Archie 1955 Trade Paperback Collection - REVIEW
The Archie 1955 TP is out June 17, 2020.
By Jacob Cordas — My comfort food is Parks and Recreation. When my depression takes over and I can’t imagine any existence that doesn’t involve couch lock, I put on Parks and Rec. And I watch it for hours. It’s soothing. The character’s fundamental kindness and compassion can’t help but make me feel a little bit better. Everything in the show is just a few acts of kindness away from redemption and anyone who rejects that kindness is wrong. It’s comforting in a way I can consume forever.
But the same thing that makes it so comforting is the same reason why it can’t make a cogent point about the material it claims to be about. Ideology doesn’t matter in the show outside of kindness. However, as a show that’s firmly placed in the world of politics, a focus on kindness outside of ideology means undermining the very thing that the kindness is supposed to represent.
As a comic firmly about the music industry in the 1950s including the racial element that composed so much of the industry at the time (and let’s be frank still does), Archie 1955’s focus on just how gosh darn nice Archie is removes any point it tries to make.
It is also worth noting here that writer Mark Waid has a recent history of less than stellar handling of racial politics. While he was involved with the progressive (both in terms of content and creators) H1 line from Humanoids Publishing, Waid also helped bring out the Siancong War at Marvel, an ugly and racist reimagining of the Vietnam War that attempts to be timeless through the stylings of famously offensive war propaganda, and the absurdly poorly considered Strange Fruit, a comic about a Black alien in the South that wraps up white guilt in a nice bow. In her excellent review of Strange Fruit, J. A. Micheline wrote (while discussing the scene in which a Black man dresses what he understands to be another Black man in a Confederate Flag), “Because Waid… spent a lot of time considering what white folks are or aren’t going to like without once stopping to think about what black folks really ain’t gonna like.” And that is even more clear here where he can’t even be bothered to ask what his Black characters would like.
The plot of Archie 1955 is about Archie being introduced to the rock and roll stylings of Black musicians who are pioneering it, with no malicious intent stealing a song from one of those Black musicians (Big Earl Dixon), recording it and rising to the heights of Hollywood stardom with the help of Veronica and Big Earl Dixon, only to finally realize he doesn’t want to be a big time star. He goes to his hometown and fronts the bands of Big Earl Dixon while Big Earl Dixon smiles on passively from the side. In this accelerated but frank description, it’s clear Big Earl Dixon is an attempt to deal with and acknowledge the history of Black labor ignored in the making of rock and roll. But in that desire to make Archie such a great guy, Mark Waid and Brian Augustyn do the very thing that white musicians at the time did - they commodify the art while side lining the artist that made the narrative possible.
Watch Archie stand up to the white hegemony. See Archie stand up to the racist system by hanging out with people of color who, of course, give him shit for how he looks different. Watch Archie make sure Big Earl Dixon, a man who is so used to having his art stolen by white people that he “doesn’t pay it no mind”, gets a few dollars under the table. Watch Archie be such a good ally that he gets to perform in place of the Black man who made his career possible.
I want to ask this question very simply and clearly: Where was Big Earl Dixon during all of this story? While he is in every issue (and supposedly his words are sung all over this comic), I can’t begin to tell you anything about him. I know he makes good music. He’s a good performer. He considers himself something of a businessman (though outside of seeing the money he gets from Archie, there is no other evidence of that). I know he has played in the same club for at least three years. And I don’t know too much else. His purpose here is to provide Archie a path to success, not to get to walk the path with him, not even to get to look at the path from afar.
Oh. And I know that he is kind.
And Archie is kind. So this is all okay.
As long as the framework of kindness and well intention is used, there is only one possible result: everybody of value is kind so Archie can never be challenged. Archie can’t truly learn a lesson in this comic because nobody worth listening to pushes him. At the end of the day, the finale of the comic isn’t even Archie moving on from his dream, nor is it him truly showing respect for the artist that made his career possible. It’s Archie taking up a Black space because he’s a star that is choosing not to shine somewhere else. Archie doesn’t grow outside of finding out that maybe you don’t listen to the only resident in your town that has a mustache worth twirling.
It’s so infuriating how wrong it gets this. It is so much more infuriating when put in the context of the total Archie Comics line. Archie Comics has shown a willingness to grow and evolve with the times that is unmatched by any of the long standing companies. It has demonstrated a love and respect for experimentation. It has consistently pushed the boundaries in a way that cannot be undervalued. They have found unique and interesting takes for characters that you would think died out years ago. Mark Waid even helped with this and recently succeeded with the very good Archie 1941.
Hell, the preview at the back of this trade is for the sequel to quite possibly the best thing Archie Comics ever published, Archie: The Married Life. This is a series that sought to resolve the longest standing romantic triangle in comic’s history and fucking did it with easily the most daring structural experiments I’ve ever read. It did so with emotion and passion. It did it without sanitizing Archie. Archie isn’t always nice. Archie isn’t always good. He does his best, but he fails. Often. Even in the preview here, he fails.
But Archie 1955 never does. Archie drifts from problem to problem, carried on the backs of more interesting characters we don’t explore. Why would we? Kindness will prevail. The struggles of those supporting him don’t change that fact. The ideology that makes up their behavior doesn’t matter.
You can endure cruelty because kindness will always prevail. Except when you aren’t white. But apparently nobody told Mark Waid & Brian Augustyn that.
I would like to take a moment to reference how good the lettering is here before wrapping up. Glenn Whitmore has a massive variety of different styles of texts to work with and excels here. If there is anything that truly standouts, it is his perfect lettering. It’s a shame it’s saddled to this.
Archie 1955 Trade Paperback Review
Archie 1955 Trade Paperback
Writer: Brian Augustyn & Mark Waid
Penciler: Tom Grummett, Rick Burchett, Ray-Anthony Height, Derek Charm & Joe Eisma
Inks: Bob Smith, Rick Burchett, Ray-Anthony Height, Derek Charm & Joe Eisma
Colorist: Glenn Whitmore
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Publisher: Archie Comics
When Archie Andrews proves to a local DJ that he's got the makings of a hip-shaking stardom, he begins an ascent to fame that will carry with it both triumph and tragedy.
Release Date: June 17, 2020
Buy It Digitally: Archie 1955 via comiXology
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My name is Jacob Cordas (@Jacweasel) and I am not qualified to write this.