The Best of Archie: Christmas Comics - Archie Superstars - ★★★.½

AUTHOR: Archie Superstars

GENRE: Comic.

PUBLICATION DATE: October 20, 2020

RATING: 3.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: A collection of some of the best Christmas stories from Archies comics dating from the 1950s to the 2010s. A good option for those who want to enjoy the antics of Archie and gang with a festive flavour.

This comics compilation collects some wonderful Christmas tales published in Archies comics over the years. Most of the stories are either humorous or heartwarming; sometimes, both.

The stories are arranged in chronological order, with the first section coming from the 1950s and the final one from the 2010s. I am not a big fan of the newer comics. (This is true not just for Archie’s, but for most long-term comics.) The present-day stories simply don’t have the same appeal as the strips from a few decades before. So it was great to a major chunk for the book coming from the comics between 1950 to 2000, with just a handful of stories being from this century.

This book offers an interesting opportunity to see the evolution of the art and the characters over the years. Or perhaps I should say, the evolution of the female characters. Archie, Reggie, Jughead and most of the male characters remain almost exactly the same in appearance as well as in clothing, irrespective of the story being from the 1950s or more modern. However, the girls don’t fare the same way. It is a bit sad to see how much more sexualised Betty’s & Veronica’s portrayal becomes over the years. I guess it is representative of actual times, so I can't really complain about the comics, but I can certainly moan about modern society.

Funnily, while the art has changed over the decades, the plotlines haven’t. Whether the first comic or the last one, the concerns of the characters are the same. Betty and Veronica have regular tussles over Archie; Archie can't make up his mind about which one to pick; Reggie is still as devious; Jughead, still as hungry. It was nice to see several secondary characters such as Mr. Weatherbee, Ms. Grundy, Mr. Lodge, Smithers, Moose, Midge, Dilton, and many more pop up in the stories. The Archies isn’t just about the main trio, and these secondary characters are in many ways more appealing.

The Christmas element unfortunately was somewhat a mixed bag. Most of the comics focus on the travails of the commercial aspects of Christmas such as gifts, Santas, Christmas trees, decorations, food, and clothes. Barely a couple of the comics mentioned anything more truly connected to the heart of the festival such as carols. Then again, this is what Christmas is to much of the US crowd, isn't it? Whether in books or in movies, all we see is the materialistic celebrations than the religious foundation of the big day. So again, I cannot castigate the book much for this. It’s only reflecting our pretentious society.

The similarity of the themes also means that there is a certain déjà vu that seeps into the book after some point. I enjoyed the first half or so thoroughly, but as I kept reading, the stories felt like rehashed versions of the same few plot points.

Overall, if we keep aside the limitations of the genre (and of the mass commercialisation rampant in Christmas festivities nowadays), the comics do deliver as per their purpose and offer enough entertainment. Many of the stories, despite the repetitiveness of the themes and the outdatedness of some plotlines, will make fans chuckle. As a collection of Archies comics of Christmas time, the book delivers exactly what it promises.

Recommended to fans of Archie comics. This will make a good gifting option as well.