Archie Club News #11, #12 and #13

Throughout the nineteen sixties, seventies and eighties, most issues of Archie Comics featured a two-page spread titled Archie Club News. The banner at the top of the page announced, "ARCHIE CLUB MEMBERS send in your reports and be eligible to win cash prizes in the Archie Series Magazines." The results of this venture were generally irrelevant notes sent in like, "Dear Archie, the lion is known as King of the Jungle..." Often what was sent in appeared to be part of a class project. Elementary school children were in the process of learning how to write letters and encouraged by a teacher to send something Riverdale way. Sometimes the letters were weird or even profound and other times prophetic or just silly.

The following letter originally appeared in Life with Archie #105, January 1971:

Dear Archie,

These days more and more people seem to be finding themselves. They seem to have found their "bags" as a hip person might put it. But I suppose that I have known what my bag has been for the longest time. My bag is reading. It might sound weird and dull to you, but that is what it is. And although it may be weird it is far from dull ... Young persons today tend to experiment with drugs and other things, so why don't they try reading? You can certainly become addicted to it, but it's not a harmful addiction. You have nothing to lose and as a matter of fact you actually gain a lot ...

Carolyn Phillips
Route 1,
Bells, Tennessee

Carolyn won the grand prize of five dollars for this issue.

The following letter originally appeared in The New Archies #12, February 1989:

Dear Archie:

We have a very large problem to confront - DRUGS!!! So many people make the mistake of taking drugs and that mistake takes many lives. Even if you take drugs for the first time, you may get hooked or addicted. Whether you try marijuana, pills, or alcohol, the results can be very dangerous. They can kill you! People who sell drugs are known as "pushers" and they will tell you that drugs are great, but do not believe them ... I would like to tell all the Archie readers that the decision is theirs, but if you value your life, you will "SAY NO TO DRUGS!"

Stephani Anderson
Altadena, CA

Stephani's letter ends with a surprising "Libertarian" turn as she reminds Archie fans that "the decision is theirs." Stephani's warning won the second prize of four dollars for this issue, losing out to Barry Wong of Brooklyn's treatise about Dinosaurs.

The following letter originally appeared in The New Archies #21, February 1990 - close to the end of Archie Club News' lifespan:

Dear Archie:

Let me tell you about a group my friends and I put together, called the "Weekenders." We meet Saturday afternoons and evenings at one of our homes and enjoy good, clean, fun. We eat pizza and snacks and drink sodas, watch a movie or two on the VCR and play role-playing games. In-between we listen to music, read comics, and talk about what is happening or something in the near future (college) ... We do not however, encourage the use of drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and other problems ... We enjoy this group because it ... lets parents be relieved that their children are safe ...

Edward L. Ortiz
San Antonio, Texas

Edward won the grand prize of ten dollars for this issue, winning as much money as anybody would ever win the history of Archie Club News.

Comments

[SillyWilly]

Funny how that "police vehicle" looks more like a Red Cross van. And are we sure that the cop holding Archie's arm is REALLY a cop? And what's with "You'd better come along..." Holy Jughead, he's one of them preverts! HALP! HALP!

[Dale Hazelton]

Interesting point.....Kliph, do you think the cop was drawn by the same artist? I am not an Archie afficianado, and am not familiar with how people outside the Riverdale scene were rendered.

I think I'd like to read a book with Carolyn, "hang" with Stephani and have a slice with Edward and his "gang." Drugs and alcohol (well, drugs anyway) were never my "bag," and these "cats" all seem pretty "cool."

[Bobby C]

I love the Archies and dang..They are back! Check out the new Archies Christmas music at www.myspace.com/archiesusa

They sound better than ever. Wow!