Cheryl Blossom #26

Cheryl Blossom #26 was published in 1997 by the Archie Comics group. I figured this would be cheap enough to pick up being it’s relatively new-ish and this era of Archie… who still reads them? Turns out the going price for this is about $30 when they are available. Apparently this issue had shorter print run than the others, go figure. Fortunately the digital version is available for $2. This issue features a story called Skateboarding’ Blossom.

Not sure what’s going on with this halfpipe or clamshell bowl, outside of the whooshing and yahooing. This may seem like an unlikely scenario but I swear to Glob my girlfriend in the 80’s once accompanied me to a half pipe in the middle of nowhere so she should work on her tan in a bikini while I flailed around on the ramp. Morgan from Farmer City, Illinois can vouch for me. It may be a spinoff character with her own title, but that does stop Betty and Veronica from featuring. “You two look like a couple of skateboard widows.” In that middle panel I can almost hear “Hey-ey-ey I said “Hey, what’s going on?”

Hey Reg, check out this kick flip! I cant tell what direction he’s facing, but last time I checked, kick flips didn’t involve grabbing the board.

They’re just momentarily distracted by a fad….

Of course, Cherry takes off her coverup so she can skate in a bikini, even if it looks like she lost her top in the second panel.

There’s a lot more implied nudity in Archie comics than you might think. Betty tries to fake Cheryl out into thinking she split her bikini bottom. As can be expected, here comes the comic book trope of wiping out but appearing to land some amazingly acrobatic trick.

Hey, no rip. Phew!

Bummer thing about the digital version of comic books (from a historical standpoint) is that none of the adverts or back cover are included. I did find a picture of some interior pages in an auction selling Cheryl Blossom #25 and #26 for $65 (!) that showed another sales club advert with a skateboard as a prize, this time with more era-appropriate deck. No idea what deck that is, looks like it might be generic.