Welcome to the First Issue Bin, where I — Ethan Kaye — randomly grab one of this week's comics that’s just starting up and give you the details on whether it should get added to your collection … or remain on the comic shop shelf.
Archie Meets Jay and Silent Bob #1
Writer: Kevin Smith
Pencils: Fernando Ruiz
Inks: Rich Koslowski
Color Artist: Matt Herms
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Editor: Jamie Lee Rotante
So in 2008, Wildcard Ink owned the rights to the loveable Gumby character and decided to put out what would be the second and last of their Free Comic Book Day Gumby comics. They tapped underground comic writer Mike Hersh to write it, but gave him some free reign to do what he liked with it. The end product was an absolutely PG-13-rated Gumby comic that I thought was inappropriately awesome. It's vulgar in so, so many ways, and since most people probably shrugged off Gumby as a kids' book, it didn't get any attention that year (except from me, who wrote about it I think for Wizard).
Afterwards I reached out to Hersh to compliment him on it and he let me in on the facts that 1) the whole thing was written in 15 minutes because 2) they needed the thing done and finished in 20 minutes, and 3) the only thing that the rights holders cared about was if Gumby's face was drawn correctly. It didn't pass that level of review and most faces were redrawn, but the incredibly risky, dirty content made it through to a FCBD book for kids.
I tell this story (and suggest tracking down that 2008 FCBD Gumby issue) because I feel like the same thing happened with Archie Meets Jay and Silent Bob. Squeaky clean all-American teen Archie gets dragged through Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse by none other than Kevin Smith, and the editors just have to say, "Uh, OK, I guess" and let a wild issue slip through. It's an Archie that would stain your grandparents' souls.
No weird universe-shaking crossover antics. Archie gets a job at the Quick Stop convenience store from Clerks where Jeff Anderson's Randall is working. Jay and Silent Bob run the dispensary next door, with Smith's real-life daughter Harley Quinn as Jay's daughter Milly. The Riverdale Archie folks each get some panel time until the big Josie and the Pussycats concert with the Archies opening. Jay takes Archie's lead singer spot when the latter catches a cold and goes full Jim Morrison, Miami, 1969 — and I mean that his dialogue is a copy of what Morrison said on stage that got him arrested on obscenity charges.
All's well that ends well and Jughead shows a hitherto unexplored interest in marijuana by the finale.
Overall it feels like Smith was casting a typical Jay and Silent Bob movie, found the most strait-laced, innocent, clueless Mormon alive, and said, "I'm going to build my film around him." Archie is supposed to be the protagonist, but he's just the foil for a number of gags that would make Dan DeCarlo blush, which is saying a lot because Dan drew plenty of porn when he wasn't drawing Archie.
I've kept up with Smith's comic output lately, with his Quick Stops collections from Dark Horse, and this book falls pretty much right in line with those. But is the chocolate/peanut butter combo of Clerks-avec-Jay-and-Silent-Bob and Archie a winning flavor? I'd argue that Archie's open-mouthed shock at everything Smith serves up doesn't really make for an interesting book. It's flashy and, kind of like 1994's Archie Meets the Punisher, it's a clever, eye-catching title that demands a lot from the content and doesn't really deliver.
Overall, I think the story works pretty well. I liked Jay stepping in and doing an extended Doors parody (including singing Five to One) and I don't think this book could have started anywhere else but the Quick Stop. It's really well paced, bringing in the side characters like Betty, Veronica, Jay, and Silent Bob all in at the right points, and it doesn't really lag anywhere. But running risque gags past the Riverdale kids kind of hits the same note with different instruments. It kept upping the ante and topping the last joke with something even more un-Archie, but I felt it was like teaching your baby brother to say, "Fuck" because it's funny coming out of his mouth, not because saying, "Fuck" is all that hilarious in itself.
But like I said, it's Smith doing what Smith does well in his own corner of the comic industry. I was championing his work all the way back to the Clerks cartoon, and I still find it very funny and surprisingly insightful sometimes. And playing in this big sandbox, it was a chance to bring out all the toys (everyone from the Archie books and Smith's films has a cameo, even if it's just in a crowd shot) and shout out deep cut jokes that reference long-forgotten Archie comic titles. Smith's smart. He knows comics more than most other creators mostly out of a sheer love of the medium and its history. I appreciate that.
Plot: 3/5
Gags: 2/5
New Jersey: Mentioned
Smith/Mewes Family cameos: All of them
Art: 5/5, really great crowd stuff
Verdict: A must-own for Kevin Smith fans, an unwelcome surprise to Archie fans. Decide which camp you're in and act accordingly.
