Archie Andrews Dies

Really, Rachel? I can remember him being referred to as that Andrews kid quite often. All the centrals have surnames: Jughead Jones (although I don't know his real first name), Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle. It's interesting to read the really old ones back in the '40's and then look at some of the later ones from the 50's right through to the current day to see how the characters grew and evolved, even though they never got out of high school.

So sad! I always loved those comic books. My oldest even got interested in them for a while. I think we still have some of the digests. I always thought of myself as more Betty than Veronica.

Fraid so. I was never a big fan of comics. i knew Veronica's last name was Lodge because of all the tangles Archie had with her father! I was moe into Asterix and Obelix and the Trigan Empire.

Well, it makes sense his story would end. The comic book market has changed. there is little interest in 50s style teen years. RIP Archie! Andrews. Now you will never be in hot water with your girlfriend's Dad again!
Islandcarol

Now you've got me Rachel. Loved, and still do, Asterix, but what is the Trigan Empire?

The Trigan Empire was largely unheard of outside the UK. It was a comic strip that appeared in a british magazine called Look and Learn. it featured an empire founded by Trigo, tribal chieftain of the Vorg on the planet Elekton. The capital and almost the only city was Trigan city, based heavily on Rome. The storylines wre pretty good and the illustrations were wonderful. The writing style however was almost comically purple. For example nothing simply explodes, it explodes in a mass of lurid flame. its worst problem, I thought, was the portrayal of technology. It was supposed to be a preindustrial civilization and yet there would be jet aircraft, tanks, mechanized infantry, modern battleships and ray-guns existing in a world where the primary mode of long distance transportation was the horse! I accepted it as a kid but now 35-40 years later I simply cannot swallow that or the fact that each nation seems to only have one city.

nevertheless it and Azimov's Foundation Trilogy inspired me to have an imaginary civilization of my own which grew from two small provinces that broke off from another country sometime in prehistory to a galaxy-spanning megacivilization whose population numbered well into the quadrillions!