ironywatch: archie comics .com
written by geoffrey on 06/19/08

i’m always on the look out for new things to appreciate ironically. this is ironywatch.

have you read an archie comic recently? good! then surely you’ve noticed that all your favorite characters — archie, veronica, moose — have been stuck in a strange time-warp. their clothing and language mimic modern times, but their mannerisms, character conflicts and art style are stuck in the 40’s. yes, this dinosaur of a strip has aged hilariously over the years.

nowhere is this more apparent than archiecomics.com. for example, all of the main archie characters have blogs (what? no mr. weatherblog?). here’s the header from betty’s…

if someone from the 40’s were to travel today and was vaguely explained the concept of a “blog,” i guarantee that is how they’d use the term in conversation. in the text of the blog, betty uses such popular phrases as “lol” and “omg,” and writes: “i wonder if my dad likes anime?” i guess the writer has a sheet in front of them with terms kids use, and tries to work in as many as possible, so that betty feels like she’s from our time.

but she is not.

even the design of archiecomics.com feels retro, in an early 90’s, “i paid a guy $3500 to create a snazzy looking webbed site” way. the design and graphics look so old, it somehow feels like a web page built in the 40’s. that’s an amazing feat.

so, for deciding to bring archie comics into the modern era — but only so much — i’m putting archiecomics.com on ironywatch. add the archie fan art section to your daily reads for 200 ironybucks, redeemable for a subscription to pals ‘n gals digest.

6 comments


filed under comics, ironywatch

related stories

u.s. of archie: seriously?
ham radio adventures are not actual adventures
ironywatch: sega superstars tennis

6 comments

  1. HexenDarkside Jun 19

    Haha. After reading a few, I completely see what your talking about. Its odd when comics that have been around forever do that. Perhaps Mary Worth will get a Wii, and Ziggy will star in a comedy with Will Farrell (Comedy would be a new thing for Ziggy.) anyway, this is one of my favorite articles on Overtime for awhile, keep it up.

  2. geoffrey Jun 20

    here’s my pitch:

    will ferrell and ziggy star in “the sticks,” about two middle aged brothers living in “the sticks”, who decide to turn their little town into the lacrosse (”sticks”) capital of the world. but will competition drive them apart?

    thanks for the props, hexen!

  3. Alex Jun 20

    Wow. I remember the Archie Comics site looking just like this about ten years ago.

    I find it pretty disturbing that Betty’s blog is likely written by some dumpy middle aged man.

  4. geoffrey Jun 20

    a dumpy, middle aged man who is completely in love with betty.

  5. doomed May 16

    LOL this story is almost a year old but I swear, funniest shit ever, I just looked at “Betty’s Blog” after stumbling across OTC.com and well look at her blog dated April 30th, now is it me or does that title say “All wet”???? WTF made worse by the fact she goes on about how excited she is lmao “do you like seafood?”
    Hmmm sure that smell is tuna betty? my be time to see the school nurse about that rash….lmfao my god they so kill the characters we grew up on these days huh?

    Got a feeling my “reply” to her post won’t get approved by Betty.
    But it may get the titled changed so head over and screenshot “Archies Betty” all wet before it vanishes…LOL seriously, this might be simple but it’ll have me giggling all day.

  6. doomed May 16

    Hope this works…..

leave a reply