Archie: Love Showdown

Archie & Friends All-Stars #18

by Dan Parent

Before The Married Life , before Archie asked, "Will You Marry Me?" , there was the Love Showdown . Archie decides he is finally going to make up his mind and choose his true love. On hearing this, Betty and Veronica fight for his affections tooth and nail with wits and wiles... who will come out the winner? Fan-favorite "bad girl" Cheryl Blossom returns to the mix as well, ensuring that the romantic hijinx are at an all-time high... and that Archie's decision is harder than ever!

The Love Showdown is in the Archie record books as its most popular comic book story of the 90s and a perennial book title. This brand new edition updates the original Love Showdown graphic novel with 80 new pages of material. Includes the original 4-part story, the follow-up "Love Showdown Special", plus bonus Cheryl Blossom stories!

A must-have milestone edition for Archie fans of any age.

Genres: Comics, Romance, Graphic Novels, Humor

128 pages, Paperback

First published October 23, 2012

About the author

Dan Parent is an American comic book artist and writer best known for his work for Archie Comics.

Reviews

[Breanna Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

The original Love Showdown story was cute and fun (though fairly typical), and had a lot of funny moments... overall really enjoyable. Love Showdown Special wasn't bad, but went on waaaaay too long. Love Showdown II was my least favorite story, and while it was cute enough, it didn't really add anything to the overall narrative... and the premise was really silly (and though it was the newest story included, the reality tv premise made it the most dated of the bunch).

[Rafidah]

I mean, it’s Archie. Sugar, honey honey.

[Ashleigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I believe this is the sexiest I've ever seen Archie characters drawn, soooo much talk of being "turned on" and more raunchy material. It's nice though, because everything here is canon: Veronica sucks at cooking, Betty can fix cars, etc... However, I would like to know more about Jughead's magical pin that makes women attracted to him.

I don't understand why Archie hasn't started churning out longer, continuous stories like this.

It's super interesting from an Archie Married Life standpoint:

1) Jason, here and in singles stories, likes Betty over Veronica, but hasn't interacted with her at all in the Married Life story (where he has grown up to be fugly).

2) In a future dream sequence Jughead and Ethel are dreamed up as married and own a burger chain.

3) After Love Showdown 2, Cheryl's family has lost their money and Veronica's dad hired Cheryl's dad. Which might explain why Jason works for Hiriam in Married Life?

[Nikki Gutierrez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cheryl returns and Ronnie decides to invite Cheryl and their friends to her lodge to get Cheryl in their territory. When Cheryl appears with Archie, Ronnie tries to make him jealous by flirting with Reggie, which Archie didn't mind. But when Cheryl's brother arrives and partners up with Betty, Archie gets angry, which angered Cheryl too. The day ended with Betty and Ronnie with Jason, Cheryl with Reggie, and Archie alone. He decides he wants to be with Betty but just when he was about to confess, a new girl appears, and Archie is off again. Lol. It's a funny read as well.

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Public library copy.

The double page spread by Dan DeCarlo looked sensational.

[Rachael · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic archie story line - gotta love to hate Cheryl haha