A few words about "The Christmas Caper" from "Archie's Christmas Love-in," the Archie Giant for Christmas of 1978...
I think Archie's Scroogey boss, Uriah Scourge, is a hoot! Dressing in a "seedy" manner to score free dinner from the mission is so awesomely miserly! Even Ebenezer Scrooge presumably pays for his melancholy dinner at the melancholy tavern!
And Scrooge wouldn't deduct losses from a robbery from Bob Cratchit's pay if he had nothing to do with it!
The story moves pretty quickly like most Archie stories, so Scourge's reformation is fast. No time for the gang to pretend to be ghosts and haunt him into submission. I don't think that Archie ever had a story like that.
OK, so now we move on to what's in this comic book that's fascinating to me - the ads!
Keeping in mind that this the end of 1978 and Archie comics were aimed at, say, tween and teen girls, they're a crazy bunch!
First we get the obligatory Charles Atlas ad:
I don't know how many zillion times I've seen this. Who's reading "Archie" that would possibly be interested? What comic book was "Mac" reading?
What's next? Posters:
OK, wait a minute! One combo is Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith. Fine, "Charlie's Angels" and all. But... who would want both Suzanne Somers and Grizzly Adams? Who would want Grizzly Adams at all? And I'm afraid to know what the "bonus posters" were!
Next, t-shirts:
An interesting selection, very 1978!
And here's a house ad for more Archie Christmas Specials:
So many Archie comics!
And of course, we have to have the Columbia Record Club:
Not a bad deal, if you remembered to send back the little card every month! Don't pull a Beaver Cleaver!
And on the back cover is an awesome ad for Hostess Fruit Pies starring Archieverse favorite Josie:
All in all, a fun blast from the past!
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