Free Archie!

Last Saturday was Free Comic Book Day, which is always a good excuse to go to a comic book store, even if you aren’t a regular reader. Last year there was an issue that had some skateboarding in it, but it looked like this year was going to be a bust. Archie comics have a had a lot of skateboarding in them (in small doses) over the years, so I figured an Archie Digest might have something.

It’s at this point in the post that I have to make the obvious joke that the only way to get people to read Archie would be to give them away on Free Comic Book Day. Still, somebody must be reading these, because they keep publishing them.

The first bit of shredding comes from a Josie story titled “Mournfull Melody,” featuring a character called Albert who is practicing for a talent show. Unfortunately, it’s just this one panel of actual skateboarding, plus one more where he’s just holding it, and another where the girls talk about it. What era is this story from? The skateboard style says 60’s but it could have been as late as the 70’s. The fashions on the girls are throwing me for a loop though. Then there’s the Greg Brady style shirt that Albert is Rockin. This could be 70’s, or it could be later, purposefully drawn to look retro. Is that Josie from the Pussycats? I hate Archie… Update: 1967. Scroll down for more.

Next up, we’ve got a couple panels in the middle of a Jughead story called “Crop Story.” The skateboarder is just an incidental joke in the background of the main story. The illustration style and the skateboard (notice kicktail) point to something that at least originated in the 80’s or later.

Almost 10 years later and I’ve managed to track down where this story originally appeared. It was in the 1967 issue # 27 of the comic book Josie.