Much like the “Ginger or MaryAnn” argument, the “Betty or Veronica” argument has gone on for decades, pitting the girl next door (Betty, MaryAnn) against the spoiled little rich girl (Veronica, Ginger). And everyone, but everyone knows that the girl next door – the faithful, smart (but still cute and perky), steady girl next door is supposed to get the guy. But apparently nobody told Archie Andrews that, because next month he will be proposing to Veronica, while a stunned Betty and a befuddled Jughead look on.
As Entertainment Weekly (no, I don’t actually read it, I found this article while researching this piece) put it so succinctly, what the hell is Archie thinking?
More to the point, what the fnck are the writers thinking? What the hell kind of message is this to send to the thousands of pre-pubescent, pubescent, and even post-pubescent boys and girls – the already confused teens – that read the Archie comic books, about values, and what matters in a mate?
It seems that, at least in comic book land, slow and steady does not win the race – but rather that gold, glitz, and girlie gets the guy.
its called “marketing” – when this story arc ends in a few months, ol’ grid head will not have married veronica OR betty, and will be back to the same tiresome life in riverdale.