Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

John L. Goldwater’s ‘Archie Comics’ Gets a Darker, Sexier Makeover

Beloved comic book characters Archie, Betty and Veronica are staging a comeback—just not quite in the way John L. Goldwater, the Jewish creator of the “Archie and Pals” series, may have intended.

The CW released a trailer for the new series “Riverdale” yesterday, which features an eerie spin on the comic book’s world, complete with shots of bloody hands, a suitcase filled with money and a very buff, shirtless Archie jogging.

“It’s definitely Archie, but a little darker, a little more complex and a little weirder than you might remember from the digest you bought at the supermarket,” executive producer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa told Entertainment Weekly. “We’re saying it’s a little bit like Archie meets Twin Peaks.”

The new series, which picks up during the gang’s sophomore year, is packaged as a murder-mystery drama — definitely a far cry from the cheerful, innocent teen romp the comic book’s creator penned years ago.

Goldwater, a distant relative of Senator Barry M. Goldwater, wrote the book on wholesome comics—literally. The writer founded the Comics Code Authority, which worked to monitor the industry’s depiction of sex and violence. He populated his stories with the young characters he met as a teen living in Kansas, taking inspiration from the football players and cheerleaders he went to school with.

“[Archie] basically a square, but in my opinion the squares are the backbone of America,” the late Goldwater told The New York Times in 1973.

Watch Archie and the gang being decidedly un-square in the trailer below:

Thea Glassman is an Associate Editor at the Forward. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter at @theakglassman.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.