The Archies in India - Archie Superstars - ★

AUTHOR TEAM: Archie Superstars

GENRE: Comic.

PUBLICATION DATE: February 21, 2023

RATING: 1 star!

In a Nutshell: Super cringe-y!

My younger daughter warned me against reading this book, saying she found it utterly boring. But my curiosity got the better of me. It's the Archies, after all! The staple comic of my youth, despite its obvious red flags. I used to love the characters, and assumed that seeing them in India would work as a pleasant combination of nostalgia and curiosity.

Remind me never to question my daughter's tastes again.

Not many outside India might know that there was a special Bollywood adaptation of ‘The Archies’ released in 2023 by a top production studio. Don’t bother looking it up. The movie was awful! But on that momentous occasion, the producers and the Archies team teamed up to release this special comics collection. Turns out, this collection is even more awful than the movie.

This book includes every story where Archie and his friends have travelled to India. Of the seven stories, only one is an original work. ‘Veronica in India’ is the oldest of the lot, taken from a 1989 issue, so I suppose that explains why it feels so stereotypical. The remaining five are republished comics from between 2007 to 2017.

Because of this hodgepodge collection from varied comics, the stories don’t have any continuity. Several situations are repeated, as though the characters in each tale have no memory of their earlier sojourn to India. One of the storylines was weird, with Betty and Veronica swapping places but the swap was clearly much more than a simple interchange of places; they seem to have changed their appearance as well. It was tough to remember that Betty was Veronica and vice versa when they were sketched the usual way.

The endings also feel quite abrupt in most cases. One story even has a cliffhanger, with a continuation in some other comic altogether – not fair to have such a story in a special collection!

Though the characters are in India, their behaviour is exactly the same. Archie is still running behind every pretty girl he can find, and Betty and Veronica are still (mostly) running behind him. In fact, in one comic, Archie is juggling across four girls, though he "loves" (His word, not mine!) only one of them. It was quite strange for me to see the target of this “love” being Valerie from ‘Josie and the Pussycats’! In my childhood comics, the two never even interacted!

Strangely (to me), many of the Indian characters are also depicted the same way, with more interest in dating and flirting and partying. It felt like a “wishful thinking” portrayal of India. None of the Indian characters or their behaviour felt realistic to me.

As this is an American version of India, it goes without saying that stereotypes abound. Almost all the storylines were idiotic, whether in terms of plot development or character development. The worse was the depiction of Bollywood movies, though honestly, I can't say that it was entirely undeserved. But to my surprise, there is plenty of positive reinforcement as well. Except for the outdated 1989 story, the comics highlight the appeal of Indian food, monuments, culture and the friendliness of the people.

That said, there are plenty of errors about India in the book. (Some of you might just ask me to chill as this isn't historical fiction. But would you react the same way if you see an Indian comic depicting characters visiting the White House in one panel and being at the Golden Gate Bridge in the next, on a single day with no obvious plane/car travel?)

Here’s a list just in case any American wants to do a True or False check against the “facts” depicted in this comic.

❌ There’s no tuktuk in India. We only have auto rickshaws.

❌ Only one person can sit at the front of the auto, and this would be at the centre. No auto has two seats in the front with steering in one side. Don’t assume that it’s like a car.

❌ There’s no way a character can travel to Taj Mahal (in Agra) and the Ganges (possibly at the Benares ghat) and Jaipur Zoo within a day without using the airplane. Another comic shows a character going from an Agra monument to a Mumbai museum within the blink of an eye. Someone in the publisher’s team needed geography lessons.

❌ You can't ride elephants in any Indian zoos, definitely not at Jaipur Zoo. Don’t confuse zoos with safaris.

❌ Curry isn't an Indian spice. 😬🙄🤦🏻‍♀️

❌ A polar bear in an Indian game reserve? C’mon! You wanna kill the poor bear in this tropical heat?

❌ There's no coliseum in Mumbai! Trust this Mumbaikar.

❌ Bollywood is not India's movie industry. It's just the term for the Hindi movie industry in Mumbai.

❌ The outfits. Most of the Indian men are in western clothes and the women are mainly in salwar kameez or sarees, some even covering their head. Bruh! The silliest was the scene showing a prince welcoming his American visitors wearing shorts. No Indian royal would ever do this!

❌ On that note, the saree isn't a dress with a dupatta. The saree also isn’t a bralette with a skirt. What is shown below is absolutely NOT a saree.

I don’t mind illustrations of white people wearing our clothes and hopefully appreciating our culture, but do it the right way. What is on the cover is the best and only accurate illustration of Indian women’s apparel. I guess kurtas were easier to sketch!

❌ Another oddity in the illustrations. What’s with the suit obsession? A Bollywood producer wears a suit and tie in office!? Video game developers are in suits! Even the local goons wear suits! 😂😂 Easy to guess the illustrators haven't ever visited urban India! 

Overall, this might work if you are a Western fan of Archie comics and want to see a blend of Riverdale with *exotic* India. If you are an Indian, stay away from this dimaag-ka-dahi bananewala comic.

This was a library read.