Kevin Keller: Drive Me Crazy is very episodic. In the first chapter, each of the characters has to present a report on an inspirational figure, and Kevin chooses George Takei. Takei finds out about his report and decides to pay Riverdale High a visit. In the second chapter, Kevin has some car problems that complicate a date at the drive-in movie theater. In the third chapter, Kevin is now dating his first ever boyfriend, Devon, but there's just one problem: Devon isn't out yet. In the fourth chapter, Kevin's secret admirer is back (his first appearance was in a previous volume I haven't read), and both he and Kevin are starring in Veronica's musical. Devon, meanwhile, struggles with jealousy.

This is apparently the second (?) Kevin Keller volume - I thought about getting the previous one through ILL first but instead decided to just jump in.

This read much more like the original Archie comics than the Archie and Jughead reboots did, despite being more in-your-face about its progressive aspects. I found the art style to be a bit creepy, with everyone smiling 90% of the time, the dialogue was stiff and not particularly well written, and the stories beat readers over the head with their messages.

Kevin Keller is the first openly gay character in the Archie Comics universe, and it's great that he exists. It's also nice that he's not the sole gay person in Riverdale, although he seems to be the only gay guy that anyone is dating. In this one volume, Kevin goes on dates with three different guys and meets a fourth guy who was his secret admirer in a past volume. I was somewhat confused when Kevin said that Devon was his first boyfriend ever, since I'd thought Todd (in Chapter 2) was Kevin's boyfriend, and it seemed like Brian (in Chapter 1) might have been a past boyfriend of Kevin's.

It was great that Kevin got a few stories that weren't solely focused on him being gay - his car borrowing troubles and date at the drive-in were a nice examples of this. Unfortunately, there were times when I felt like Kevin was more of a big gay after school special. The end of the George Takei chapter and the "oh no, my boyfriend is in the closet" chapters were particularly glaring examples. The George Takei stuff was corny, but the stuff in Chapter 3, with Devon, struck me as being potentially painful for some readers.

Kevin began dating Devon knowing that Devon was still in the closet because his parents were homophobic and wouldn't support him the way Kevin's parents did. However, Kevin hadn't even arrived at their first date before he started to have problems with their relationship. He hated that he had to drive out of his way to meet Devon and that they had to be secretive. When kids at school started to find out, Devon said some hurtful (and extremely dated - "I'm not fruity or light in the loafers, as they say!") things to try to reestablish himself as definitely not gay. (Okay, seriously, I had to google "light in the loafers." Does anyone who is not in their 70s even use that phrase anymore?)

Things between Kevin and Devon devolved to the point where Kevin said he couldn't date anyone who was still in the closet. And yeah, he has the right to decide what's best for himself when it comes to relationships, but I disliked that the "happy" resolution to their relationship woes involved

Oh, and one thing I noticed: although I'm pretty sure that even the original Archie comics allowed its characters to kiss on-page, the most Kevin did with anyone was hold hands or hug. After a bit of googling, I discovered that Kevin does get an on-page kiss later on in the series, so that's good. If two heterosexual characters can kiss on-page and still be considered sickeningly wholesome, two gay characters should be able to do the same. Although, from what I've read, Kevin's kiss results in him having to deal with a homophobic stranger's complaints.

I don't intend to read more of this series, although I do have a Kevin Keller novel in my collection that I plan on reading eventually.

Extras:

Six pages of full-color illustrations of Kevin, Betty, and Veronica acting as fashion models.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

Genre: Comedy / School / Adventure / Spin Off

Year Published: 2016

Year Read: 12/18/2016

Series: Jughead #1

Publisher: Archie Comics

 

Introduction:

After I had finished reading “Archie Volume One: The New Riverdale,” I figured that Archie Comics was going to do a reboot on one of their most beloved characters “Jughead!” So of course, I was on board with picking up the reboot of everyone’s favorite crazy and food obsessed weirdo in Chip Zdarsky’s take on “Jughead Volume One!”

What is this story about?

It is an ordinary day in Riverdale until Mr. Weatherbee, the principal of Riverdale High, is suddenly being replaced by a new principal named Mr. Stanger without any warning. At first, Jughead is not bothered by this new development, but when his favorite meal lasagna is being replaced by a nasty nutritious meal, Jughead (of course, being Jughead) panics and starts trying to find ways to bend the new strict rules so he could still do whatever he wants without getting in trouble. Later on however, Jughead soon realizes that the new principal Mr. Stanger has a hidden agenda under his sleeves that might involve brainwashing the student body into becoming the perfect school for spies.

Can Jughead stop this new principal from going through with his plans or is all this speculation about the new principal all just a part of Jughead’s overactive imagination?

Read this book to find out!

What I loved about this story:

Chip Zdarsky’s writing: I must admit that when I first heard about Jughead getting his own book for the Archie reboot, I was bit hesitant in trying this graphic novel out since Jughead is my most favorite character from the Archie Comics and I was afraid that this graphic novel would have messed up his character. Luckily, it turns out that Chip Zdarsky has written the character’s eccentric nature extremely well as this graphic novel is much wackier and more humorous than Mark Waid’s run on the main “Archie” series. I loved the way that Chip Zdarsky wrote Jughead’s overactive imaginations as helping Jughead solve his problems in real life as it made Jughead into such a comical and unique character in this new “Archie” universe. Also, Jughead’s constant reliance on his imaginations to solve his real life problems reminds me a bit of Nickelodeon/Disney’s “Doug” (although a much wackier version of “Doug”). I also like the fact that Chip Zdarsky made Jughead into a more determined character in this story as Jughead is shown as not being afraid to speak his mind about what he likes or dislikes about the new school system and tries to make things better for himself and his friends.

Erica Henderson’s artwork: Erica Henderson’s artwork is extremely humorous and fits the tone of this series nicely as the scenes of Jughead’s imaginations are drawn in exaggerated and creative fashion. I especially loved the scenes where Jughead imagines himself to be a superhero or a time traveler as those scenes are drawn somewhat more dramatically as it portrays Jughead trying to save the day from evil.



What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

The reason why I took off half a star from the rating was because even though I do think that Erica Henderson’s artwork is humorous, I felt that the artwork made the characters too goofy looking and it was hard for me to really take the characters seriously at times. I actually kind of wish that the artists from Mark Waid’s “Archie” series actually took over for this graphic novel as we would have still gotten the humorous edge for this series with the artwork from the main “Archie” series.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Jughead Volume One” is a truly entertaining read if you like reading fun loving and wacky comics and if you are a huge fan of Jughead Jones! I recommend this book for anyone who wants to read a wackier series spun off from Mark Waid’s “Archie” series!

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

Genre: Comedy / Romance / Drama / School

Year Published: 2016

Year Read: 5/18/2016

Series: Archie #1

Publisher: Archie Comics

Introduction:

WHAT!? ARCHIE IS GETTING A REBOOT!?

Who would have thought the day would come when Archie Comics would finally decide to reboot their beloved “Archie” series which has been around for nearly sixty years now! I must admit, I was quite surprised at this new establishment for Archie Comics (I mean come on, Archie and the gang have been in high school for the past sixty years now)! So, when I heard that Archie was going to get a reboot and it was being written by Mark Waid of “Daredevil” fame, along with artwork by Fiona Staples, Annie Wu and Veronica Fish, I will admit that I had mixed feelings about this whole thing since A) I have a love / hate relationship with reboots and I was worried that they were going to mess up one of the greatest comic book icons of all time with this reboot and B) with all the constant reboots going on during this decade, I was getting sick and tired of having yet another reboot of a beloved classic character happened. But, as it turns out “Archie: Volume One: The New Riverdale” had certainly exceeded my expectations in a fantastic way!

What is this story about?

Meet Archie Andrews! He goes to Riverdale High School and is best friends with food loving Jughead Jones and was in a relationship with his childhood friend Betty Cooper (do not even ask why they broke up). One day however, Archie’s world changes when Veronica Lodge, the daughter of a billionaire moves into Riverdale and he ends up falling instantly in love with her. Unfortunately, this puts him at odds with Betty and Jughead as they do not want to see their friend being used by this rich snob and they will do everything in their power to make sure that Archie does not end up with Veronica!

What I loved about this story:

Mark Waid’s writing: Wow! I was quite impressed with Mark Waid’s writing in this story! Even though I was quite familiar to Mark Waid’s work in the past, I never would have thought that he would create a truly interesting and modern retelling on everyone’s favorite teenage comic book icon! I loved the way that Mark Waid gave an interesting new spin to each character, such as making Betty more tomboyish than in the original series (it really shows when she has trouble giving herself a makeover) and making Jughead more cynical. But, I loved the fact that Archie still remains to be the lovable goofball he was in the original comics and his clumsiness is definitely played for higher laughs here! I also loved the way that Mark Waid still kept the characters and its setting faithful to the original comics, but still modernizing the situations they are in such as actually showing us Betty and Archie breaking up and how that breakup affected them afterwards. I loved the fact that the story is a mixture of drama and comedy as it made the story much more interesting to read and there were various moments where I laughed and cried such as feeling great sadness over Archie and Betty’s breakup, but laughing my butt off from Archie’s clumsy shenanigans!

Fiona Staples, Annie Wu and Veronica Fish’s artwork: The overall artwork in this volume were amazing to look at, as all the “Archie” characters are drawn in a realistic and refreshing way that made me really relate to these characters. But probably my most favorite artwork in this volume were the ones done by Fiona Staples as her artwork is so gorgeous to look at and I have always loved her work on Brian K. Vaughan’s “Saga!”



What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

Anyone who has been reading the “Archie” comics for a long time might be a bit shocked that there is some language in this volume including the use of “hell” in one instance. However, the language is not too strong and it would be easy to overlook this whenever you read this volume.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Archie Volume One: The New Riverdale” is a truly fantastic volume that fans of the original “Archie” comics will enjoy and I am definitely looking forward to reading more of this series soon!

Review is also on: Rabbit Ears Book Blog

Jughead gets expelled for bringing a knife to school, except he swears he has no idea how the knife got into his backpack. While his dad tries to get everything straightened out, Jughead passes the time by walking his dog and basically just hanging out. Cue the dream sequence (I'm guessing every issue is going to have one of these?).

This issue seemed much shorter than the previous ones, even though it was about the same length.

I liked that Jughead's dad automatically believed and supported him (while still punishing him by taking away his video games), although he maybe could have found a better way of demonstrating his support. I'm going to guess that Jughead got his deft rule-bending skills from his father. And speaking of those skills, I got a kick out of the bit with Jughead and his dog at the edge of the school grounds.

This particular issue slid into Jughead's usual dream sequence much more smoothly than the other ones. If the situation hadn't been

, it would have been easy to believe it really was a part of Jughead's reality. Unlike the other dream sequences, which helped him come up with solutions to his problems, this one just tried to put together some kind of explanation for his current situation. The results were creative, but I'm going to guess that, in reality, Mr. Stanger is more focused on increased academic rigor, modernization, and rigid discipline than on taking over the world.

I can't believe I only have one more issue left. I just checked the release dates of the previous issues and it looks like there's a little over a month's wait between each issue. The fourth one came out on February 10th, so after I finish it I'm going to have an annoying wait ahead of me for issue 5. Ugh.

Extras:

This time around, the issue ended with two short classic Jughead comics. These were less annoying than the previous ones, but still hideously dated. The first one, in which Jughead conned Pop out of a bunch of hamburgers with a single penny, was probably the best out of all the classic Jughead comics included in these issues.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

The new principal of Riverdale High, Mr. Stanger, continues to make unwelcome changes. In this issue, Jughead has to deal with Coach Eng, a tough guy who takes an instant dislike to him. Jughead doesn't want detention, but how's he supposed to avoid if the new rules seem designed to send everybody there?

I liked this issue even more than the first, I think because of the dream sequence. This time, Jughead was visited by January McAndrews, a member of the time police and a descendant of Archie Andrews from the 29th century.

I enjoyed all the action (January and her enormous gun!), Jughead's plan, and the idea it gave him for dealing with Coach Eng's obstacle course.

Like I said in my review of the first issue, one of the reasons I started reading this was because of the news that Jughead is explicitly revealed to be asexual in the fourth issue. Just like the first issue, this one has a hint of what's to come. It's an even stronger hint than the one in the first issue (this time around, Jughead avoids a kiss from January and says “Sorry, just not into kissing”), but yeah, the explicit mention coming up in the fourth issue is still a good thing, because even this could be interpreted multiple ways.

I'm interested to see how things go in the next issue, since Jughead is going to be faced with a bigger problem than the possibility of detention.

Extra:

Whoops, almost forgot the extra comic at the end. Just like there first issue, there's a classic Jughead comic at the end. This time around, I popped out of guided view and skimmed it. Still not to my taste.

(Original review, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)