Archie as The Man From R.I.V.E.R.D.A.L.E.!

Another pop culture fad of the 60's were secret Agents. Think about how many there were. We had James Bond, Matt Helm, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Get Smart just to name a few. Archie was an outright spoof of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. In a recent interview with Robert Vaughn for his new series, Hustle on AMC, he said that they were so popular that when the Beatles came to America the Beatles asked to meet the stars of that show. This spoof is further proof of their popularity. After all no one spoofs a flop. Unless your talking about something like "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" but that's another story.
Archie and the gang fought crime as secret agents and superheroes. Who knew Riverdale was a hot bed of crime. All of them were on the side of good this time. Unless Reggie was a double agent but that story never came out. Unlike the Pureheart stories Veronica knew they were agents as she was one herself. The main villians in this story line were the agents of the evil C.R.U.S.H. organization. When you see them as they are drawn in this issue they look like Reggie and Veronica but with different style hair. Maybe they were double agents! The one thing that all secret agent spoofs had fun with were the weapons. Taking ordinary devices and using them in the war on crime. For example the CRUSH agents used a transmitter disguised as a sugar cube. Their radio receiber blows up when the Riverdale agents send a rumbling nose through it. Did they discover the device in time? No it was just that Jughead ate the cube and it disagreed with him. In another story CRUSH uses an agent to act like a little boy. Betty is undercover and offers him a lollypop before he can finish his mission. After she leaves the boy grabs his throat and says "Everythings turning gray. I'm...I'm...the lolly pop...pop...pop..." He passes out in front of another CRUSH agent. He looks at the boy and says "P.O.P. agents! A rigged Lollypop! No time to lose. I must take control immediately!" Maybe you would have to see the artwork with the dialogue or have grown up in the 60's and 70's but to this day I find it funny.
If you have noticed on some of these issues the name Kenny has been written on the front covers. I bought these issues from a dollar bin. I have no idea who Kenny is but really do like his taste in comics. This looks like we may be coming to the end of my Archie phase. I have perhaps one or two things left to share with you. One I am saving for tomorrow Feb 8th. Today is Feb 7th as I write this post. I hope you have all enjoyed this look back at the different phases of Archie.