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Archie: The Married Life #4
Archie: The Married Life Book 4
The Eisner Award-nominated series The Married Life explores a grown-up Archie Andrews' life down two paths--if he had married girl-next-door Betty Cooper or wealthy socialite Veronica Lodge.
Hot on the heels of the historic marriage of Kevin Keller to Clay Walker in Book 3 , The Married Life Book 4 collects issues 19-24 of the popular newsstand publication Life with Archie Magazine !
This fourth volume includes the headline-grabbing stories of femme-fatale Cheryl Blossom's battle with cancer, the shooting of Clay Walker, and the subsequent Senate run of Clay's husband Kevin Keller. It also follows Reggie and Betty's moment in the reality-TV spotlight and the return to Riverdale of superstar band Josie and the Pussycats!
The Married Life series is the most critically acclaimed storyline in Archie's more than 70-year publishing history. This fourth volume features the adult Archie characters dealing with more realistic, mature circumstances with the humor and heart Archie fans expect.
Hot on the heels of the historic marriage of Kevin Keller to Clay Walker in Book 3 , The Married Life Book 4 collects issues 19-24 of the popular newsstand publication Life with Archie Magazine !
This fourth volume includes the headline-grabbing stories of femme-fatale Cheryl Blossom's battle with cancer, the shooting of Clay Walker, and the subsequent Senate run of Clay's husband Kevin Keller. It also follows Reggie and Betty's moment in the reality-TV spotlight and the return to Riverdale of superstar band Josie and the Pussycats!
The Married Life series is the most critically acclaimed storyline in Archie's more than 70-year publishing history. This fourth volume features the adult Archie characters dealing with more realistic, mature circumstances with the humor and heart Archie fans expect.
272 pages, Paperback
First published November 5, 2013
About the author
Paul Kupperberg
750 books55 followersPaul Kupperberg is a nearly 50-year veteran of the comic book industry as a writer and editor for DC Comics, Archie Comics, Marvel, Bongo Charlton, and many more. He is also the author of more than three dozen books of fiction and nonfiction for readers of all ages, as well as of short stories, articles, and essays for Crazy 8 Press, Heliosphere, Titan Books, Stone Arch Books, Rosen Publishing, Citadel Press, Pocket Books, TwoMorrows, and others.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 14, 2020
Once the Riverdale gang graduated high school, the timeline diverged into two. In one timeline, Archie married Betty and in the other, Archie married Veronica.
I haven't read Archie; the Married Life books 1-3 but I read the wedding special and I think I have a handle on what went down thanks to the "what happened before" sections at the beginning of each thread. This volume collects issues 19-24 of both Archie Marries Betty and Archie Marries Veronica.
I wasn't really sure what to expect with this. There's still a fair amount of humor but it's mostly the Archie gang doing adult things. The art is great and the ongoing storyline is very engaging. What the hell is Dilton up to? And what's Fred Mirth's deal?
My one gripe is that Betty is with Reggie in the timeline where Archie married Veronica. It doesn't ring true to me. Everything else kicks ass, though. Paul Kupperberg's writing makes the Archie gang more well rounded than they typically are and Fernando Ruiz and the Kennedy brothers knock the crap out of the art.
Only two unread Archie books in my house now!
I haven't read Archie; the Married Life books 1-3 but I read the wedding special and I think I have a handle on what went down thanks to the "what happened before" sections at the beginning of each thread. This volume collects issues 19-24 of both Archie Marries Betty and Archie Marries Veronica.
I wasn't really sure what to expect with this. There's still a fair amount of humor but it's mostly the Archie gang doing adult things. The art is great and the ongoing storyline is very engaging. What the hell is Dilton up to? And what's Fred Mirth's deal?
My one gripe is that Betty is with Reggie in the timeline where Archie married Veronica. It doesn't ring true to me. Everything else kicks ass, though. Paul Kupperberg's writing makes the Archie gang more well rounded than they typically are and Fernando Ruiz and the Kennedy brothers knock the crap out of the art.
Only two unread Archie books in my house now!
November 27, 2021
This is a collective review for Life With Archie: The Married Life, which is collected in six volumes.
I am not an Archie fan. Like most comics readers, I’m familiar with Archie - a brand that has been around for so long that even fi you aren’t a fan, even if you don’t buy the books, somehow, somewhere, you have read enough Archie to be familiar with the basic gist of it all:
Archie Andrews is an all-American teenager from the heartland city of Riverdale, where he runs a gauntlet of harmless misadventures that involve juggling his romances between rivals Veronica Lodge and Betty Cooper (each whom own an equal share of Archie’s attentions), and goofing with his friends, rivals and colleagues - Jughead, Reggie, Moose, Ethel, Midge, Chuck, Nancy, Cheryl, Kevin, Sabrina the Witch, Josie the Pussycats, and more. Along the way, he tangles with the adults in his life - mainly Veronica’s father, Hiram Lodge; Principal Weatherbee and Miss Grundy, who run Riverdale High; and occasionally Pop, who runs the Chocklit Shoppe, the local diner where everyone hangs out.
For the most part, the stories are nothing too dramatic; dealing with asking each other out on dates, pranking each other, riffs on typical high school rites of passage, etc. And for decades, this was Archie; a comic that aside from superficial updates that reflected the times (such as fashion, technology and slang), the comic remained trapped in amber. There was no character progression or meta plot, just a Groundhog’s Day of eternally repeating, low-stakes, harmless hi-jinks that was meant to be mild, fun, and safe. There’s a reason why so many grandparents buy Archie for their grandkids, even if they disapprove of comics.
In this way, Archie has been an extremely conservative comic. Not politically - it goes out of its way to steer clear of divisive issues, but when it does address them, it reflects the rising tide of the audience it serves, and even then it tries to aim for a middle road that offends no one. This is part of the whole trapped-in-amber thing. Archie and his pals, and Riverdale by extension, are meant to be a safe place where “at least somethings never change,” and where such a place is seen as something wholesome and embracing, rather than stifling and restrictive.
But that all did change in 2009, when a new generation rose to run Archie Comics, and after a brutal office battle (chronicled by an excellent 2012 article in the New York Times) resulted in the brand taking bold new changes with its property. New characters would be introduced (like Kevin Keller) who would reflect a more liberal society. The brand would also take the approach that after 75 years or so of pretty much running the same Archie stories forever, it would declare Archie and Riverdale to be a state of mind, and began running stories that were the Archie equivalent of DC’s Elseworlds - non-canonical, but fun takes on established canon. (Though it is worth noting that perhaps the most infamous of these - and maybe the one that established the idea of taking Archie in weird new directions - was 1994’s Archie Meets The Punisher.)
But supreme among these were a novel, and canonical, decision to finally have Archie propose to one of his girlfriends. As he did, there was a notion of him walking down Memory Lane and seeing how his life might play out if he settled down with Veronica or Betty. What resulted was an extended What If…? story in Life With Archie that became The Married Life, later collected in six massive volumes. The end of it all leads us to a plot point that was so surprising to readers that it made global headlines. The sixth volume tells you up front what it is, but I’ll spare you any spoilers so you can see them for yourself.
But in The Married Life, we get two parallel stories, one where Archie, married to Veronica, pursues a corporate life and one where Archie, married to Betty, returns to Riverdale High as a music teacher. Along the way, we get a lot of the same sort of low-stakes storytelling that makes Archie Archie—entire plot lines seem to magically appear out of thin air and are resolved fairly harmlessly not long after, with good results all around. But there are plot lines that have sticking power. We lose one character to terminal illness, and we see another fight bravely against cancer. We a character shot in cold blood during a robbery. We see one struggle with anger issues. We see couples wed, and have kids. We see them growing up and grown up, in a story that for the first time really shows us what life might be like in Riverdale if there really were consequences to one’s actions. (The Archie Wedding: Ten Years Later also tried this, with a look at life 10 years after Archie’s wedding, but it doesn’t come close to the storytelling we get in The Married Life, nor does it share any of The Married Life’s events.)
The Married Life is almost 2,000 pages, all told, and it is as deep a dive into Archie as one could hope for, slowly pulling you in and involving you in a ton of earned moments that slowly chisel away at your hardened heart, slowly eroding your cynicism so that by the final volume, you’re caring about these characters. You want to see how this all turns out. Notably, the parallel storylines that have run side by side for so long - and remain distinct even though the risk is so high for them to blur into each other - do converge at the end in a way that feels natural and right, offering a kind of resolution to both sides of this twin tale. Whether Archie married Veronica or Betty, the result is ultimately the same. And when this story comes to an end, you appreciate why farewells can be so hard.
There are a lot of folks out there who will never touch an Archie comic because they’re too simple, too square, too hokey. But you know, The Married Life is as earnest an attempt for a comic to reinvent itself not in some cheap ploy to gin up extra sales, but out of an honest effort to radically turn the clock forward on one of the oldest running comics out there so that readers new and old can read something new and relate to it. That’s pretty great. Not a lot of comic publishers have the will to do that, or the integrity to let it be driven by story. And even if The Married Life isn’t for you, it’s something every comic reader should take in, because it represents something that all comics should have, but so often lack: heart.
There are a ton of other Archie Comics to read after these. There is a modern reboot from which the TV show Riverdale was adapted. There are the non-canon riffs, like The Hunger (Jughead is a werewolf) and not one, but two go-rounds of Archie vs. The Predator. If Archie can be anywhere and in anything, well, then I’m here for it. The Married Life certainly disavowed me of the notion that I’m never going to enjoy Archie. And boy, am I glad that it did.
I am not an Archie fan. Like most comics readers, I’m familiar with Archie - a brand that has been around for so long that even fi you aren’t a fan, even if you don’t buy the books, somehow, somewhere, you have read enough Archie to be familiar with the basic gist of it all:
Archie Andrews is an all-American teenager from the heartland city of Riverdale, where he runs a gauntlet of harmless misadventures that involve juggling his romances between rivals Veronica Lodge and Betty Cooper (each whom own an equal share of Archie’s attentions), and goofing with his friends, rivals and colleagues - Jughead, Reggie, Moose, Ethel, Midge, Chuck, Nancy, Cheryl, Kevin, Sabrina the Witch, Josie the Pussycats, and more. Along the way, he tangles with the adults in his life - mainly Veronica’s father, Hiram Lodge; Principal Weatherbee and Miss Grundy, who run Riverdale High; and occasionally Pop, who runs the Chocklit Shoppe, the local diner where everyone hangs out.
For the most part, the stories are nothing too dramatic; dealing with asking each other out on dates, pranking each other, riffs on typical high school rites of passage, etc. And for decades, this was Archie; a comic that aside from superficial updates that reflected the times (such as fashion, technology and slang), the comic remained trapped in amber. There was no character progression or meta plot, just a Groundhog’s Day of eternally repeating, low-stakes, harmless hi-jinks that was meant to be mild, fun, and safe. There’s a reason why so many grandparents buy Archie for their grandkids, even if they disapprove of comics.
In this way, Archie has been an extremely conservative comic. Not politically - it goes out of its way to steer clear of divisive issues, but when it does address them, it reflects the rising tide of the audience it serves, and even then it tries to aim for a middle road that offends no one. This is part of the whole trapped-in-amber thing. Archie and his pals, and Riverdale by extension, are meant to be a safe place where “at least somethings never change,” and where such a place is seen as something wholesome and embracing, rather than stifling and restrictive.
But that all did change in 2009, when a new generation rose to run Archie Comics, and after a brutal office battle (chronicled by an excellent 2012 article in the New York Times) resulted in the brand taking bold new changes with its property. New characters would be introduced (like Kevin Keller) who would reflect a more liberal society. The brand would also take the approach that after 75 years or so of pretty much running the same Archie stories forever, it would declare Archie and Riverdale to be a state of mind, and began running stories that were the Archie equivalent of DC’s Elseworlds - non-canonical, but fun takes on established canon. (Though it is worth noting that perhaps the most infamous of these - and maybe the one that established the idea of taking Archie in weird new directions - was 1994’s Archie Meets The Punisher.)
But supreme among these were a novel, and canonical, decision to finally have Archie propose to one of his girlfriends. As he did, there was a notion of him walking down Memory Lane and seeing how his life might play out if he settled down with Veronica or Betty. What resulted was an extended What If…? story in Life With Archie that became The Married Life, later collected in six massive volumes. The end of it all leads us to a plot point that was so surprising to readers that it made global headlines. The sixth volume tells you up front what it is, but I’ll spare you any spoilers so you can see them for yourself.
But in The Married Life, we get two parallel stories, one where Archie, married to Veronica, pursues a corporate life and one where Archie, married to Betty, returns to Riverdale High as a music teacher. Along the way, we get a lot of the same sort of low-stakes storytelling that makes Archie Archie—entire plot lines seem to magically appear out of thin air and are resolved fairly harmlessly not long after, with good results all around. But there are plot lines that have sticking power. We lose one character to terminal illness, and we see another fight bravely against cancer. We a character shot in cold blood during a robbery. We see one struggle with anger issues. We see couples wed, and have kids. We see them growing up and grown up, in a story that for the first time really shows us what life might be like in Riverdale if there really were consequences to one’s actions. (The Archie Wedding: Ten Years Later also tried this, with a look at life 10 years after Archie’s wedding, but it doesn’t come close to the storytelling we get in The Married Life, nor does it share any of The Married Life’s events.)
The Married Life is almost 2,000 pages, all told, and it is as deep a dive into Archie as one could hope for, slowly pulling you in and involving you in a ton of earned moments that slowly chisel away at your hardened heart, slowly eroding your cynicism so that by the final volume, you’re caring about these characters. You want to see how this all turns out. Notably, the parallel storylines that have run side by side for so long - and remain distinct even though the risk is so high for them to blur into each other - do converge at the end in a way that feels natural and right, offering a kind of resolution to both sides of this twin tale. Whether Archie married Veronica or Betty, the result is ultimately the same. And when this story comes to an end, you appreciate why farewells can be so hard.
There are a lot of folks out there who will never touch an Archie comic because they’re too simple, too square, too hokey. But you know, The Married Life is as earnest an attempt for a comic to reinvent itself not in some cheap ploy to gin up extra sales, but out of an honest effort to radically turn the clock forward on one of the oldest running comics out there so that readers new and old can read something new and relate to it. That’s pretty great. Not a lot of comic publishers have the will to do that, or the integrity to let it be driven by story. And even if The Married Life isn’t for you, it’s something every comic reader should take in, because it represents something that all comics should have, but so often lack: heart.
There are a ton of other Archie Comics to read after these. There is a modern reboot from which the TV show Riverdale was adapted. There are the non-canon riffs, like The Hunger (Jughead is a werewolf) and not one, but two go-rounds of Archie vs. The Predator. If Archie can be anywhere and in anything, well, then I’m here for it. The Married Life certainly disavowed me of the notion that I’m never going to enjoy Archie. And boy, am I glad that it did.
April 25, 2017
With special guest appearance by Josie and the Pussycats!!
February 26, 2022
This was a good follow-up to book 3. I was left wondering where the series was going after the previous events, but this picked up things up well. The past book isn't left abandoned altogether, so some mystery remains, but much of this volume took things in a different direction (closer to book 2). There is some good development in the storylines with important changes for several characters, although some people remain fairly similar--sometimes it's nice to keep some stability. There are some more returning characters as well as turning points for some of the central figures. Altogether, a nice combination of new directions and familiar faces.
October 27, 2017
Ah.....this was fun with a dash of much needed maturity.
It offers life post two different marital situations : one where Archie is married to Veronica and the other where obviously, Archie and Betty are a comfortable married couple and fellow teachers at their trusty ol' alumni, Riverdale High.
Much loved characters are dealing with adulthood and all its ups and downs.
If you haven't read the previous issues, it can get a tad confusing with the changing POVs and yet, it is still entertaining.
It offers life post two different marital situations : one where Archie is married to Veronica and the other where obviously, Archie and Betty are a comfortable married couple and fellow teachers at their trusty ol' alumni, Riverdale High.
Much loved characters are dealing with adulthood and all its ups and downs.
If you haven't read the previous issues, it can get a tad confusing with the changing POVs and yet, it is still entertaining.
October 24, 2016
I love this seres! I love that the Pussycts have made an apprnce, & I love how the writrs are brave enogh to talk abot big isses (ie cancr, racsm, gun contrl)! Lookng forwrd to Vol 5!
May 13, 2017
Jughead is growing up. It's not anymore the silly boy.
Josie and the pussycats!!! And The Archies!!!
Josie and the pussycats!!! And The Archies!!!
January 27, 2020
The plotlines got much better now that all that multiverse thingummy has retreated to the background and the story is centered around the relationships in Riverdale.
December 23, 2013
Archie: The Married Life series follows Archie Andrews, America's favorite comic teen, as he learns to become an adult in two alternate worlds. In one, he has married Veronica and struggled to be the son-in-law that Hiram Lodge wants. In the other, he has found happiness with Betty and teaching. As the two parallel universes continue to diverge, their paths take eerily similar courses that are fraught with angst, upheaval and controversy. Marital bliss, secure jobs, reliable friends, life itself: they're all threatened in this newest installment, which collects issues 19-24 of the magazine.
As a lifelong fan, it's hard for me to admit that I'm disappointed with this book. Unfortunately, it's the truth. What began as an interesting concept has deteriorated into a political and social machine, obviously used by the author and publisher to support their personal views on hot topics. I never want my reviews to deteriorate into political or moral rants. I'm interested more in the quality of the books I read and the value they impart to my life. This book, however, has met none of those qualifications. I want to read a story about Riverdale's inhabitants that doesn't ignore the problems of adulthood but also doesn't blatantly support controversial issues that truly do not belong in books that are seen as children's / young adult literature. I almost wish I had spent my time reading the old 1960s Archie comics that I've read a hundred times before instead of reading this book.
As a lifelong fan, it's hard for me to admit that I'm disappointed with this book. Unfortunately, it's the truth. What began as an interesting concept has deteriorated into a political and social machine, obviously used by the author and publisher to support their personal views on hot topics. I never want my reviews to deteriorate into political or moral rants. I'm interested more in the quality of the books I read and the value they impart to my life. This book, however, has met none of those qualifications. I want to read a story about Riverdale's inhabitants that doesn't ignore the problems of adulthood but also doesn't blatantly support controversial issues that truly do not belong in books that are seen as children's / young adult literature. I almost wish I had spent my time reading the old 1960s Archie comics that I've read a hundred times before instead of reading this book.
January 26, 2014
I'm thrilled with the latest from the Married Life series. Just a guess, but it seems like the writers are listening to the reader as they continue, because this was just a whole pile of stuff I wanted: serious takes on serious problems, the storylines to develop more differences--check out the new couples cropping up and a whole host of classic characters finally make an appearance--you know something's up if freaking Polly has shown up before Jellybean... This better not be the last we've seen of Josie and the Pussycats... The only way I could possibly be more excited is if Melissa Joan Hart as Sabrina showed up. (
It is a little bit embarrassing how obsessed with this series I am. Married Life has also given me a new appreciation for the Digests and for other specials I missed.
It is a little bit embarrassing how obsessed with this series I am. Married Life has also given me a new appreciation for the Digests and for other specials I missed.
March 25, 2014
Growing up I loved playing "The Archie's" with my brother and cousins. Each story always, just like the comics, debated about whether or not Archie would end up with Veronica, who was played by me, so of course I always wanted Veronica to win!
Reading these "Archie: The Married Life" books has taken me back to my childhood and after Archie ends up choosing both Veronica and Betty as the tag line suggests: Two Worlds, Two Loves, Two Destinies. Just don't expect the books to be as care free as the comic of your childhood years! They confront real issues: gay marriage, breast cancer...Just to name a couple! I guess even comic books have to grow up sometime!
Reading these "Archie: The Married Life" books has taken me back to my childhood and after Archie ends up choosing both Veronica and Betty as the tag line suggests: Two Worlds, Two Loves, Two Destinies. Just don't expect the books to be as care free as the comic of your childhood years! They confront real issues: gay marriage, breast cancer...Just to name a couple! I guess even comic books have to grow up sometime!
April 25, 2014
It was nice to see a reunion of The Archies. I just wish they had sang *Bang-Shang-A-Lang* instead of *Sugar Sugar*.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews