Analyzing Jughead by Monique Jones

Analyzing Jughead

An e-book by Monique Jones http://moniqueblog.net

Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………….3 Jughead and American Culture Jughead is Non-Conformity (and So Can You!)…………..5 The Suspenders Say It All…………………………………..8 Ripping the Runway………………………………………...10 Relationships 101 Betty or Veronica?..................................................................13 Gay or Straight?......................................................................15 Gay or Straight, pt. 2—Kevin, Sexuality, and Subtext……17 Jughead’s Familial Relationships…………………………...21 About………………………………………………………….23 Appendix……………………………………………………...24 Cover picture…………………………………………………25

Introduction It’s safe to say that Forsythe Pendleton Jones, III, the character most commonly known as Jughead, is one of the most popular characters, if not the single most, popular character in the Archie universe. But what makes him so popular? That is what I attempted to address with these essays. This book is compiled in two parts: “Jughead and American Culture,” where I expound on the effect American (and in some cases, British) culture had on Jughead and, conversely, how Jughead’s affecting current fashion, and “Relationships 101,” where I analyze Jughead’s relationships with girls, his family, and whether his sexuality should be thrown in to question. I also give my opinion on how to possibly write Jughead to play on the “Is he straight/gay/bi/asexual?” question. I hope you find this e-book entertaining as well as informative and enlightening. But most importantly, entertainment is key, so take these essays as lightly as you want to.

Jughead and American Culture

Jughead is Non-Conformity (and So Can You!) Whether he knew it or not, John L. Goldwater, publisher and editor of Archie Comics, was a genius to have created such an influential character like Forsythe Pendleton Jones III, or, as we know him, Jughead. Actually, I think he was a bit ahead of his time. To many (and probably to Goldwater), Jughead is quirky-someone who follows the beat of their own drummer, in the cliché sense. But Jughead’s off-center personality and nonconformist aesthetic has been reflected in the decades after his first appearance in 1941. Some background on the creation of Jughead, first. Goldwater was quoted as saying that his high-school friend, named Archie, was part of the inspiration for the character Archie. In turn, Goldwater himself was the inspiration for Jughead. “I felt like Jughead to him,” he said about their days at the New York Teachers’ Training School. “I was a very loyal friend.” It would seem that Goldwater brought a lot more to Jughead’s personality than just his loyalty; Goldwater was an orphan who hitchhiked westward during the Depression, finding work. This rough lifestyle Goldwater led in his earlier years was sure to have supplied Jughead with his loner, self-sufficient, and non-conformist sensibilities and a personality more unique than the other Archie characters. Jughead in the 1950s-early 70s-Beatnik and Bohemian Through most of the ‘40s, Jughead was the standard slacker who provided the snappiest comebacks in stories-lines that usually weren’t reserved for characters like Archie and Betty. But in 1947, the Beat Generation-a freeform, alternative lifestyle that rejected the conformist “square” culture and focused on different ways to realizing spirituality-bubbled up from the subculture dregs and this started seeping into mainstream throughout the 1950s. Once the Beat culture caught on, however, and college students started dressing in stereotypical berets and black leggings, the term “beatnik” arose, and this version of the Beat Generation is the one most Americans associate with the 1960s.

With Goldwater’s work with the Comics’ Code, I doubt he would’ve wanted people to view Jughead as a person with Beat sensibilities, but the laid-back, drifter personality he has, coupled with his rejection of his parents’ standards and goals for him (much to his father’s aggravation), Jughead has lends itself to those sensibilities easily. Incidentally, his love of jazz music and jazz drumming also fits eerily well into the Beat aesthetic. (I don’t think this part of his personality was made up during the time when beatniks were the rage, however.) During this time, Jughead’s clothes were either a lot more streamlined than those of other characters (fitting in with the Beat aesthetic), or there’d be something off-kilter that would differentiate him from the dress styles of the other characters. In the late 1960s to mid-1970s, Jughead’s clothes became a little more psychedelic, again representing the Beat-and now hippie-countercultures of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Another part of the counter-culture Jughead reflects in the Bohemian lifestyle. I would give a lengthy explanation of what being a bohemian entails, but I’ll quote directly from, of all places, a wedding blog that summarizes the idea of the bohemian lifestyle quite succinctly: Being “bohemian” means not only being carefree and enjoying life to the fullest; it also means being a peaceful, loving person with an adventurous spirit. This is why the bohemians of the 1960’s began this counter-culture based on non-conformity, the rejection of consumerism, and embracing the beauty of life and all its potentials. I would say that from this description, Jughead is very much a bohemian, in both his ideology and dress style. Jughead in the 1990s-skate punk When the Jughead comic book reached 1990, there was a huge schism between the old Jughead and the new, revamped, skate punk Jughead. And boy was it drastic. So drastic, in fact, that the powers-that-be quickly changed Jughead back to his old look. But I believe their thought process to change Jughead to fit more with the times were along two lines-first, the

street-skateboarding lifestyle was everywhere during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and if it’s the hottest new thing, why not cash in on it? Secondly, Jughead’s personality was all about being the exception to the rule and the counter to the mundane that Archie represented; it would seem natural that he would take up a skateboard and start skating. I don’t know if he would shave his head, as shown in the examples below, but he definitely might take up skateboarding. Also, one of the characteristics of the punk lifestyle (the original punk lifestyle, not just skate punk) is the D.I.Y. ethic-to make, grow, or find everything you need yourself. Even though Jughead would have to satisfy his Pop Tate-made hamburger cravings every now and again, the do-ityourself idea seems like it would be something Jughead would take part in, at least for a little while. Being honest, even though the beginning of the ’90s saw the most radical change in Jughead ever, the covers were the most creative and innovative I’ve ever seen. I wish they made covers like these again, sans-Jughead’s weird haircut. Jughead today-the all-encompassing non-conformist Nowadays, there’s so much in our culture that it’s hard to be different. There really is no new counterculture in the ‘00s. Therefore, Jughead seems a little like all of us. We all fit in, and we’re all striving to be different. There are so many ghosts of non-conformist ideologies-ones aforementioned and ones not, like Romanticism and Bohemianism- that Jughead has come to represent each of them in a little way. He’s no longer just a beatnik or a punk; he’s now the everyman who’s trying to stick out.

The Suspenders Say It All Anyone who’s a longtime Archie Comics and/or Jughead fan knows how important the suspenders are to Jughead’s character and overall look. I guarantee you that in any Jughead book you pick up, Jughead will be wearing his classic black or red suspenders (sometimes the colorist gets outrageous, and those times are like rare gifts). Like the “S” shirt, I don’t think there’s a real origin story to why Jughead always wears suspenders. Perhaps it was against the grain for young high-schoolers to wear suspenders in the ’40s. Anyway, Archie Comics probably didn’t realize how well suspenders characterize Jughead at the time, but the counterculture associated with suspenders is also the counterculture Jughead is frequently associated with (for instance, on the cover of the sequel to the Archie Comics 1970s anthology); punks. I’ve covered punks a bit in one of my other articles about Jughead, but I didn’t get into much about fashion. Overall, the punk fashion aesthetic includes suspenders, but the main subset of punk this applies to is the skinhead culture. No, I’m not equating Jughead to the racist skinheads or the far-left skinheads; I’m going back to the roots of what skinhead culture is, which didn’t deal with radicalized politics, at least, not to the point some skinheads have taken it now. Skinheads originated in Britain as a subset of the mod counterculture. While kids with some expendable cash could rack up on clothes popularized by American soul/R&B groups found on Carnaby Street, buy American and British R&B albums and participate in other forms of consumerism, kids with lesser allowances had to use what they had, which were work or army boots, skinny, straight-leg jeans or Sta-Prest flat-front trousers, button-down shirts, and suspenders, thus, combined with shaved or cropped heads of hair, created the skinhead look we know today. Skinheads, similar to their Carnaby Street counterparts, crowded into dancehalls to listen to soul, ska, rocksteady, and bluebeat music (music I think Jughead might listen to). Of course, like with many groups, the mods violently split into two factions; the smooth mods, the less violent and more fashion-oriented faction, and the

hard mods, the ones who stood in solidarity to their working class roots, the cropped hair being used as a representation of the hard life, so to speak. This break happened in 1965, and the hard mods became what we know as the skinheads in 1968. The skinhead culture started fading from the radar in the ’70s, but even so, the culture has survived among the most diehard. The thing to remember about suspenders when dealing with skinheads is the width. If suspenders go over an inch in width, it might mean that the person wearing them either doesn’t know the rule about punk suspenders, or is a white power skinhead. The artists probably didn’t look into this when designing Jughead, but it seemed they stayed within the one inch margin. (Hooray!) Also something to look out for is color and its placement. Certain colors, along with where the colors are placed, have political significance to some skinheads. (Remember what I said earlier–I’m NOT insinuating that Jughead is some type of racist or something. There are different types of skinheads, and I’m showing how he fits into the punk conversation due to his suspenders!) However, when most people nowadays think of punks and suspenders, one of the first things to come to mind is “mall punk”. More than likely, mall punk originated from pop punk, which is the most accessible form of punk fashion to laypeople nowadays. Every alternative mall store (like Hot Topic or Spencers) has trendy “punk” suspenders. There’s nothing threatening about this type of punk since it’s so saturated into the mainstream; nevertheless, the idea of anyone one who’s against the grain wearing suspenders shows that they have (or at least try to have) a different mindset than the average person. Whichever way you slice it, Jughead fits squarely into the punk scene. I’ve written about Jughead’s fashion before, but hopefully this further explains why his fashion sense is important to his overall character. Hopefully it also explains why Jughead is one of the most popular characters in the Archie canon; he’s the most accessible to alternatives everywhere.

Ripping the Runway Jughead has always been a popular character, but now he’s even influencing runway fashion! At trendhunter.com, they’ve uploaded pictures from the Dharma Taylor Autumn Winter 2010 collection, and suspicious pointed hats are seen throughout. Runway fashion is totally different than regular everyday fashion, however. If you’d like to look cool like Jughead, it’s possible! And the best thing is that this style can be translated across the gender board. Black pants History: The most common item of clothing in Jughead’s repertoire is The Black Pant. This tradition Archie Comics artists have with Jughead’s black pants seems inexplicable-my theory is that it was just easier to color his pants black instead of thinking up some color or kooky design. Artists are humans, too, trust me. Where to Buy: You can buy black pants anywhere. I would suggest making sure the pants are jeans; even though it doesn’t state what material Jughead’s pants are made out of, it would seem most logical that due to his lazy lifestyle, he would just throw on a pair of jeans and be done with it. Also make sure those jeans are slim-fit jeans; Jughead’s pants are hardly ever baggy. If you’re really slight or really daring, go ahead and make a statement-buy the skinny jeans. Crazy-cool shirt History: One thing Jughead always has is some sort of crazy shirt, be it his signature “S” sweatshirt, a message shirt, or some shirt with a crazy design. Where to Buy: Girls: Forever 21 is a great place for message tees and crazy shirts, as is Hot Topic. If you like buying online, I’d suggest fredflare.com, a kooky website full of pop-ironic shirts, tops, accessories and toys.

Boys: Forever 21 can also be a good place for you, as well. They’ve been developing their recently-added men’s section for a few years, and-at least on the website-they’re getting better at catering to the trendy male. Hot Topic is also a good place for guys looking to jazz up their wardrobe with zany shirts. You can try fredflare.com, but their men’s section isn’t as plush. Your best bet for online crazy shirt shopping is uneetee.com. Members to the site can submit their shirt designs, so any shirt you”d get would be a oneof-a-kind shirt. Talk about unique! Cool shoes History: Jughead has almost always worn flat sneakers. While no logos are visible, the best example of Jughead shoes (as seen above in the black pants picture) are the classic Converse. It doesn’t particularly matter if you choose high-tops or low ones since it’s not touched on in the comics, but my preference is for the high-tops, simply because they’re more iconic, and like the picture above, it seems as though he likes wearing them. Where to Buy: Again, you can buy these pretty much anywhere, so wherever you usually buy shoes, go look in the sneaker section for some Converses. If they don’t have any, get any type of fun, flat, sporty-looking shoe. The zanier they look (pattern, color), the better. Alternative: If high-tops can’t be found or just aren’t your thing, you can get some totally retro-looking ’80s-style sneakers. You know, the puffylooking kind. Jughead is frequently drawn wearing both types of shoes. You can either go to your local Nike store or get a very expensive pair or you can easily find a just-as-stylish knock-off at your favorite shoe store. If you get these or the Converses, not only would you be stylish, but you’d also be hitting on that pop-ironic trend where everything old is new again (here’s a challenge-if you can find those old “Pump” sneakers-the ones with the basketball pump in the shoe tongue, it would be the best find ever as well as the best way to one-up the pop-irony going on).

Relationships 101

Betty or Veronica ? I know Jughead is the eternal bachelor, but that hasn’t stopped me, along with a lot of fans and Archie Comics, Inc., from visualizing what it might be like for Jughead to be in a relationship. There have been Debbie, Ethel, Joani Jumpp, Trula Twyst, and January McAndrews, but the two girls I’m going to focus on are the two that are currently tied up with the eternal player, Archie Andrews-Betty and Veronica. So in the vein of the current Archie Comics event Archie Marries Veronica, let’s see what would happen if Jughead was with either Betty or Veronica.

Jughead/Veronica Believe or not, there’s a rather big fanbase for this couple. Whether it makes you gag or makes you think delightful thoughts, there is definitely something about the couple that tickles the brain. The main thing that probably draws people to this pairing is the obvious tension between the characters. Veronica hates Jughead’s laid-back approach to life; Jughead hates Veronica’s yuppie, privileged rich-girl attitude. The type of hatred that they have towards each other is sometimes written in a way that is reminiscent of quite a few love/hate relationships seen on television shows, like Maddie Hayes and David in Moonlighting, Laura and Remington in Remington Steele, Sam and Diane on Cheers, and more recently, Temperance and Seeley on Bones. Also, textual evidence shows that they have a more complicated relationship than what is seen on the surface. In a story from Jughead’s Double Digest #99, “Shakespeare, Anyone?”, Jughead and Veronica are cast in a play where they had to kiss. Being surprised that Jughead is actually a good kisser, Veronica develops a crush on him that is only stopped when Juhgead goes to desperate measures (“desperate measures” resulting in him eating an onion and garlic sandwich to drive Veronica away). Also, in Veronica #177, Jughead saves Veronica from an awful boy and she feels indebted to him (this is not the first time it’s been written that Jughead defends Veronica).

If Jughead and Veronica did happen to end up together, it would be entertaining, to say the least. A relationship where there is a lot of back-andforth snappy, hard-hitting banter and palpitating tension would be extremely fun to write and draw. That kind of relationship would also be a lot of fun to read; TV watchers are often happily strung along with love-hate relationships, so if they are happy with watching them on TV, they’d be equally as happy reading about them in a comic book.

Betty/Jughead For many, this couple is practically canon. It’s not really a question of whether or not Jughead has a little bit of affection for Betty. They both enjoy being in each other’s company; Jughead loves her cooking and defends her when Archie acts like a jerk and rejects her over Veronica, and Betty often confides him when she’s troubled about her lovelife and friendship with Veronica. Even many of the writers have commented on how if they had their way, they would pair Jughead with Betty in a heartbeat, so of course, there’s going to be a lot of textual evidence toward this pairing. In one issue, there’s a panel where Jughead said that if he ever had a girlfriend, he would think about asking Betty and another where Jughead is actively defending Betty’s honor (actually, there are quite a few where Jughead is telling Archie off in Betty’s defense), and plenty of other covers and scenes in various issues where the writers more than indulge their Betty/Jughead leanings. If Betty and Jughead were actually a canon couple, I can imagine that their relationship would be pleasantly stable and satisfying. But it also has the potential to get extremely fluffy, something that wouldn’t happen with Jughead and Veronica. But the most important thing is that Betty’s heart would finally stop being broken once and for all.

Gay or Straight ? Everyone knows that Jughead is a man who’s sworn off women. Due to this part of his character, there are two beliefs that constantly butt heads-one being that Jughead is seen as a ladies’ magnet because he’s made himself the eternal bachelor and the second being that he’s gay. I’m not going to attempt to solve the question of whether or not Jughead is gay, but I will use this article to examine both arguments and the proof for each. Argument #1-Jughead is a ladies’ magnet The fact that he supposedly uninterested in women is enough to make Riverdale girls wonder if they could possibly be the girl who changes his mind. Take Trula Twyst, for example. She created a group of girls, J.U.S.T. (Jughead Under Surveillance Team), whose aim was to make Jughead pay more attention to girls. She studied the poor guy for a research project! Other girls have fallen pray to thinking they could be the one to change Jughead. Of course we know about poor Ethel’s plight to be Jughead’s girlfriend, but both Betty and Veronica have been swayed by Jughead, as stated in my last article. Veronica’s case makes things a whole lot more interesting, because she found out Jughead was a good kisser. This only makes it seem like the prize of having Jughead as a boyfriend is even harder to obtain. Argument #2-Jughead is gay This is actually quite fun to think about, as there is quite a bit of subtext in Archie Comics that could be used as proof-pretty good proof-that Jughead is gay. Take for instance, Jughead’s loyalty to Archie. Someone could look at this trait from the viewpoint that Jughead is just being a good friend. Or, a person would look at it from the viewpoint that Jughead must be loyal to Archie for some reason other than friendship (the picture above can be used as an example!) And, if you’re creative enough, a person could look at Jughead’s bantering with Reggie as Jughead letting off steam from one-

sided sexual tension. If you’re interested, this website can explain the “Jughead is gay” argument much better than I could. Now, I know Jughead was never intended to be a gay character, but if he was, I think he could be a very positive icon for young LGBT comic book fans to latch onto, since he’s comfortable in his own skin.

Gay or Straight, pt. 2Kevin, sexuality, and subtext Subtext is seen in everything. Why else do people think Bert and Ernie are gay, Daphne and Fred were doing the nasty when they often split up to “look for clues” and that Prince Naveen is two steps away from being a man-slut? Subtext is the untold story behind every marketed canon story, and most of the time, it actually makes the canon story better and more interesting. It would seem that The Washington Post was suffering from subtext-overload when they interviewed Archie Comics artist/writer Dan Parent about his upcoming issue in which he unveils the first openly gay character in Riverdale, Kevin Keller. In the story, Kevin first reveals he’s gay to Jughead over Pop Tate’s hamburgers. The line of thinking the Washington Post was on (as was I) was “Why Jughead? Why not Archie, Reggie or Betty?” (Veronica’s out because she’s still under the assumption that Kevin’s straight at this point in the story.) Parent said the conversation between Jughead and Kevin, along with why Kevin talks to Jughead first, goes no further than what is shown, but still… this is a very important question to ask. While there’s a lot of subtext that has developed over the course of Archie Comics’ history, much of it surrounds the mystery of Jughead and his seemingly asexual nature. There are many believers in the notion that Jughead is actually a gay character because of his lack of interest in girls, his close friendship with Archie, and a rivalry with Reggie that could be interpreted as jealousy and sexual tension. Meanwhile, there’s another school of thought that thinks Jughead is asexual, a person who don’t feel sexual attraction to either men or women. And while there is a such thing as asexuality in humans, there is also a meaning of the word that encompasses people who can be romantically attracted to others and consider themselves straight, bi, or gay/lesbian. Further still, some asexuals might classify themselves as

androgynous, transgender, aromantic(meaning they don’t feel romantic or sexual attraction to people), etc., as seen in the link above. But all of this analyzing brings me to the questions of a) why did Kevin reveal himself to Jughead alone and what does it say about Jughead’s character, and b) how much subtext is there in this event and should Archie Comics do anything with it? Firstly, Kevin decided to tell Jughead first about his sexuality because he could tell that Jughead is a person that doesn’t judge and is willing to accept anyone. This is illuminated in Parent’s interview with PerezHilton.com. He could also probably tell that Jughead is sexually different than the other Riverdale teenagers. While Betty and Veronica are fighting over Archie and Archie and Reggie are running after every girl in Riverdale, Jughead quietly, calmly, (and in a way, defiantly) decided not to participate. The canon reason is that he doesn’t like the hassle of girlfriends (one reason why he is repelled by Ethel and her advances) and/or he is still getting over his exgirlfriend from another city, Joani Jumpp. But subtext can easily tell the viewer different. But sexuality aside, Jughead has always been different in his ideology and personality, and because he’s so different, he can easily identify with and befriend other different people as well. This is why Kevin feels comfortable enough to tell him he’s gay. As to what this says about future subtext in Archie Comics involving Jughead, there’s a lot to grab onto. The most obvious thing people (and, I guess, the Washington Post) grabbed onto was that Kevin might be a reflection of Jughead’s unmentioned sexuality. Kevin could be seen as a mirror image of Jughead if subtext was actually given credence by the Archie writers and they declared him an outed man. To go along with that train of thought, the Archie writers could decide to intentionally play up subtext to make people really wonder about what’s going on with Jughead’s sexuality. There is one area of sexuality people forget about when trying to pin down Jughead, and that’s bisexuality. It’s not that big of a stretch–in various issues, Archie writers have toyed with the

idea of Jughead and Betty going on dates and kissing (many Archie writers actually support this pairing), Veronica having a thing for Jughead after they shared a kiss in a school play, and even having Jughead and Ethel as what seemed to be an item, at least for a while. There’s even a story where Jughead goes goo-ga over some girl who turns out to be a Veronica’s spy on Archie. So, while there’s a lot of subtext for Jughead being gay, there’s just as much subtext for him being straight. Since this is the case, Archie writers could have a lot of fun and just mess with people’s heads-in one story, they could allude to Jughead liking Betty or some other girl, and then in another strip they could subtly allude to something happening with this friendship with Kevin or some other guy; in neither instance is anything out-rightly stated-there’s only just enough of a hint to keep readers’ wheels turning. The best part is that none of this affects Jughead’s characterization; since he walks to the beat of a different drummer, he would care less about what someone thinks of him if he happens to be seen somewhere in an intimate setting with a guy or a girl. Archie Comics is already a company dear to a lot of people. Some might even give their comic books pop-culture cult status. But if Archie Comics actually took ownership and played with the subtext found in their comic books, they could become even more popular among their readers and possibly attract new ones. Two real-life examples of entertainment taking ownership of subtext-Scooby Doo andYu Yu Haksuho. As mentioned above, Daphne and Fred were often thought of as girlfriend and boyfriend and when the gang split up for clues, Daphne and Fred would always go together, “searching”, as it were. As their fanbase got older, many people started saying that they were canoodling instead of finding clues. By the same token, many people started the rumor that Shaggy (and everyone else in the group, for that matter) was smoking pot or some hallucinogenic drug to be able to hear Scooby talk. Pot was also the “reason” for why Shaggy was always hungry and willingly ate Scooby Snacks. During the ’90s, Cartoon Network made some bumpers-animated segments that were used as filler in-between shows and commercials-that actually played off the Fred/Daphne angle, as well as an episode of Johnny Bravo.

Also, when the first Scooby-Doo live-action film was made, a lot of the fanfavorite subtext rumors were included. Not only was Fred and Daphne an item in the film, but the idea that Velma and Fred had a romantic history and Shaggy’s possible pot use were included. Yu-Yu Hakusho, a manga and anime by Yoshihiro Togashi (click here for the full run-down on the storyline), has two demon characters called Kurama and Hiei. Originally, Togashi created Kurama as a good-looking, debonair ladies’ man, but as the series progressed, fans started noticing chemistry between Kurama and his friend and fellow demon, Hiei. When asked about the characters’ relationship, Togashi said: “No, I did not intend for this couple to appear, but now that people have brought it up, I find it funny and probably should have done it.” It would also seem that Togashi began to play with the idea of Kurama being gay by drawing Kurama in poses that are only typically found among girls in anime (that odd, cutesy knock-knee standing position) and/or suggestively embracing Hiei. Also, Kurama is frequently shown throughout the anime sitting on his knees when sitting down on the floor. He’s the only man drawn this way; all of the other men are drawn sitting cross-legged. The girls are the only other people in the anime who are drawn sitting on their knees. Will Archie Comics ever play into the ideas many of their fans have? Probably not. At the very least, they might be extremely subtle about it. But on the other hand, if there’s anything Archie Comics is good at, it’s playing with innuendo, and if the writers decide to poke fun at readers’ ideas about Jughead’s sexuality, they would be more than capable of knowing how to do it so it can fit in with their Archie universe. Also, Archie Comics has surprised everyone lately by their latest string of comic stories, so who knows what they’ll infuse their later stories with. They might just surprise everyone once again and write the subtext-filled story everyone doesn’t know they’re waiting for.

Jughead’s Familial Relationships The dynamics between Jughead and his friends are always fun to sort out and analyze, but there is one set of dynamics, as commenter “mystic_blue” from the JugheadxBetty livejournal community Never Noticed Before, pointed out, which is Jughead’s interactions with his family. Let’s take a look at how Jughead interacts with his family members. Jughead’s mother Out of the two parents, Jughead seems to get along with his mother the easiest. Even though she does get on to him about being lazy and not having a job, she seems to accept him, including all of his obscure ways. From how I look at it, that is what a mother should do; accept their children the way they are while trying to mold them into being responsible adults. I think this is the crux of the relationship between Jughead and his mother. Jughead’s father Jughead’s relationship with his father, on the other hand, is the most intriguing one. Jughead’s father can act like a cruel jerk to his son most of the time (possibly where Jughead gets his jerkiness from-he can be a jerk to quite a few of his friends and acquaintances, especially Ethel). Jughead’s father is constantly berating him on finding a job, doing something outside of lying around the house, and basically expecting nothing extraordinary from his son. In fact, many times, he outright says things indicative of his low approval of Jughead. Now, this might actually be the way Jughead wants it; he might want to have his father think so little of him that he can be as lazy as he wants without anyone expecting anything of him. And also, Jughead’s father’s frustration is understandable, seeing as how Jughead is around the age of an 11th and 12th grader and is about to go to college. As a parent, you’d be scared too if your kid exhibited none of the other maturing qualities other children were showing. You’d think, “What will happen to

my child when he leaves home? He won’t be able to do anything!” So, at best, Jughead’s relationship with his father is very muddled. Jellybean The person Jughead seems the most comfortable with out of all of his family members is his little sister Jellybean. This is probably because, unlike his parents, Jellybean expects nothing from him. To her, Jughead is probably the coolest brother ever because he’s always around to play with her. Jughead dotes on Jellybean every chance he gets, making her the only girl-aside from his mother-that Jughead openly cares about. Their relationship, however, is the type of relationship that can be overplayed in fan-fiction, because there is nothing females like better than a man who can have fun with kids, especially their younger siblings. So, there you have it. However, these are only three of the people in Jughead’s family. Perhaps, in the future, I can go more in depth and take a look at Jughead’s relationships with the more obscure members of his family. But as of right now, Jughead has his hands full with just these three.

About Monique Moniqueblog is run by Monique Jones, a senior majoring in journalism at UAB and a visual arts graduate of the Alabama School of Fine Arts. Monique has written for and was features editor and Editor-in-Chief of UABâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s school newspaper, Kaleidoscope, and now writes for iloveuab.com. Monique is also an online affiliate of the WB Entertainment Affiliate Program.

About Moniqueblog Moniqueblog is an alternative entertainment website that features movie reviews, movie analysis, and essays on pop-culture, including pieces on characters from Harry Potter and Archie Comics.

APPENDIX Unlisted Sources/Further Reading Betty or Veronica? http://http//goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2008/12/13/the-many-loves-ofjughead-jones/

Gay or Straight? http://www.adam-amy.com/blog/index.php?itemid=19&catid=5

The Suspenders Say It All http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinhead http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punk_fashion

The cover picture of Jughead was taken from the Mucha-inspired â&#x20AC;&#x153;Betty and Jugheadâ&#x20AC;?, drawn by Monique Jones

ÂŠ 2010, Moniqueblog