Jughead #79 Facsimile Edition

This facsimile edition of a 1961 issue of Jughead is highly prized not for the contents. There's no epic first appearance of any major character. Nobody dies or gets married. When it comes to judging a book by it's cover, this one fits the definition to a T. 

Sammie Schwartz drew this iconic cover that parodies MAD Magazine while dipping a Comic Code defying toe into the realm of monsters. There's a vampire, a werewolf and a shrunken head on the cover and in 1961, those were all forbidden subjects according to the CCA. True, these ghouls are only partially seen. But its envelope pushing for the era. Although, it helps when your publisher was one of the co-creators of the Comics Code.

I've seen this image on tee-shirts, post cards and there's been a couple of homage covers that tie in Archie's humor horror titles from the 50s and 60s with the 'Afterlife With Archie' imprint that thrusted the flagging publisher back into the limelight with established and new fans. 

Unfortunately, despite the cover, this isn't really an issue that matches with my want for creepy Halloween time reads. Only one story seems to fit with the cover, a 2-pager that sees Jughead losing his nerve with every late night horror movie he watches with Archie. There's another story where Juggie has a nightmare about food. But it's more farcical than frightful even though it temporarily scares the teen off of eating hamburgers for a brief time.

The main story is definitely a product of the times. Jughead overhears a plot to steal the Riverdale High mascot thanks to a party line, a shared telephone circuit that made privacy nearly impossible! With a free victory dinner on the line, it's Jughead to the rescue! I also loved looking at all of the vintage ads. Being from the early 60s, a lot of these ads felt older. Though I was surprised with the ad for an art course near the inside back cover. It shows a girl in one of those form fitting swimsuits Julie Adams wore in Creature From the Black Lagoon. Pretty risque for a CCA children's book.

A fun time capsule of the Archie universe before it exploded into pop culture relevance thanks to the Animated TV series and faux pop group The Archie's took to the scene in 1968-69. Just don't wait until Halloween time to read it as you'll be a little disappointed by the filler doesn't live up to the creepy cover!

Worth Consuming! 

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.