Archie Archives, Vol. 4
Art by Bill Vigoda and Various
Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: January 25, 2012
Cover Price: $49.99

Archie Archives, Vol. 4 is a strangely fascinating page from the history book of the typical teenager from Riverdale. Reprinting issues of Archie and Pep Comics, from 1944 and 1945, this is the books’ very early years, long before Kevin Keller and KISS. But things are far from bland: the art is almost exclusively from Bill Vigoda, the real life brother of Abe Vigoda, best known as Sal Tessio from The Godfather films. Like I said, it’s a little strange.

In this volume we see the ingredients that make up an average Archie comic still swirling around, not yet fully settled. On the surface everything is still the same, the stories hit all the same beats: Archie goes on a date or gets a new job or starts a new hobby… and then things go wrong with hilarious results.