THE MAN FROM R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E.

Archie Andrews is the Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E.

It is first very important to note that this version of Archie Andrews is an "alternate universe" version of the much loved redhead teenage boy who has been that age for decades, always in deep infatuation with Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge, close friend to Forsythe P. 'Jughead' Jones, and rival to Reginald 'Reggie' Mantle. In this other incarnation, which started being told 25 years after the original Archie first introduced himself to the reading world, is still a teenager but is also an experienced, trained operative with a government intelligence agency. His pals in that 'main' universe are very much with him in this universe as well and just as active in the cloak and dagger world as Archie, though a couple are working for the 'other side'.

Andrews is, as stated, a teenage boy who is likely a sophomore or junior in high school, putting his age around 15 or 16. 

When we first meet operative Archie as the Man from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E., he says that he is working to protect "our secret World Protective Association" and he and pal Jughead even wear lapel buttons indicating the WPA. The head of the organization is addressed as the Chief though he looks like the main universe's Principal Weatherbee. In this organization, Betty Cooper is apparently a file clerk (and rather dismissively treated, I want to add). The enemy is the evil C.R.U.S.H., an acronym for which we are never given a breakdown.

One thing to note here is that sometimes the people in question are called by their established names but often those names are treated as acronyms - such as Arch becoming A.R.C.H., Jughead turning into J.U.G., and Veronica becoming V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A. No explanation for the switching and no description of any meaning for these acronyms.

The next adventure we have of Archie is from two months later and this time he and Jughead are agents of P.O.P., the world defense force Protect Our Planet. They work out of a dry cleaner establishment still going up against C.R.U.S.H. Betty is also still with them though now she works in the mail room, still being dismissively treated. Working for the opposition are Reggie and the beautiful Veronica. Veronica at one point opines "diabolical cleverness is the key to success".

After another two months have passed, in the next mission we find P.O.P. has moved to a "Choklit Shoppe" run by Pop Tate (no relation). The new locale has a "fortified, impregnable, unapproachable booth headquarters", which naturally is already bugged by C.R.U.S.H. agents Veronica and Reggie. Strangely, in the same publication, the next adventure has Veronica and Reggie firmly on the side of P.O.P. working to crush, um, C.R.U.S.H. No explanation for their transition. Poor Betty looks at first like she has been elevated to agent status but then is dismissively told by Veronica to "stick to your filing".

Eventually Betty will not only get a decent appreciation by the others in the organization, she will actually be the hero in a few adventures of her own clearly showing her teammates how good an operative she can be as the Girl From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E. Even Archie's best friend and sidekick, Jughead, will have a chance to shine on his own.

After a bit of a break [actually 40 years], Archie Andrews will return to the cloak and dagger action, this time considerably more urbane and confident - or so he would like to believe! He states in the start of this final (so far) new adventure that "some people think I'm a clumsy oaf. Others Call me a lazy, god-for-nothing girl-crazy teenager. While some of that may be true (I can't argue the girl-crazy part) ... I'm also the Super-Spy known as the Man from R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E." He is a tad optimistic as it is his cousin, the younger Andy Andrews who is the experience agent but at least Archie Andrews does get a key part in the mission.

Note that in the cover of the first part of this revision, Betty is shown to be even more of an kick-butt woman of action which Veronica is dressed in a slinky sheathe dress with a slit to upper thigh playing the role of femme fatale. Neither of these personas actually exist in the tale.

Note also the mystery, since Archie Andrews works first for WPA and then POP, of what the meaning of R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E. is. As best as I can find, there is no explanation in the original run of adventures. In the four-part tale at the end of this series' run, we are told it stands for Really Impressive Vast Enterprise for Routing Dangerous Adversaries, Louts, Etc. (?Louts?)

Back when the majority of these tales were sitting on the newsstands in the mid-60s, I was very much hooked on comics but my precious 12¢ an issue went to buy DC and Marvel superhero adventures, not Archie!! No way, man! It was Batman and the Fantastic Four, Superman and Thor, for me, not that red-headed kid.

Granted, I was as hooked on Veronica and Betty as Archie but I had only some many dimes and pennies to spend.

I doubt I ever saw these stories back then but reading them today, boy, did they bring back memories.

And they were really not-bad fun takes on genre.