CMNS 498: Honours Project Final Essay

Comics Reading and Anticipatory Socialization: A Case Study on Archie Comics

Joy Stephanny Lau

20008 4685

Supervisors: Dr. Stephen Kline
Dr. Catherine Murray

Table of Content	Pages
Abstract	Page 3
Introduction: Comics – the neglected child of popular culture Paper Overview	Page 4 Page 6
Section A: Historical and Economic Overview of Comics as a medium History of the Comic - Defining the early comics - Comics versus animated cartoons - The beginning of modern comics - Diverging Genres – from parodies to crime and action - Comics’ migration into the New Media - The continued development of social satirical comics The Economic Scope of the Comic Industry	Page 7 Page 14
Section B: Statement of Purpose Comic book studies and their emphasis on the superheroes – A major bias in comic studies Return to Roots: the growing analysis of comics satire – the importance of studying the vernaculars Theories Anticipatory socialization as the framework for fan study Uses and gratifications of Archie comic reading	Page 17 Page 22 Page 24
Section C: Archie Comics – Not a superhero but equally invincible How has Archie Comics stayed competitive in the expanding comics industry? Stepping into the Archie world – A visit to Riverdale	Page 27
Section D: The Field Work Research questions Methodology - Understanding Changes in the Archie Comic - Fan Research Online Survey Interviews Participant Observation	Page 36
Review of major terms The Archie Comics The Concept of “Fan” and “Fandom” Fans vs. Fanatics Fan Communities	Page 39
Section E: A Discussion of research findings – Establishing The Archie Fan A General View of Comic Readers - Age-Related Comics Reading Behaviour - Comic-Genre Preferences The Self-professed Archie fan A General Profile - Gender Distribution - Comic-Genre Preferences - Comparing Archie fans to non-fans in their comic choices Involvement with Archie Comics Uses and Gratifications Motivations for reading Archie Comics Exploring Nostalgia Participation in Archie comic-related Activities Opinions on Archie comics	Page 41 Page 46 Page 51
Section F: Answering the Questions Anticipatory Socialisation – the Archie Comic and its ex-fans Uses and Gratifications – How has reading Archie comics helped fans with their real lives? The Longevity of Archie Comics – Fan support as the secret recipe for success	Page 62
Conclusion: Self Reflection by an Archie Fan	Page 68
Works Cited	Page 70

Abstract

Enhanced economic opportunities for the comics industry; its migration into massive Hollywood productions and mass merchandising has led to increased attention on this once-neglected form of pulp media. As such, this phenomenon has been studied by various comics’ scholars and enthusiasts and resulting in a growing library of knowledge and information on comics and their fans. Much emphasis however has been focused on the superhero and action genres and their fans, both of which though valuable, provide very limited understanding of the diversity of comics and their fans. Using Archie comics as a case study, this project explores another form of comics whose emphases are on the vernaculars. Comic fandom of Archie comics is investigated within the frameworks of anticipatory socialization and the theory of uses and gratifications. The research seeks to uncover the motivations behind fans’ support of the Archie comic, and the role fans play in ensuring the comic’s longevity. The project began with an initial postulation that the primary reason behind fans’ support for the comic lies in the way these fans use the comic as an agent of socialization for their learning about relationships and school life. Via information obtained through 240 survey respondents and 6 interviewees, the research concludes that anticipatory socialization is a weak framework to be used in explaining Archie fans’ support for the comic, although it was somewhat relevant in explaining former fans’ fascination with Archie comics. The theory of uses and gratifications however, is a better framework within which we can understand current Archie fans and the satisfactions they derived from reading these Archie comics. From an understanding of the Archie fans, we obtain a perspective on the role of fans in a comic book culture, thus contributing new information to existing data in comic studies.

Introduction: Comics – the neglected child of popular culture

Popular culture, is defined by Wikipedia as “the vernacular (people's) culture that prevails in a modern society” the content of which “is determined in large part by industries that disseminate cultural material, for example the film, television, and publishing industries, as well as the news media” (Wikipedia, 2004). As this definition implies, the study of popular culture has focused on mainstream media forms and their enjoyment by mass audiences, particularly rock music, movies, and television shows over the last fifty years. Much of the studies on popular culture have been done on the impact of television and film, with less attention paid on the print media. The comic is one such media that has escaped significant academic attention, although a gradual refocus of attention seems imminent.

Recently, this longstanding oversight has been changing. The comic book industry is attracting more and more attention with good reason—its economic and cultural impact. Comics not only have sustained fans throughout the 20^th century, but have also enjoyed a growing prominence in popular culture as evidenced by their spin-offs into animated TV cartoon shows like the Simpsons and comics-inspired Hollywood movies like Spiderman. For this reason, increasing attention is being directed towards comics’ important historical role in contemporary popular culture.

It is in view of this change in direction in the field of popular culture studies that this project was initiated. In acknowledging the importance of comic studies, the project seeks to first understand the historical and economic values of comics that justify its value as an eminent product of popular culture. Second, it outlines a historical perspective of existing comic studies, revealing the major bias in perspective attributed to the masculinist celebration of the superhero action genre, and the consequent overlooking of other comic genres. Third, it shifts the academic attention to the satirical domestic narrative which has come to play an important role today.

To revive the domestic comic satires, the Archie comic is used as a prototype for this genre. The study thus, has its focus on the Archie comic – tracing its history and its continued success ever since its conception in 1939, as well as on its fan base and fan culture. Of particular interest is the understanding of the interactions between Archie fans that maintain this popularity and the motives and fascination that sustain them as readers. In this way, it attempts to contribute to the study of fan culture.

The Archie comic provides a unique entrée into the comic roots. Although packaged as a children’s comic targeted at juveniles and teens, aspects of the comic are designed to satirise certain social values and phenomena such as the stereotyping of characters and situations. Beneath superficial stories revolving around romance and the high school lives of the Archie characters lie social parodies of adolescent lives. In addition, the comic was once a popular tool for various propaganda, including religious propaganda, anti-drug and anti-smoking campaigns, environmental campaigns and such. The multi-uses of the Archie comic deem it an interesting subject of study within the field of comic studies.

Paper Overview

The following report consists of a few major sections. Section A provides a general discussion of the history of the Comic as a medium, justifying its historical and economic values as a subject of academic interest. Section B outlines the major gap in existing comic studies, which has focused on superhero and action comics and their fan base, followed by a proposed research focus to fill this gap. Section C introduces the Archie comic and its research value. Section D presents the research questions and methodology utilized in the project, as well as a review of major key terms used in the research. The last few sections are dedicated to discussions of the research findings. Section E presents a brief discussion of research findings while attempting to establish the concept of “The Self-Professed Archie Fan.” Information will be primarily drawn from the fan survey and interviews, giving an overview of the demographics, characteristics, and reading habit of these Archie fans. Here we also seek to understand the uses and gratifications Archie fans derived from reading the comics. In Section F, I will attempt to answer the research questions that have driven my research. First, we explore the role of anticipatory socialization in fans’ reading of the Archie comic. Second, an elaboration of readers’ uses of and gratifications from reading Archie comics would be undertaken so that a better understanding of Archie fans can be established. Once a clearer picture of Archie readers is painted, the role these fans play in the comic’s long-standing success is explained. The paper will close with a self-reflective summary of the research findings and suggestions for future research.

Section A: Historical and Economic Overview of Comics as a medium

History of the Comic

It is often said that the comic is an ancient popular art form which may be traced back to cave paintings, and certainly to the illuminated manuscripts of the 11^th Century Europe. Satirical illustrations start to appear in chap books, Mercuries, children’s books and early newspapers of the 17^th century (McCloud, 1993, p.10). Throughout it is important to realize why satirical illustrations were becoming an increasingly important channel of democratic discourse – a novel venue for circulating opinions or perspectives on political and/or social events happening at a particular time. In addition, they are more often than not, also reflections of the mindsets, preferences, and ideals of the growing democratization of society.

Defining the early comics

From its beginnings as comic strips, comics can be seen as “narratives by sequence of pictures, continuing characters from one sequence to the next, (with) the inclusion of dialogue within the picture.” (Couperie et al, 1968, p. 19). Characteristics that define the early comics are: satirical, simplified, visually oriented, and uses only simple language to accompany the images. The early comics were also conceptualized as “low-brow” reading materials targeted at the working class and people with low education.

Comics versus cartoon animation

Although technology advancements have enabled easy migration of comics to cartoon animations and animated movies, comics is distinct from its animated counterparts. First of all, comics can be seen as a marriage between images and words; a combination of visual art and literature, in the print format. Originally produced as comic strips published on newspapers, and later developed into individual comic books, magazines and digests, comics belong to the genre of published reading materials. This means that in order for comics to be read and understood; their message transmitted to the readers, an active act of reading and comprehension must take place. This reader-comics interaction is different from the interaction between a viewer and a television cartoon, which does not require the act of reading to comprehend the message in the cartoon.

As Scott McCloud, author of Understanding Comics mentions, “comics panels fracture both time and space offering a jagged, staccato rhythm of unconnected moments, but closure allows us to connect these moments and mentally construct a continuous, unified reality.” (McCloud, 1993, p. 67). What this suggests is the precondition that comic readers have to fulfill in order to fully understand the story within a comic book. The fragmented, modular format of comics necessitates readers’ participation in filling in the gaps in order to make sense of the content and achieve a narrative meaning.

Animated cartoon on the other hand, requires less participation on the part of the audience in deciphering the content. The combination of moving images and sounds similar to that of films’ allow for a coherent storytelling to the audience. As a result, audience need not pay full attention to the cartoon, at least aurally if not visually, in order to fully understand it, something that cannot be done with comics.

The beginning of modern comics

Historians often date the development of the modern comic industry from the conception of Richard Outcault’s The Yellow Kid. Set in the context of the urban slums, the yellow kid is living in a world that its readers are familiar with. The roughly accented English language “spoken” by the yellow kid depicts him as a lowly street urchin of a low social class, making him an accessible character in the immigrant culture of the American masses. It is important to recognize that Outcault’s Yellow Kid, was intended as a social satire set in a uniquely American context of expanding cities. His charmingly impudent quality renders him popular with the readers; his impudence to authority symbolizing the voice of the repressed masses at a time when authority is not questioned and social status reigns sovereign.

The Yellow Kid can thus be seen as the very first comic-representation of a new world satire. The language used was simple so as to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, and “consequently, the American strip concerns itself with American life on a mundane rather than a heroic level.” (Perry & Aldridge, 1971, p. 15). The Yellow Kid sparked what was consequently known as the “Yellow Journalism” caused by the rivalry between Joseph Pulitzer and William Hearst to publish the lucrative comic strip in their newspapers. Its popularity was increased with the rise of the commercial press and the migration of the comic into other merchandises such as gums, postcards, and even household appliances. The strip was based on the vernaculars, and its popularity catalysed the development of other social satirical comics in the 1900s, which quickly became widely accepted among the masses. It also marked the beginning of a satirical comic that uses the child as a symbol of young America, displaying social parodies through the notions of child innocence. This satirical focus on the ordinary rather than the political is later extended to comics such as the Katzenjammer kids and Archie, both of which exhibit social satires via the voices of the child or youth.

Since then, cartoon illustration has evolved into vastly different genres using various stylistic techniques and appearing in various media including newspapers, films, television and the Internet. Initially, comics exist merely in the form of comic strips occasionally published in the newspapers. Upon the popularity of The Yellow Kid and the rise of other comic strips, more newspapers began carrying comic strips, and the first daily comic strip — Augustus Mutt was published in the San Fransisco Chronicle in 1907 (Perry & Aldridge, p. 30). The widespread innovation of new comic strips brought about developments of comic characters and themes, some of which have come to be seen as important works of art today.

In 1913 for instance, came Krazy Kat, a strange tale about a cat and a mouse by George Harriman, now considered the highest achievement of comic strip cartoon (Perry & Aldridge, 1971). In 1925, Little Orphan Annie was introduced, while in 1930, Blondie – a representation of the domestic suburbia, was published in New York American, and soon became the most popular strip ever (1971). Blondie was an upbeat comic strip based on the romantic tribulations of a young girl seeking the good life. Despite the threat of losing popularity when depression set in, Chic Young, creator of Blondie, made a smart move by uniting Dagwood and Blondie in a blissful — but not-so-perfect marriage. This won great support from the readers who could easily identify with the problems faced by Blondie and her young husband Dagwood. This marriage started a string of comic strips satirizing domesticity in the consumer culture — something the masses could relate to, thus winning Blondie the support it needed.

As more and more comic strips were developed, innovative publishers began compiling comic strips to be sold as comic books, thus leading to the birth of the first comic books. In 1911, Mutt and Jeff comic strips were compiled into a mini comic book and sold to 45,000 readers by coupon returns to the newspaper (Perry & Aldridge, p. 40). The popularization of comic books featuring single titles, as we know today only began in the 1930s, catalysed by the development and wide acceptance of superhero comics such as Superman. The introduction of comic books then opened up a new channel in the interest in comics — comic collection. As comic books and magazines became regularly produced, comic collection quickly became a subsidiary activity of comic reading, participated by the most enthusiastic comic readers and fans.

Diverging Genres – from parodies to crime and action

As comic strips evolved into comic books, new comic genres were also introduced. Venturing beyond docile, realistic themes primarily based on social satires, 1931 brought about a new type of comic strip that experimented with more violent, aggressive themes set in the context of city crime detection. Chester Gould, in his creation, Dick Tracy, employs aggressive violence that was new in comic strips of that era. It is said that violence in the Tracy’s context was acceptable because it was “flat and dimensional” and substituted graphic violence for “solid blacks”(Perry & Aldridge, 1971, p. 14). Dick Tracy could perhaps be regarded as the predecessor of action-based comics, which now make up some of the more popular new-age comics.

1934 took comics outside the American context as Milton Cannif created Terry and the Pirates, which brought the war between China and Japan into the comics. It sparked a new era for adventure comics as foreign context was brought into the picture. Cannif’s meticulous attempt at incorporating detailed information about the Sino-Japanese war in the comic, was novel for that time, when most comics were set in the local American context. Milton Cannif went on to create comics such as Steve Canyon in the 1940s, which was later used as a propagandistic tool for the Air Force (Perry & Aldridge, 1971, p. 17).

Comics’ migration into the New Media

The development of radio and television in the 1920s brought about new developments in the history of comics. Popular comic strips such as Lil’ Abner, Blondie, Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, were made into television cartoon series — a step up the commercialization of the comic form. This migration into a different format in addition to their printed comic format is an attempt to increase their audience base – a development that marked a turning point in the history of comics, as it aided in proliferating particular comics and the comic characters. The movement from print to television and later on to the big screen is particularly eminent to the development of superhero comics, as this comic genre can be said to have reaped the most benefit in the shift of comics into other media.

The Superhero genre was developed around the late 1930s— pioneered by the creation of Superman by Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster in 1938. This genre later on became the most prominent comic books’ genre, maintaining its position up to the present. The creation and success of Superman comics sparked a new interest in the superhero genre, leading to the creation of other comic superheroes such as Batman, X-Men, Spiderman, Flash Gordon, Captain Marvel and so on. The most eminent quality of this genre is its enduring nature since its conception in the 1930s. The superhero genre is rightfully the top genre where comics and comic-related products are concerned. Based on recent statistics, Marvel Comics – home of superhero comics like Spiderman and X-Men, produces and circulates 3,638,059 of comics every month (Marvel.com, 2004). Also, as previously suggested, the cross-media ability that easily transforms superhero comics into comic-inspired animation, television series, Hollywood films, plays, and superhero-themed toys, has led to the vast commercialization of the superhero comics, and thus the continued interest in this genre.

The continued development of social satirical comics

Despite the distraction caused by the huge popularity of the superhero genre, it is said that comic satires continued to evolve in the decades between 1950 and 1960, and persevering through the 1970s (Inge, 1990). Walt Kelly’s Pogo (1948), a perfect satire in the form of animal drawings, drew a large pool of readers who found amusement in its brutal satire of the American society. By 1954, the comic strip was appearing in 425 papers (Perry & Aldridge, 1971, p. 109). Similar satirical comics of that era included Charles Schultz’s Peanuts, which uses children as representation of society’s stereotypes and insecurities. This trend was continued in the 1970s with Jim Davis’ creation of Garfield, the smug, lazy, but witty cat who ironically, appears more intelligent and logical than its human master and his friends, satirizing the fallibilities of humankind and mocking the supposed superiority of humans over animals. Bill Watterson joined in the fun with Calvin and Hobbes, which again, uses animals as comic representations of “the eccentricities of human behaviour (Inge, 1990, p. 30).”

The 1980s and 1990s brought about another kind of satire with the creation of comics (and television cartoons) such as the Simpsons — now probably considered the epitome of social satire. Centered on the life of a dysfunctional nuclear family, the Simpsons satirises the American notion of the “ideal” family and family values. The depiction of society’s stereotypes, the issues of racism, homosexuality, and class segregations are all boldly addressed in this cartoon. While the Simpsons can be considered one of the most poignant satire of the American society, the humour employed in the cartoon neutralizes the seriousness of the issues surrounding it, leading to the wide acceptance of this cartoon by its audience, most of whom can easily identify with the cartoon and its characters. The success of the Simpsons has led to the creation of other similar cartoons such as Family Guy, Futurama, The Oblongs, and King of the Hill — all of which serve a similar function of satirizing the American society and way of life. The continuing popularity of these cartoons proves the existing market and interest in satirical comics. More academic attention is therefore necessary for comics of this genre.

The Economic Scope of the Comic Industry

This diversity of form and positioning as a popular mass culture, has helped ensure the economic viability of the comic industry. Marvel Comics, one of the oldest comic publishers, was still drawing a high circulation of 3.638 million in 2003, targeting a reader base of 15 million monthly (Marvel.com, 2004). In fact, Marvel comics ranked 11^th on the Top 100 Consumer Magazines list of 2004 published by Mediaweek (2004). ICV2.com, a news information site for popular culture, reported a 12% overall increase in comic sales just in May 2004, with 175,000 of the three top titles sold. Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse — three of the biggest comic publishers in America, reported a revenue increase of 25%, 14%, and 7% respectively, over April 2003 (ICV2.com, 2004). The most notable fact is that such high figures were derived only from the sale of comics, from one of the many comic publishers, and pertinent only to the sale of comic books, disregarding cross genres such as comic-inspired TV serials and movies.

The migration to and adaptation of comics by other media is another testimony of its economic viability. When considering the media industry as a whole, together with spin-offs from well-known comics and their characters, such as that of Hollywood movies like Spiderman and X-Men, the comic industry hails a $10 billion retail market in America alone (ICV2.com, 2004). In addition to increases in sales of comic books, movies such as X-men and Spiderman were also Box Office Hits, with X-men reaping $57 million dollar on its opening weekend (comics2film.com, 2002). Similarly, Spiderman 2 reached a high $40.5 million sales on its opening weekend, attaining the highest sales for any movie in its opening day (CNN.com, 2004). These high sales revenues from the sale of comics and comic-related products have brought increasing attention to comics as a genre.

Although it is difficult to accurately estimate the scope of the comic industry, statistical research indicated that as of November 1997, there were more than 140 active comic publishing companies (Haines, 1998, p. 12). The latest comic sales statistics as recorded by ICV2.com indicates that Diamond U.S., a single comic supplier, sold more than eight million comics to comic specialty stores across the US in November 2004 (ICV2.com). Since most of the available statistics are on the US market, knowledge of the industry is confined to the North American market. The huge amount of money circulating in the comic industry suggests comics’ popularity among consumers. Investigating the enormous popularity of comics has thus become central to our understanding of contemporary American culture.

Aside from comic strips and books in the traditional printed form, online versions of many comics are now also available. What is more interesting is the fact that newspaper strips such as Peanuts, Blondie, and other satirical strips such as Dilbert are now also available online, as indicated by a recent report by WCBS80, an online newsradio report (WCBS.com, 2004). This not only indicates a vested interest in comics, but also signifies a revival of people’s interest in comic satires. Unfortunately, the largest statistics in the comic industry are still dominated by superhero comics and their spin-offs.

Section B: Statement of Purpose

Comic book studies and their emphasis on the Superhero: A major bias in comic studies

Tracing back to the history of comics, the superhero genre in comics had in fact only gained pace in 1938, with the creation of Superman. Superman represents at that time, a new age comic set in fantastical context, reflecting the pursuit and perhaps desire for fantasies and an escape from reality. There was then a paradigm shift in the understanding of comics – from the comic strips, most of which were various manifestations of social satires to the new era of superheroes, which may represent desires for supernatural powers and invincibility.

The early prejudice on comics by the academia has left the economy the task to determine the value of comics, contributing to the lack of knowledge and propagation of historically important comics satires. This lack of academic attention that has limited the development of comic studies is a result of two factors: the popularity of comics among the masses and their thematic drift to violence.

Viewed as pulp fiction, the comic was seen as a working class “low-brow” form; its popularity amongst the masses rendering it unfit for academic consumption. Until the 1950s, it was beneath the academics. The academic’s disdain for the vernacular leads to the deliberate disassociation by the academia with comics. Admitting to liking comics seemed to be an act of relegating oneself to a lower intellectual level. Thierry Groensteen succinctly summarized such disdain for comics in his essay, Why are comics still in search of cultural legitimization, by suggesting that “the comic art suffers from a four-fold symbolic handicap. These four-fold symbolic handicap stem from both the comics as a medium, as well as their content. The “hybrid” quality of comics as a marriage of text and image undermines both its aesthetical as well as its literary values. The generally inferior literary content relegates it to a mere sub-literature; a branch of “paraliterature” or “a badly defined set of popular genres that includes adventure stories, historical novels, fantasy and science fiction, detective novels, erotica, etc (Groensteen, 1994, p.38).” Aesthetically, comics are paralleled to caricature, which is considered an inferior branch of visual art. And despite its frequently mature content, comics are more often seen as immature reading materials targeted at children, far below the level suited for the sophisticated minds.

When the popular culture movement came to focus on mass culture however, the vernaculars — the everyday, became legitimate foci of academic learning. Comic strips such as Peanuts and Garfield, as well as Disney’s comic characters became revered as important works of culture.

The issue of crime and violence that are linked to comics also retard its development. The introduction of action comics with crime and superhero themes which help popularize the comic form among the youths, led to a wave of moral panic among parents and adults who accused comics of inducing violent and sexual thoughts and behaviour in young readers. This anxiety about youth is seen in the work of Dr. Frederic Wertham, Seduction of the Innocent (1954), a controversial anti-comics publication that speaks of the detrimental influence of comics on children. Using limited examples of certain comics at that era, Dr. Wertham came to the conclusion that comics were shoddy pieces of work that not only retard its readers’ reading capabilities, but also inculcate violent and sexual tendencies in them (Wertham, 1954). His work sets an example for other academics to focus on comic studies, particularly on the potential negative influence comic books have on their adolescent readers. Unfortunately, materials used as the bases for analyses often do not venture far from superhero or action comic books, which may also explain why comic-reading was then deemed a causality to violent and sexual thoughts and actions, while the cultural and social benefits from reading satirical and educational comics were ignored.

Fortunately, this newfound attention has encouraged more academic studies on comics and comic reading. The damaging view of comics as pulp fiction is now much less influential in retarding the pursuit of academic researches on comics, as comic studies are gradually seen as legitimate intellectual pursuits within the academic community. An extensive body of academic-oriented comic research now exists – manifested in the form of books, journals, as well as online discussion forums for comic scholars. ComicsResearch.Org archives some of the most eminent works on comic studies, while Dr. John F. Ronan from the University of Florida moderates some of the most interesting online forums for comic scholars. It is no doubt that over the years, the academia has shown enhanced interest in the world of comics and its readers.

However, since media studies have long decided that all things revolving around violence and sex are worth studying, the plethora of existing comic studies often concern themselves with those portraying sex and violence, fearing the negative effects they might have on their audiences. Particularly for those who follow the tradition of Dr. Frederic Wertham and his controversial Seduction of Innocent, which aimed at prohibiting violent and sexual content in comics, comic scholars have the tendency to focus on the study of superhero and action comics which better fall under this category, leading to a major bias in perspective in comic studies and a neglect of other mainstream comics such as social satirical comics.

Studies that focus on superhero or action comics and their readers, though valuable, are biased as they are centered on themes such as masculine narcissism and desire for action, adventure, and invincibility. The essay by Norma Pecora, Superman/Superboys/Supermen The Comic Book Hero as Socializing Agent reflects just this as her essay was set to explore the role of superheroes as role models for young male readers. In this essay, Pecora emphasizes the importance of superhero comics in comic studies by claiming that “superheroes are the stuff of little boys’ fantasies and young girls’ dreams and they are the heart and soul of comic books” (Pecora, 1992, p. 61). While it is true that studies on superhero comics as socializing agents for adolescent males who make up the majority of these comics’ fans are important as part of the research on media effects on their audiences, the value of these studies in the field of comic studies has been overdone and overrated. These studies have overshadowed other important comic genres and their fan base, leading to a narrow-minded and limited academic understanding of the diversity of comic fandom. Also, these studies are often the ones responsible for creating moral panic over the supposed negative effects of comic reading on youths — relating exposure to such comics to the tendencies for violence and crime. This leads to an unnecessary panic over and condemnation of the comic medium. No doubt, some of these accusations are not unfounded. However, such condemnation and juxtaposing of the various comic genres into a single action/superhero genre is a feeble attempt at understanding the diversity of comics. To develop a better understanding of the comic medium, it is imperative that academic comic studies encompass other comic genres.

Growing up as a comic fan, I have been exposed to a wide variety of comics. My vast collection includes comics such as Asterix, The Adventures of Tin Tin, Walt Disney’s Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse Comics, Archie comics and many more, in addition to some mainstream Superhero comics such as Superman and Batman. These comics span over a variety of genres, each offering me a different kind of pleasure upon reading them. Such gratification each comic delivers to its reader is undoubtedly one of the most important, if not the most important reason underlying the loyalty of each comic reader to the comic of her choice.

Merely focusing on superhero comics and their fans means that the spectrum of comic fans are indiscriminatingly grouped under the same umbrella; rendering them one and the same — a misleading means of understanding comic fans and the fan culture. Although comic fans are united by their common passion for and devotion to comics, they are actually quite different from one another, depending on the genre of comics they are interested in. Matthew Pustz, in his research of comic fans reaffirms the fact in his interview with Sheila Glennon, an observant employee of a comic bookstore called Daydreams. In her account, Glennon broadly categorized the comic readers under the following categories: the academics otherwise known as the “snobs”, the weekenders or the “browsers”, the mainstream comic readers, the collectors who buy for keeps, and the women readers. The following is a brief summary of the characteristics of each type of comic reader: the “snobs” are those who are usually highly educated, “always involved in some kind of projects, and (are) usually involved in graduate-degree programs of some sort.” (Pustz, 1999, p. 67). These readers often pick up obscure comics, shunning mainstream comics altogether. The “browsers” comprise of mostly adults who purchase comics out of nostalgia. Their choices depend on the kinds of comics they used to read as kids. The mainstream readers are the big buyers, often buying ten or more comics at one go. They are frequently armed with comic guides and buy mostly superhero comics, often by habit. The collectors are those who collect comics for their economic resale value and may not necessarily be fans. The women are often readers of alternative comics, Vertigo titles or romance comics. Glennon’s account reasserts the diversity of comic readers and fans, and thus the need to venture away from the superhero genre and into other genres to get a clearer picture of comic fans.

Return to Roots: the growing analysis of comic satire

The importance of the Simpsons (1989) as a social satire has caught the attention of contemporary commentators. However, even studies that focus on satirical comics such as the Simpsons, has focused on its television form, which is quite different from its comic form, though based on similar contents. A refocus on satirical comics whose primary medium comes in the printed comic form is thus necessary.

Unbeknown to many, around the same time when superhero comic strips and books were conceived, another form of satirical comics surrounding the theme of romance was created. It was the Archie comics — created in 1939 as America’s first teen boyfriend, and published in 1941. The world of Archie comics revolves around the high-school context, where all major characters in the comics consist of high school students. Very much like Blondie and Lil’ Abner, romance is a huge theme of the comics with much of the content revolving around the love triangle between the main characters in the comics — Archie, Betty, and Veronica. The interesting thing about Archie comics however, is the fact that it was the first comic that serves as a voice for the adolescents at that time. Again, the context and characters in the comics are set realistically enough to resemble the American society at that time such that readers could easily identify with the comics and its characters. Yet, the characters and situations in the comics are also hammed up enough to the point that they serve as absurd representations and mockery of the society’s problematic stereotypes and issues. A thorough discussion of the Archie comics will be addressed in a separate section of this paper. I have decided to focus my research on Archie comics as it is representative of a social satire in the comic form that has received much readers’ support throughout its reigning years as the longest running teen romance comic.

One other motivation underlying the focus of this study is my own experience as a comic fan. As a child living in one of the Asian societies, reading Archie comics gave me a peek into the American way of life; a way of understanding a culture vastly different from my own. Since the stories within Archie comics draw their inspirations from realistic elements of one’s daily life, such as that of social interactions between teenagers, clashes between teen rebellion and school authority, dilemma faced in the teens’ love lives, issues around friendships and rivalries and so on — similar issues that I faced in my adolescent years, I could easily relate to the characters and situations within the Archie comics. The enjoyment I got from reading Archie comics then, can be broken down into the following factors: amusement derived from learning about the lives of my adolescent counterparts in a foreign country; ability to identify with the situational context within the comics, as well as with the comic characters; relish in role-playing and fantasy as I begin to draw connection between myself and the comic character(s) or place myself in similar situations with the character(s); and anticipatory socialization as I begin to pick up cues from the characters’ behaviour and apply them to my own. Obviously, these motivational factors underlying my love for Archie comics are quite different from the factors underlying the fandom of a typical superhero comic fan. For this, and other reasons outlined above, I embarked on this study on Archie comics and their fans.

Theories

In studying Archie comics, it is also my intention to stay away from masculine modes of comic reception such as that of narcissistic desire for (superhuman) power and invincibility. Instead, I wish to focus on how the reading of Archie comics may have contributed in readers’ self-development and future socialization. In theorizing the framework for the fan study, anticipatory socialization became the main framework used to analyse Archie fans. Anticipatory socialization is a sociological term used to refer to the process in which a person learns about and experiments with behaviours for future roles in life and in social relationships. It is one idea that extends from George Herbert Mead’s theory of “The Social Self.” Mead’s theory contends that there are essentially three stages of self-development, including the preparatory stage, the play stage, and the game stage. (Mead, 1934) The role of comic as an agent of socialization is then particularly important in the second stage, where the child learns to emulate specific role models, in order to prepare for their own roles when they reach a similar stage (as the role models) in their lives. Tying this process of anticipatory socialization with comic reading is to suggest that readers take in and process what they have read from the comics and apply them to their future actions and in their interaction with others. As well, it is possible that fans of the comic might use it to help them deal with their realities. Susan Murray, in her essay, Saving Our So-Called Lives: Girl Fandom, Adolescent Subjectivity, and My So-Called Life seeks to explain teenage girls’ fascination with the televisions series My So Called Life and how some of these fans claimed the series has helped them with their lives. According to her findings, girl fans of the show found meaning in the television series via the process of “participatory spectatorship, identification, the development of a relationship to an ideal self, and girl-culture activism.” (Murray, 1999) Consequently, “My So Called Life and its narrative trajectories became not simply entertainment, but rather an investment in an individual and communal understanding of teenage girl identity.” (1999). Similarly, when investigating Archie fandom and the mindsets of Archie fans, attempts are made to understand the uses and gratifications they derive from the Archie comics and if their reading of the comics have impacted their lives the way My So Called Life has impacted their fans’.

A second framework used to aid this research is the theory of uses and gratification, (which essentially explores the ways in which media audiences utilize information they obtain from the media (Lorimer & Gasher, p. 132). To complement the postulation about the Archie comic being a socializing agent for their readers, this theory of uses and gratification is used as a second framework in the hope of further understanding other possible motivations behind Archie readers’ reading of the comic. By comprehending the uses of and gratifications the readers derived from the comic, we can further understand the role Archie comics may play in their lives. Prior to investigating the Archie fans however, there is first a need to understand their object of fandom – the Archie comics.

Section C: Archie Comics – Not a superhero but equally invincible

How has Archie Comics stayed competitive in the expanding comics industry?

Archie comics was the brainchild of John Goldwater, co-founder of MLJ Magazines which published comic book titles under the lines of Blue Ribbon Comics and Top Notch Comics (Archiecomicsonline.com, 2004). Created in 1939 as “America’s newest boyfriend” Archie was a welcoming change to the superhero and animal comics that were abound at that time. Since its first appearance in issue #22 MLJ Magazine’s Pep Comics, December 1941, Archie has been the longest running comics about teen romance, with a sixty-four year history up to the present. Since then, Archie comics have been published in a variety of forms including both magazine-sized paperbacks, as well as thicker comic digests. Some titles under the Archie magazine series include: Archie, Archie’s Girls: Betty and Veronica, and Jughead, while some of the titles under the digest series include: Archie Digest, Archie Double Digest, Betty and Veronica Digest, Betty and Veronica Double Digest, Jughead Digest, Jughead Double Digest, Pals and Gals Digest and many more. The comic has also been translated into many foreign languages including, French, Spanish, German, Greek, Norwegian, Swedish, and Korean, and are currently distributed in over sixty countries around the world. In addition to the variety of comic book series featuring Archie and his friends, a variety of products have also been produced to complement the success of Archie comics. These include Archie T-shirts, watches, mugs, dolls, bags, caps, and clothing. Archie comics have also been used in a variety of advertisements, one of which featured the Hostess fruit pie. As Archie comics continued to gain popularity in the 1960s, television series featuring Archie and his friends were also developed. Some titles include The New Archies and The Archie’s Funnies. In fact, the influence of Archie comics was so great that it was used for religious propagandas in the 1970s and again in the 1980s and 1990s for active non-smoking and anti-drug propagandas. One would think that after such a long success, Archie comics would have overextended its popularity. Yet, according to 2001 Simmons Reader’s Survey, the Archie comics has an average monthly circulation of 850,000 and are read by an average of 6.57 reader per copy. More statistics from the official Archie website also reveals that out of the average of 6.57 reader who reads each Archie comic, 1.45 are adults, and that each issue of Archie reaches 4.7 million kids and makes over 44 million reader impressions (Archiecomicsonline.com, 2004).

This long success is especially remarkable considering the nature of Archie comics itself. Being a comic book whose central focus is teen life and its issues, Archie comics lack the excitement factor that fans of comic books derive from superhero comics. Stories in the Archie comics, though different in every issue, are essentially repetitive as they are centralized around the same issues. With such a repetitive tendency, how has the comic book managed to survive the changing times and maintain its share of the market in this competitive comic industry? The Archie management group, when asked this very same question, justified Archie comics’ success to their constant “modernization” to suit the changing times and the readers’ changing tastes. This very same explanation was given by Michael Silberkeit, Director of the Archie Comics Group in his interview with Rik Offenberger, writer for the http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com, a popular online comic fanzine (Offenberger, 2005). As succinct as such an explanation may be, it is far too simplistic. Although Archie comics have kept up with the times, by updating the contexts the stories are set in, infusing the comics with abundant technology and recent cultural references, the framework has been kept more or less the same. (Refer to Appendix A for a full analysis of the comics). Besides, recycling old stories seems to be a regular aspect of the recent digests, limiting the number of new stories and ideas. If Archie comics have remained more or less the same, what justifies its dominance of such a large share of the comics market? A possible explanation for the comic’s success is the availability of wide fan support for the Archie comics. Without the fans that purchase Archie comics and all other related Archie goods, the comics would not have continually survived amidst the influx of more exciting comics and foreign imports such as Japanese manga. What then may be motivating the Archie fans to extend their continued support to these comics?

The pursuit of such an understanding is the primary reason motivating this research project. Archie comics’ special placement amongst the superhero-dominated comic industry is a unique one. Yet, no study has been conducted on Archie comics to investigate the possible reasons accounting for such a unique placement of what is seen as a simplistic children’s comic book. Studying Archie comics and its fandom is an attempt to shift the focus of academic-oriented comic studies away from superhero comics to other genres, particularly back to social-satirical comics which Archie comics can be classified under. More importantly, focusing on Archie comics opens a new window for the study of comic fandom. Current available studies on comic fandom are primarily done on superhero comic fandom and alternative comic fandom. As such, fans of these comics are seen as representative of all comic fans, which might not be a true picture of reality. This study then, seeks to focus the attention on Archie comic fandom, particularly on the ways Archie comics’ fans derive pleasure from the comics, and how the reading of such comics may affect their actual socialization.

Stepping into the Archie world – A visit to Riverdale

A prelude to Archie fan study is the understanding of the world within Archie comics. Centred on the high school context, the world of Archie comics is highly realistic. Despite occasional infusion of fantastical elements such as “Archie superheroes”, the central theme of the comic revolves around a somewhat realistic depiction of teen life. The stories in typical Archie comics are primarily centred on issues faced by so-called typical high school teens, represented by the Archie comic characters. These issues include school matters surrounding homework, exams, making the grades; interpersonal problems surrounding friendships, romance, rivalry, tension, and alienation; and other social problems involving class issues, wealth, and social status. These are themes that most teens at whom Archie comics are targeted, can relate to.

In addition to realistic themes, characters in the comic are also quite realistic. Far from perfection, these characters represent the typified teenagers in the American society. For instance, Archie Andrews – the central ‘hero’ of the comic, is a freckled-faced, red-haired, and average all-American teenage boy with average looks and grades, who come from an average middle class family. His plainness hardly endorses him with any “hero-like” qualities. And yet, he is the central character who is often portrayed as the hero in many instances. He is always pursued by Veronica and Betty, two charming girls whom he cannot resist. Veronica Lodge is a raven-haired beauty who seems to have it all: a rich family, a doting and spoiling father, closets of designer clothes, a self-sacrificial best friend and boyfriends who will do just about anything to get remotely close to her. Yet, this character with such a seemingly perfect life does not have a perfect personality to match. Veronica is depicted as a selfish, spoiled girl, who will do anything to get what she wants, regardless of whom she hurts in the process. However, her selfishness is often justified as arising from her thoughtlessness and inability to empathise with less-privileged individuals — a result of her highly privileged background, not that of an inherently evil nature. Betty Cooper in contrast, is a bubbly, blonde, all-American girl-next-door who excels in just about everything, complete with a charming and selfless personality to boot. Yet this seeming perfection is tainted by her absolute obsession with Archie, which sometimes overcomes her innately sweet and endearing nature as she schemes her way to get into Archie’s heart.

Another member of the gang is Jughead Jones – a laid back character with an insatiable appetite and peculiar fashion sense, but a huge heart and extreme loyalty to his two best buddies – Archie and Hot Dog (his loyal dog). Unlike Archie, he does not enjoy the ladies’ company, and in fact, tries his best to avoid all intimate contact with any female for that matter, preferring to indulge in food and excessive sleep. Like any typical teen, he dislikes work and is often shown as being lazy and overly unenthusiastic. Last but not least, there is Reggie – a self-indulgent, narcissistic male whose love for himself is bigger than anything and anyone. He is Archie’s arch-rival in winning Veronica’s affection, and in just about everything else. Although he is often depicted as the stronger male between the two, like Veronica, he is often branded the ‘villain’ in the stories.

In addition to the primary characters, the comic also includes other characters that are created to represent certain social stereotypes. For example, there is Moose the sports jock who excels in all sports but fails in all his academic subjects — a perfect example of brawn with no brain; Midge the petite girlfriend of Moose Mason who acts as the stereotypical docile girlfriend; Dilton Doiley the genius with a perfect grade point average but has a hard time making it in sports and in scoring points with the ladies; and Ethel the plain, tall and awkward girl who represents the plain Jane in every school. As much as one can argue that these character stereotypes are no longer applicable to the present multicultural societies, this representation could very well be one of the factors attracting readers to Archie comics. With the variety of characters in the comics, there is bound to be one or more that readers can identify with. Matthew Pustz suggests, in his book, Comic Book Culture: Fanboys and True Believers, that some fans enjoy reading certain comics because they identify themselves with the comic characters (Pustz, 1999, p. 95). There is no doubt that Archie fans may derive the same kind of enjoyment from reading the comics. Yet, there is another kind of identification which may deem more relevant to Archie readers in their enjoyment of the comics. This identification involves real participation on the readers’ side in the supposedly fictional situation or context within the comic.

A quick example is the age-old debate on who makes the better girl between Betty and Veronica. Started in the 1960s when the publisher extends this question to the male readers of Archie comics, there have been a lot of debates with regards to whom the male fans prefer (Jack Myers Report, November 26, 2003). By choosing between Betty and Veronica, Archie fans are situating themselves within the context of Archie comics, to indulge in the role play of being Archie, hence having to answer the question: If I was Archie, who would I choose? In this sense the fans are not identifying with Archie because they see elements in Archie’s character they can relate to, but more because of the context Archie is situated in.

Such identification leads to another reason that may explain fans’ fascination with the comics. By placing themselves within the context of the Archie comics, that is to situate themselves within this fictional city of Riverdale and Riverdale High School, Archie fans may be using the comic as a surrogate sphere of experiencing teen lifestyle. The experiences that Archie and his friends go through, as narrated by stories within the comic books give the fans an insight into what they may perceive as a realistic teen life. By reading about how Archie resolves certain dating issues, teen male readers may be noting down some tricks on how they may handle similar issues if and when they face them in their own lives. Similarly, by reading on how Betty and Veronica resolves their dating conflicts and incessant rivalry over Archie, teen female readers may also learn a thing of two that they might use when similar conflicts arise in their own lives. In this way then, Archie readers are using the comics as an educational material to help them anticipate problems and issues prevalent in teen life, and thus the possible solutions to employ when these issues arise.

A poignant example is found in Betty and Veronica magazine No. 253 published in January 1977. In this issue is a page dedicated to fan letters, where fans are encouraged to write to Betty and Veronica with problems they may be facing. Betty and Veronica then act as counselors or ‘advisors’ that will help fans with their problems. One of the letters sounds like this:

“Dear Betty and Veronica,

My problem concerns two cute boys in my school. They like me and I like them. They both have asked me out and I said I needed time to think it over. Now I don’t know which one to go with because they are both adorable. What should I do?”

And Betty and Veronica’s answer:

“That’s easy – go with both – (different times of course.)”

The significance of this letter and answer are twofold. First, the fact that the fan is asking about a dating-related problem shows her understanding of the comics’ narrative theme. By asking Betty and Veronica a dating-related question, and thus expecting them to have an answer shows that the fan is probably using the Archie narrative as a tool to help her cope with her own dating life. This also means that she sees relevance between the world of Archie comics and her own – as she wouldn’t have asked for such advice (which she probably intends to follow or consider following), if she did not think that the advice was going to be realistic, and thus relevant to her own reality. Second, to a smaller extent, the letter also illustrates a previous point on how fans might situate themselves within the context of the comic itself and identify with the characters or the situation the characters are in. Specifically, this fan is situating herself in the context of the usual dating life Betty and Veronica often experience. Her internal question that motivates her correspondence with the magazine might have been: What would Betty and Veronica do if they were in my shoes? Identifying herself with either or both of Betty and Veronica, this fan may then deal with her issue the way Betty and Veronica would. And Betty and Veronica’s answer to her query just fulfills this expectation.

It is evidence as such that encouraged my initial postulation on the possible motivations behind comic readers’ continued support for Archie comics. Based on the assumption that the primary readers of Archie comics are those who are either already experiencing teen life, or are anticipating teen life, reading Archie comics may be a channel through which they learn about teen life and the surrounding issues teens may face. As illustrated above, this is achieved through the identification with the comics’ characters and through the game of role-play where readers situate themselves within the context of the comic and indulge in the fantasy of being part of the Archie world. By situating themselves as part of the Archie comic, readers can indirectly fulfill their desires for love and the dating game, through the fantasy of being one of the characters in the comics. In addition, reading Archie comics may also be a way readers learn to socialize within the context of their own reality.

Section D: The Field Work

Research Questions

The primary research objective is to understand the motivations behind Archie fans’ continued reading of the Archie comics, and if the reading of these comics affects fans’ attitudes and behavioural protocol in their own socialization. Upon attaining this objective, the sub-objective is to understand the role played by Archie comic fans in sustaining the popularity of the comic. The next segment introduces the methodology used in undertaking this research. .

Methodology

Understanding Changes in the Archie Comic

In a bid to view the changes made to the Archie comics throughout the years, a chronological content analysis was attempted on various Archie comic titles from differing eras. Five comics from each era, from 1950 to the present, were analysed. A detailed explanation of the various modifications done to the comics can be found in appendix A.

Fan Research

Fan research was conducted via three primary means, namely that of online survey, interviews, and participant observation. In view of the common debate on the value of quantitative and qualitative studies, the study attempts to combine both means by obtaining empirical data on comic readers via the online survey, while gaining a deeper understanding of these readers via their self-reflective interviews. While results from the survey enable us to derive general patterns between comic readers’ reading behaviours and their motivations behind comics-reading, the interviews allow us to understand emotional attachments these readers may have with the comics. In addition to the previous methods, participant observation is helpful in allowing for the observation of comic readers in their element. It is also the least intrusive method of research since subjects are often unaware that they are being observed.

Online Survey

The online survey consisted of 23 questions aimed at obtaining information on comic readers’ demographics and psychographics. A copy of the survey is attached in Appendix C. The survey was posted on several comics websites including: themightycrusaders.net, 80sexchange.com, and thecomicsjournal.com. These websites are forums that serve as free spaces for comic fans to share their thoughts and feelings. The sites were chosen because there had been previous discussions on Archie comics on the sites. Additionally, the survey link was also e-mailed to approximately three hundred people. Data from the survey responses was collected over a period of one and a half weeks upon the posting of the survey. Any responses received after the time period was not included in the data analysis. In total, 240 responses were included in the data analysis.

Interviews

In addition to traditional in-person interviews, some interviewees in this study were interviewed through e-mails or via MSN instant messaging service. Although in-person interviews are generally preferred, due to the fact that virtual communities are important aspects of comic fandom, many suitable interviewees could only be reached online. The lack of body language presented by virtual interviews was compensated by a more candid discussion and revelation of comic-reading habits. Interviews conducted via e-mails however, were more limited as they hampered interviewer-interviewee interaction. On the positive side however, this also prevented the “researcher effect” as the respondents were only subjected to questions that were objectively worded.

Among the six interviewees, two were interviewed in person. For the purpose of maintaining participants’ confidentiality, all interviewees will be referred by their first initial. All transcribed interviews are attached in Appendix B.

Participant Observation

Participant observation in this study has been conducted locally in various comic stores and supermarkets around the Greater Vancouver where Archie comics are sold. Additionally, virtual observation also took place in comic forums where there have been discussions on Archie comics. Alternating between the status of a participating fan and a stoic observer, I had the chance of observing the manner in which fans discussed Archie comics and their characters, which was revealing of their feelings and thoughts about these comics.

Review of Major Terms

The Archie Comics

The Archie comics that were used for this study included only Archie comic titles that involve Riverdale High School and the Archie gang. This included both the Archie Comic Digests as well as the original magazine-sized Archie comics. However, the study excluded affiliated titles such as The Mighty Crusaders.

The Concept of “Fan” and “Fandom”

Most researchers who have tried to explore the concept of “fans” and “fandom” have encountered difficulties in accurately defining the terms. As Gibson states in her thesis, The Mediated Self: An Exploration of the Subjective Experience of Mass Media Celebrity Fanship, defining the term can be problematic, as it often depends on the researcher’s own definition and interpretation (Gibson, 2000). In terms of comic fandom for instance, someone who spends just a few hours a week on reading comic books, and one who spends a few hours a day reading comic books, can equally be considered fans, depending on the researcher’s own yardstick for comparison. The extent of one’s fandom might be a separate issue, but as long as there is an interest in the comic, the characteristic of a fan exists, thus entitling the person the term “fan.” Particular to this research, the task of defining one’s status as a comic fan or otherwise was handed over to the subjects themselves. For instance, in order to identify the Archie comic fans, respondents of the comic survey were asked to classify themselves into either of the following categories: current Archie fans, former Archie fans, or non Archie fans. In doing so, there was no researcher bias present in the classification of the comic readers.

Fans vs. Fanatics

The term “fan” (or aficionado) as “someone who has an intense, occasionally overwhelming liking of a person, group of persons, work of art, idea, or trend,” (Wikipedia, 2005) is historically derived from the word “fanatic,” which is defined by Webster dictionary as “(one who is) marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion.” (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 2001). This association of a “fan” with a behaviour that is “excessive” and “uncritical” immediately gives anyone who classifies herself as a “fan” a bad name. Gibson reiterates this by asserting how existing studies tend to focus on “pathological fan behaviour,” instead of understanding the “normal” fans (Gibson, 2000). She gave the example of Star Trek fans, otherwise known as “Trekkies” or “Trekkers”, many of whom are misunderstood as fanatics who have “no lives.” In reality, there is a wide spectrum of fans who vary in their degree of involvement and devotion in their subject of fandom. While studies have the tendency to focus on the pathological fan behaviours, thus giving a false impression of media or sports fans, there is a majority of “normal” fans who continue to be neglected and thus misunderstood. In filling this serious void in fan studies, this study of Archie comic fans has focused on the “normalcy” of comic fandom and fan behaviour.

Fan Communities

In studying the Archie fan communities, I was primarily concerned with the online fan communities established via online forums where Archie fans can talk about their favourite comic. An examination of these communities was largely done through an observation of the ongoing discussions about Archie comics in these forums as well as the occasional re-appropriation of the Archie comics and characters by the readers.
Section E: A brief discussion of research findings – establishing

The Archie Fan

This section is dedicated to a discussion of the research findings in understanding Archie comic fans. Upon summarizing general comic reading trends among the survey respondents, this section outlines the profile of the fans, their comic-reading behaviour, and most importantly, their Archie-reading motivations and the gratifications. To supplement the survey findings, interviews conducted with current and former Archie fans allow for a better understanding of the Archie fan community, and in doing so, we gain a multitude of perspectives on comic readers and Archie fans.

A General View of Comic Readers

Gender-Related Comic-Reading Behaviour

Most of the survey respondents claimed to be casual comic readers who spend under five hours a week on comics. Among the intermediate (between 5 and 10 hours weekly) and avid comic readers (10 or more hours a week), there were some significant gender differences.

In general, males appeared to spend more time reading comics than females. Among those who spent between 10 and 20 hours a week on reading comics, 88% were males while only 12% were females. The distribution was similar among those who spent more than 20 hours a week on comics, with 80% male respondents and 20% female respondents within this category. The correlation between gender and time spent on comics was significant as shown by the Chi-Square tests below.

This implies that more males do prefer reading comics than females in general, and this difference is not due to sampling variability.

Age-Related Comics Reading Behaviour

This survey data suggests that most respondents who spent the most time on comics-reading were between ages 23 and 35. For instance, the majority (48%) of the participants who indicated that they spend between 10 and 20 hours weekly on reading comics, were between ages 23 and 29, followed by those between ages 30 and 35 (24%).

Comic-Genre Preferences

To understand the diversity of choices among comic readers, survey respondents were first asked to rate a list of comic genres according to the frequency with which they read the comics. Specifically, participants were required to rate the various genres on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being the least frequently read genre and 5 being the most frequently read genre. In judging the popularity of each genre, frequencies were generated for all the genres, based on those that were rated 4 and 5 (i.e. quite frequently and most frequently). Results are summarized in the following tables:

“Genres1” refers to comics that were labeled “quite frequently read” by respondents, while “Genres2” refers to those labeled “most frequently read.” These results show that among comics that respondents quite frequently read, comic strips made up the top genre, followed by superhero and action comics. Out of respondents’ “most frequently read” choices, superhero comics and comic strips were equally popular, followed by alternative comics. Judging from these responses, it is quite clear that comic strips, superhero comics, as well as alternative comics attracted more readers than any other genre.

To further understand the comic preferences of general comic readers, respondents were asked to list three of their favourite comic titles. These titles were later grouped into their respective genres for easy analysis.

As shown in the table, respondents listed titles from the superhero genre more than any other, as one of their favourite comics. The top comics that were listed were: superhero comics (28.6%), comic strips (25.1%), Archie comics (12.5%), and alternative comics (11.4%). Comparing this result with the previous result on respondents’ favourite comic genres, superhero comics, comic strips, and alternative comics appeared to be consistently popular choices. The fact that Archie comics were listed quite frequently however, also suggests its popularity among the comic readers. However, since Children comics appeared to be less popular among the respondents, the popularity of Archie comics suggests that respondents’ liking of Archie comics is not genre-dependent. In other words, instead of classifying it as part of the Children comic genre, the Archie comic may be seen as a distinctive, possibly cross-genre comic. This idea of Archie comics as a cross-genre product is discussed further in the later section.

The Self- Professed Archie Fan

A General Profile

The omnipresence of Archie comics has allowed for a large sample of survey respondents who have heard of Archie comics (93.4%). Among these, 26.3% were self-professed Archie fans, 34% were ex-fans and 39.7% were non-fans. Considering that 60.3% of the respondents were either current or former fans of the comic, we can thus safely assume that most respondents in this sample set were extensively familiar with Archie comics.

Gender Distribution

The gender distribution among current Archie fans was quite even, with 52.8% males and 47.2% females within the fan sample. This relatively even gender distribution uproots the myth that Archie comics are primarily targeted at girls. However, the male to female ratio was reversed when comparing this data with the official readership statistics provided by the Archie Comic Publications Inc., as the official statistics show more females than males constituting the typical Archie comic readers, with 55% females and 45% males (Archie Comic Publications, 2002). The result for ex-Archie fans from this survey was more reflective of the official statistics, with 60% females and 40% males in the sample.

Comics Genre Preferences

Respondent’s general comics-genre preferences show that comic strips and superhero comics were undoubtedly their favourite genres. In differentiating Archie comic fans and non-fans, I ventured to see if Archie comic fans were similar to the general comic readers in their genre preferences. The following tables show the choices made by Archie comic fans based on the comics they “quite frequently” and “most frequently” read, as differentiated by gender.

The first table (Genres1) shows that most male fans chose children comics as the genre they quite frequently read, while choosing alternative comics as the genre they most frequently read. Female fans however, were split in their choices, though most of them chose comic strips as their favourite genre. This data suggests that males who liked Archie comics also liked alternative and children comics, while females who liked Archie comics liked comic strips.

Going back to the question of whether fans’ liking of Archie comics was genre-dependent, this data suggests some links between fans’ preference of certain comic genres and their liking for Archie comics. Archie comics can be seen to possess characteristics of both children comics (in its generally wholesome value), and comic strips (in its satirical nature). Linking fans’ comic genre preferences to their liking for Archie comics, it is possible that male fans considered Archie comics a children comic, while females viewed it more as a satirical comic form.

Comparing Archie fans to non-fans in their comic choices

So far, we see that Archie fans were similar to non-fans in their preference for alternative comics and comic strips. However, the superhero genre was missing from the fans’ choices. Even though the superhero comic genre was the top choice for most comic readers, could it be that Archie fans enjoyed this genre less than the general comic readers? To explore this possibility, a comparison between Archie comic fans and non-fans was made.

Looking at the bottom two rows on the table, we see that a relatively small number of Archie fans chose the superhero genre as their frequently read comic genre, compared to non-fans and ex-fans. This implies that Archie fans did not like superhero comics as much as ex-fans and non-fans. This may be attributed to the very different themes endorsed by superhero comics compared to Archie comics. While stories in Archie comics focused on the vernaculars, superhero comics concerned themselves with masculinist themes of invincibility and power. Fans of Archie who preferred the ordinary rather than the fantastical may then be less attracted to superhero comics, thus explaining the trend seen here.

Involvement with Archie Comics

Like most comic fans, Archie fans were more likely to have read an Archie comic recently compared to ex-fans or non-fans. Among those who indicated that they have read an Archie comic just a few days ago, 92.9% were fans. Most ex-fans however, have not read an Archie comic since a few years, or more than ten years ago, which probably accounts for their status as ex-fans. This prolonged lost of contact however, does not imply the exclusion of ex-fans in the investigation of Archie readers.

Uses and Gratifications

Motivations for Reading Archie Comics

One of the driving forces behind this research is the attempt to understand the motivations fans had for reading Archie comics. The table below summarizes fans’ and ex-fans’ motivations for reading the comics.

Among the various motivations suggested in the survey, preference for the characters and stories seemed to be the strongest motivators, with 72.2% of the Archie fans indicating “liking characters” as one of their motivations for reading Archie comics, and 64.8% of them indicating “liking stories” as another motivator. Other popular reasons for reading the comic included nostalgia and habit. These findings were quite consistent with that given by interviewees. Most interviewees who were either current or ex-fans of Archie comics indicated that they read the comics because they liked the stories and characters. Interviewee G specifically indicated that “(the storyline is) funny and interesting, the characters are well-defined and easy to relate to.” (Appendix B, Interviewee #6, p. 3). To determine which of these reasons might be the strongest motivator for fans’ reading of the comics, a correlation test was attempted and the result shown below:

From the table, we see significant correlations between fans and all the top motivators for reading Archie comics. Of particular significance was the habitual factor for reading Archie comics by fans. This test of correlation shows that “habitual reading” was the strongest motivator for fans’ reading of Archie comics, despite not being the most popular reason chosen by fans, in justifying their reasons for reading the comic. Fans were also more likely to read Archie comics out of habit compared to ex-fans. By contrast, there was a negative correlation between “habitual reading” and ex-fans. This is to say that among these motivations, ex-fans were less likely to read Archie comics out of habit. In addition to their preference for stories and characters, the fact that habitual reading was the strongest motivator for fans’ reading of the comic may also help justify Archie comics’ long-lived success, as habit became the driving factor for fans’ continuous support for Archie comics.

Exploring Nostalgia

From interviews and observations, nostalgia seemed to be one of the strongest motivator for Archie comic fans and ex-fans to read Archie comics. In further exploring this point, we seek to see if there were any gender differences between fans and ex-fans who indicated nostalgia as one of their reasons for reading Archie comics.

This table shows that more male current Archie fans chose nostalgia as one of their reasons for reading Archie comics, while among the female respondents, both current and ex-fans were equally likely in choosing nostalgia as one of their motivators for reading Archie comics. While this suggests that nostalgia might be an important reason motivation for female ex-readers’ reading of Archie comics, a test of correlation renders

such difference insignificant.

As seen from this table, there was no correlation between ex-fans and nostalgia as one of their motivations for reading Archie comics.

Participation in Archie Comic-related Activities

This table summarises the Archie comic-related activities participated by Archie fans, ex-fans and non-fans. We are mainly interested in the activities participated by fans and ex-fans in the celebration of their love for the comic. Among the current fans, the most popular activities were reading Archie comics as a personal activity, participating in casual discussions about Archie comics, watching Archie-related television series, and collecting Archie comics. Ex-fans’ choices of activities were similar, with the exception of collecting Archie comics, though expectedly, fewer ex-fans made a choice in all categories compared to current fans. Collection of the comics was clearly the most significant difference between current and ex-fans, a characteristic shared by other mainstream comic fans.

Opinions on Archie comics

Part of the online survey required participants to indicate the statements they agreed with, within a given list. These statements consisted of opinions about Archie comics, as well as self-reflective statements on the way reading Archie comics might have helped them. To facilitate a clearer analysis of the data, these statements were grouped into two distinct groups. The first table shows all the opinion-related questions and the percentages of readers’ responses to each question.

The data shows that more Archie fans had positive opinions of Archie comics, compared to ex-fans and non-fans. Of particular significance were neutral statements regarding the educational value of Archie comics.

The self-reflective questions required respondents to indicate how reading Archie comics has affected their personal lives. Among those who admitted that reading Archie comics has helped them with their real life situations, most were current fans. Interestingly however, more ex-fans than current fans felt that they have learnt about relationships and school life through reading the comics. This seems to suggest that the theory of anticipatory socialization was more applicable to ex-fans than current fans. If more ex-fans felt that they have learnt about relationships and about school life through reading Archie comics, this indicates that they have indeed used Archie comics as agents of socialization in their personal relationships and their actual socialization. To test the validity of such postulation, a test of correlation was undertaken.

This test proves the validity of the above postulation, showing that there was a significant and positive correlation between ex-fans and their claim of having learnt about relationships via reading Archie comics. By contrast, no significant correlation was present between current fans and the same assertion. What this implies is the fact that more ex-fans than current fans have learnt about relationships through reading Archie comics, and the possibility that they have applied this knowledge learnt from the comic in their real life relationships. For the current fans, although they have not learnt much about relationships via reading Archie comics, they felt that reading the comics has helped them with their real life situations.

The significance of these findings are threefold: first, the significant correlation between ex-fans and their learning about relationships through Archie comics implies that ex-fans might have used Archie comics as tools via which they learnt about relationships in preparation for their actual relationships later on in life. This is anticipatory socialization at work. The question is, to what extent is this true? Also, if the Archie comic was in fact used as a socializing agent in their real lives, why did they then discontinue their support for Archie comics (i.e. Why did they become ex-fans instead of remaining fans of the comic)? Second, the positive correlation between fans and their assertion that reading Archie comics has helped them with their real lives leads to the necessity of finding out what this “help” refers to. The absence of significant correlation between Archie fans and their using the comics as agents of socialization almost automatically renders the theory of anticipatory socialization an irrelevant framework from which we can understand these fans. Instead, we need to understand these Archie fans by studying their uses and gratifications, without dwelling too much on how the comics have affected their socialization. Lastly, upon understanding the current and former fans’ relationships with the Archie comic, we can come to a conclusion as to how much fan support has played a part in ensuring Archie comics’ enduring success.

Section F: Answering the Questions

Anticipatory Socialisation – the Archie Comic and its ex-fans

Previously, fans’ continued support for Archie comics has been explained via the theory of anticipatory socialization. Fans are seen to be continuously attracted to the comic because it helps them with their reality, particularly in their dealing with matters of school life and relationships. Reiterating the key argument based on this theoretical framework of anticipatory socialization, fans of Archie comics may be using the comics as agents of socialization – using the stories and characters as role models to help them anticipate future roles in life or social relationships. In the last section, we established the relation between ex-fans and learning about relationships through reading Archie comics. Again, if ex-fans have used Archie comics to help them learn about relationships, why have they stopped becoming fans of the comic?

Reviewing the following data, while there were significant and positive correlations between current fans and the stated reading motivations, there was no significant correlations between ex-fans and these motivations. In other words, ex-fans were not motivated to read Archie comics by any of the reasons stated above. So even if reading Archie comics have previously taught them about relationships, this was not enough reason for them to continue being loyal readers of the comic. Besides, the extent to which these ex-fans used Archie comics to help them prepare for social relationships might actually be quite small. When asked if Archie comics influenced his view of relationships and school life, one of the ex-Archie fans said, “When I was younger, yes…but when I went to high school, it’s a different story. (Appendix B, Interviewee #3, p. 1)” Another interviewee, G, also indicated that even though she did find some relationships between characters in Archie comics applicable to real life, reading the comic did not really affect her view of dating and relationships (Appendix B, Interviewee #6, p. 6). This suggests that even though stories and character dynamics in Archie comics have shaped ex-fans’ view on real life relationships, the influence was quite superficial.

Uses and Gratifications – How has reading Archie comics helped fans with their lives?

Fans of Archie comics have indicated that reading the comic has helped them with their lives. Yet, learning about school life and relationships through Archie comics were not how the comic has helped them. At this point, we need to remove fan analysis from the framework of anticipatory socialization, and focus on uses and gratifications as a mean of understanding the fans. The rationale behind this is to prevent the futile search of a link between fans’ self-development and the reading of the comic. Instead, this “help” rendered by Archie comics to their fans might manifest itself in other ways, other than in contributing to their self development.

Part of the enjoyment derived from comic reading is the ability to dissociate oneself from reality and enter the world of fantasy, where the world is put on hold and outcomes become inconsequential. In understanding the way reading Archie comics has helped fans with their real life situations, we need to extend the view from the survey data to testimonies by interviewees. One possible way in which Archie comics might have helped Archie readers is the fact that the comics acted as tools to help readers cope with their realities. In the search of a “normative” fan, Archie fans fitted this bill perfectly by just deriving pleasure from the comics, as a half-time show before going back to their busy lives. As one of the interviewees, D, put it, “I used to love reading them in high school…(it’s a) good escape, fantasy land…from reality.” (Appendix B, Interviewee #4, p. 9). Similarly, R from the interview also expressed that the main reason he continued reading Archie was “for fun,” and because “it helped instill the joy of reading.” (Appendix B, Interviewee #1, p. 3). Just like Star Trek fans who refused to be labeled as obsessive “fan boys,” most Archie fans are normative fans who use the comic as a distraction from their daily lives. Such an attitude is concisely summarized by one Star Trek fan when she said, “Star Trek helps me to keep from burning out in all the “important” things I do. It helps me relax. It helps me retain my perspective. It is fun” (Kuliakauskas, 1988, p.5).

Although the survey data shows that the fans’ appreciation of the stories and characters formed the basis of most fans’ liking for Archie comics, this liking of the stories and characters did not motivate them to use the stories as “rehearsal grounds” and characters as role models to prepare them for their future socialization. There was after all a separation between opinions and self-reflective truths. While as many as 46.9% of the fans felt that some stories and relationships in the Archie comics were lifelike, this merely suggests that fans paralleled relationships within the comic with relationships in real life; not implying that these readers let their reading of the comic affect their real socialization.

Another way that reading Archie comics may have helped readers with their lives was through the instillation of a sense of nostalgia. With the survey data proving a direct correlation between being a fan and reading the comic out of nostalgia, nostalgia can be seen as a strong reading motivator for these Archie fans. This finding is further supported by statements from some of the interviewees. For instance, when asked the motivation for his avid reading of Archie comics, Interviewee A said that “…part of it is nostalgia. I remember always enjoying it as a kid. Like whenever I get stomach sick as a kid, I always read Archie comics, and for some reason it really gets my mind off my stomach, and it’ll really calm me down, so it’s kind of like that…it’s like a comfort thing” (Appendix B, Interviewee #2, p. 1). Interviewee R, who classified himself as “a lifelong Archie reader,” also mentioned a similar reason when he justified his reading of Archie comics as “ a kind of a nostalgic thing” (Appendix B, Interviewee #1, p. 3). Nostalgia then, may be an important motivation for long-time Archie fans to continue showing their support by reading and purchasing the comics, thus helping to extend the comic’s popularity. This directly brings us to the next question: Is our fans’ support sufficient to account for Archie comics’ long-lived success?

The Longevity of Archie Comics – Fan support as the secret recipe for success

Prior to answering this question, perhaps we may explore how fans’ motivations might lead to their support for Archie comics.

Nostalgic readers read comics to revive a precious part of their memory; often to relive their childhood. Nostalgic comic collectors may be ones who are willing to splurge on the authentic first issue of their favourite comic. Nostalgic Archie fans might then also be motivated to buy comics which are seen as precious collectibles. According to GoAntiques.com, an online collectible sales channel, a 1952 issue of Jughead that was sold at ten cents at that time, is currently worth as high as 32 US Dollars. (GoAntique.com, 2005). I have observed a similar trend in local comic stores where old Archie comics are sold at 500 times their original price! This viability of selling old Archie comics at such exorbitant prices suggests the presence of buyers who would pay to own these comics. Discounting comic collectors who buy collectors’ comics for the their profitable resale values, one other category of fans who might splurge on these comics are the nostalgic die-hard fans.

Another group of existing fans that might extend their financial loyalty to Archie comics are habitual fans. With the survey data suggesting habitual reading as the strongest motivator for fans’ reading of Archie comics, these habitual readers may very well be ones to whom Archie comics should be thankful to. The concept of “habit” is an important one in explaining a fan’s loyalty to her favourite comic. Putsz, in his study of comic book fans, has categorized comic fans into several categories including: academics who read comics to study the phenomenon, weekenders who are casual readers, mainstream buyers who are usually superhero comic fans, and women, who usually buy romance or Vertigo titles (Putsz, 1999, p. 68). Among these comic readers, mainstream readers, who are also the most avid comic readers, share this trait of habitual reading, sometimes buying certain comics out of habit even if they have already lost interest in the storylines (1999, p.68)

Yet, this fans’ support is not nearly enough to explain Archie comics’ longevity. Existing fans who continued extending their loyalty to Archie comics have been motivated by fascination with stories and characters, habit, and nostalgia. While these reasons were enough to justify their continuing status as current fans, these motivations did not translate themselves into large increase in the sales figures for the comics, seeing that only 46.3% of existing fans in the survey indicated that they were Archie comic collectors. Diversification of markets into other media industries such as film and the licensing of characters for merchandising purposes are some other ways Archie comics have stayed competitive. Changes in their packaging to suit a new wave of younger audience is another, as proven by the release of b&v spectacular – Betty and Veronica comic packaged as a teen or preteen fashion magazine. While fan support usually plays an important part in a comic’s success, data obtained from the research has not shown a significant link between fans’ support of Archie comics and the comics’ success.

Conclusion: Self-Reflection by an Archie fan

In the beginning of this research, I was motivated by the idealism to search for a dramatic justification for the existence and popularity of Archie comics – the comic that has played an important role in my life. Dissatisfied with the dismissal of Archie comics as a banal comic form, I was resolved to discover like-minded individuals who have used the comic as an avenue to help them make sense of the world. My search has not been futile, as these individuals do exist, though their presence is not significant enough to render Archie comics as important agents of socialization for readers’ self-development. This however, has not embarrassed me to the point of discarding my initial belief that the comic has indeed helped me in preparing for high school life and relationships, although admittedly, such refusal is partially a reflection of a stubborn insistence to let go of something from my past. In other words, I am a die-hard nostalgic. Such nostalgia eventually transforms itself into a habit, as Archie comics become a constant part of my life. Apparently, this might also be true of my fellow Archie fans, implied by the significant correlation between fans who read the comic out of nostalgia and those who read the comic out of habit. Archie fans are not so different from other comic fans in our pursuit for the revival of the “good feeling” that sparked our initial fascination with the comic. In face of increasingly hectic lifestyles and incessant imposition of innovative media products and messages on audiences, the Archie comic is a comfortable reminder of the “good old days.” Reading Archie comics help us forget the harsh realities in our lives; the real choices we have to make – choices that come with consequences. While reading Archie comics as a younger reader helped me prepare for my future socialization, reading Archie now has helped me cope with my current socialization, this time as a distraction, rather than a “rehearsal ground.” The happy endings in the comic help retain a positive worldview of life, despite real life challenges I have to face. Although the lifelike quality of the comic has been compromised by increased knowledge of the real world, the world of Archie comics is a utopia one can seek solace in when the real world becomes too much to handle.

It has been a challenge to separate myself as an academic researcher from my status as an Archie comic fan. True of Matt Hills’ assertion in his book, Fan Cultures, I have been conflicted in my choice of either endorsing the status as a fan-scholar, or a scholar-fan (Hills, 2001). Presenting myself as the former means subjecting myself to the possibility of academic skepticism of my rational objectivity in the research; while the latter implies an automatic alienation of myself from fellow fans who now become unemotional subjects for my research. Upon testing the waters via speaking to some fans, I realized that a fan-scholar was much less intimidating to comic fans than a scholar-fan was. Speaking to subjects as fellow fans allowed them to be more open about their interests and involvement in Archie comics. This is why I chose to reassert such position as a fan-scholar by concluding this project with a self-reflection of my comic interests, and what I have learnt from this research.

This project has introduced a different type of comic that prides itself on its reflection of the ordinary. With it, we also come to an understanding of its fans; fans who use the comic as a tool to cope with their realities. With this new fan knowledge, it is hoped that future studies would be directed towards exploring more comics of this type, and to dig further into the relationships between these comics and their fans.

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