Y'know What I've Noticed...

So there's this Archie Comics character Cheryl Blossom. You might not have heard of her since she's a relatively recent addition to the cast (from the early 1980s which is a good chunk of time ago, but about 40 years after most of the other characters debuted), but she's headlined her own title and appeared frequently in new stories and through reprints when she hasn't shown up for a while.

Thing is, Cheryl's 'character' is that... how can I put this... she's the promiscuous one. As much as she can be in an Archie Comic, that is. So while they can't even really imply she's... how can I put this... 'winding the crank on Archie's jalopy', she still parades around in skimpy clothing with plenty of skin and cleavage on display. Which is all well and good. I mean, if you're a kid that kind of stuff drives you wild.

So today while reading an article on pointless Archie Comics characters, I stumbled on a link to Cheryl's first appearance, and while it's pretty tame by most standards, by Archie standards it's awfully risqué stuff (as I'm sure you've noticed by the out of context 'topless beach' and 'sneaky beer drinking' bits sprinkled throughout this posting).

So reading it, I've noticed that it's not hard to see why it's been seldom (if ever) been reprinted, what with the underaged drinking and topless seventeen year-old. Kind of makes me wonder if Dan DeCarlo was responsible for those stories where Veronica lost her top while swimming, or the one where the Riverdale High heater was on the fritz and all of the kids stripped down to their underwear to deal with the heat. Not to necessarily say they were bad stories,
but pretty much the whole point was to show as much teenaged cartoon skin as possible, which, ah... I have mixed feelings about.

And by mixed feelings I don't mean to say that I find naked Archie characters titillating or anything, just that... well, you know, I mean... if you were on a beach and a girl took her top off... um, that... ah... I think I'm going to stop here.

I'm not a weirdo.