Archie Club News #9 and #10

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 news 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, Let me tell you about composting." 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 #224, July 1981:

Dear Archie,

First of all, I don't think we should be assigned homework, because this is what our everyday schedule turns out to be: go to school for six and a half hours, get home and have about two hours to play, eat and do homework, then have about an hour to watch television or read, then go to bed!!!

Also, if the town decides to put a new road in, what have kids got to say about it? Nothing! We just watch all the nature and animals get torn away! Then everyone says we can do our part to help, but our part is a tiny speck ...

Also, I do think there should be some more DECENT movies. It's been at least four months since I've gone to the show.

Janise Orton
167 East Main Street
Springville, N.Y. 14141

The furious Janise Orton won the first prize of six dollars for this issue. Another child with strong opinions after the jump...

This letter also originally appeared in Life with Archie #224, July 1981. I can not believe that a child was able to use a semi-colon properly.

Dear Archie,

I think that it is a two way street; what I mean is that there are rights and responsibilities. One right is to be treated with understanding. You also have the right to be safe but have the responsibility not to hurt someone else. But I think it is most important to learn self-control.

I also believe that every child has a right to adequate nutrition and medical care, to free education, to full opportunity for play and recreation. Each child has  a right to a name and nationality, to special care if handicapped, to be among the first to receive relief in times of disaster, to learn to be a useful member of society and to develop individual abilities.

Ronnie Levi
5701 Wentworth
Cote St. Luc
Montreal, Quebec
Canada, H4W 2S2

Ronnie won the second prize of four dollars for this issue, although I understand Bill O'Reilly is working hard to have that reward revoked due to her blatant anti-American socialist beliefs.

Comments

[Auntie Christ]

I love that cover. The artist must have had Popular Mechanics or something else lying around, coz he's got it perfect, right down to the babyfood jar screw and nail holders under the shelves on the wall, and the poor mans drill press.

So Janise gets three hours of living after she gets home from school....she goes to bed at, what, 7:00pm?

Ronnies letter is pretty amazing. Do you think his Socialist teacher heavily guided his pen?

[Greg]

I need help and am hoping you can assist me. My sister had a letter published in the Archie club news in the late seventies to very very early eighties. I want to find out wihich issue because it would be a great gift for her. Can you give me direction? Her name was Laurie Duncan. She wrote of our life on the farm in Oklahoma. Thanks for your help in advance, Greg Duncan

[Visaman]

Well Canada in the 1980's was very left leaning. Regan was booed when he made a State Address here, but Quebec at that time was very confused too. I stopped reading Archie, when I started to discover the hidden lesbian context between Betty and Veronica. I was 13.

[Visaman]

Well Canada in the 1980's was very left leaning. Regan was booed when he made a State Address here, but Quebec at that time was very confused too. I stopped reading Archie, when I started to discover the hidden lesbian context between Betty and Veronica. I was 13.