Archie is the day we're out of business.
``Ultimately, you know as well as I do why we're doing this.''
I'm shocked. Betty boys are not usually so cynical.
by CNB