In an article today published in the Bergen Record commenting on reaction to the “Archie-marries-Veronica” storyline currently going on in Archie comics, a timeline of the character commented on the 1994 Archie/Marvel crossover one-shot Archie Meets The Punisher, stating it was “one of the most vilified comic books ever.” I was surprised at this line, as having actuall read it, I thought it was a very clever take on an obviously ridiculous idea.
For those unfamiliar: according to the book’s introduction, Archie Meets The Punisher (also known as The Punisher Meets Archie- both Archie and Marvel published a version, each with a different cover and their own character getting top billing) came from a joke idea for a crossover that was tossed around the two companies that they decided to make a reality. In the obviously tongue-in-cheek story, the Punisher chases a villain who is a dead ringer for Archie to Riverdale, where he of course ends up confusing a certain redheaded teen for his prey. Hilarity ensues, but all ends well. The story ends with a similarly comedic setup for an imaginary Jughead-vs.-Wolverine adventure.
The few references I’ve found to the comic online comment on how unusual the premise is (though that was probably the intention) but seem to have positive comments on how humorously brilliant it was done. Was Archie vs. the Punisher really as poorly-received as the Record article claims?
I was working for a comics dealer at the time and my recollection that it didn’t sell massive quantities but everyone who bought it loved it as an entertaining poke at the Punisher, Archie, and crossovers. I attributed that to the Marvel zombies getting turned off by Archie above anything else.
I’ve never heard anyone say a bad word about the crossover however. Let alone “one of the most vilified comic books ever”.
The general reaction I recall was indifference. There were plenty of other things to get worked up about at the time, and about half of them involved Rob Liefeld.
I remember the reaction being: It’s really dumb to actually write a comic book based on what was essentially a joke premise, but they did make a decent story of it.
I liked it. Mostly because Riverdale is just north of New York City.
It’s technically in the Bronx, but it’s also sort of the closest suburb to the city. Which means the setup for the comic actually made sense. And is probably why it was written. Someone was going 'You know, I pass that stop every day on my commute… what if…"
It was actually pretty well written, and reminded me a lot of, say, Happy Days, when you consider how kiddified the Fonz’s hoodlumness was.
Michael Uslan, who is writing the wedding story (and was also the producer of all six Batman films), is actually writing a Captain Pureheart revival story for Archie.
Well, there’s jokes, and there’s jokes. When someone off-handedly mentions an Archie-Punisher crossover as an example of an absurd idea that would never make sense, and then, real comic companies actually decide to treat it as a challenge to genuinely write, that’s a bit dumb. No one really saw a market for an Archie-Punisher book.
It would be like if someone saw the Far Side cartoon of Toby vs Godzilla (Toby being an ordinary dog, biting at the ankle of the giant lizard, who’s oblivious to his presence) and decided “Hey - I’ll bet we can make a REAL story out of that!” Even if someone could write a decent story out of it, the point of the joke was not “what would happen if…”, the point of the joke was the juxtaposition of extremely mismatched elements in the first place.
Archie’s super-hero alter-ego was just Pureheart (specifically “Pureheart the Powerful”; the short-lived comic dedicated to his adventures was briefly renamed “Captain Pureheart”, but when the character was later revived for one-off adventures, the “Captain” was dropped), with Reggie as his arch-enemy Evilheart. Jughead’s alter-ego was Captain Hero (and he transformed with the “teenie weenie magic beanie” chant).
IIRC, the local comic book store owner commented that the crossover hurt the image of Archie – which he said had been doing much better before the crossover. It didn’t hurt the Punisher, since most serious fans had decided the character had become a joke long before.
