An "Arch" of Progress

Two weeks ago I had the honor of attending opening night of the latest MoCCA exhibit:

, an exhibit on the history and 'Arch' of evolution of the never-aging Archie Andrews and the company named for him, Archie Comics. It will run from November 19th of '09 until February 28th of 2010.

Check out my fantastically awkward video of the festivities!

(Somehow tilting my iPhone entirely to the side seemed like a good idea at the time...)

Like all of the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art's exhibits and festivals, I highly recommend going. If you're in the NYC area, or will be sometime before the end of February, you should mosey on down to 594 Broadway and check this out!

The exhibit moves through each decade of Archie's existence and points out the ways in which he changed to suit the times. The original art for the Eighties cover depicting old-school-Dan DeCarlo/Archie-style drawings of high school kids in punk fashions is amazing. The best delight is the few pages of art from an unpublished Archie story in which Archie reads a letter from his adult cousin Andy Andrews aloud in class, and everyone enjoys a rousing (and probably bogus) spy-story by proxy.

Finally, the exhibit also includes some material from other Archie Comics creations like Josie and the Pussycats (which was adapted to film) and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (which was adapted to an animated TV series, a TV movie, a very successful live-action TV series, and then... another animated TV series).

To say that Archie Comics is just the little brother to the Marvels and the DCs isn't... well honestly, it's just not as true as I thought it was. Are they putting out the same quality as Marvel and DC? I would say no, but that's really an opinion anyway, isn't it? I think they're making a good step in the right direction with this ongoing "Archie Gets Married" story-line structured around the famous Robert Frost poem, "The Road Not Taken". The idea is that as Archie reads the poem, he receives visions of his possible futures: three issues depicting what it would be like if he married Betty, three issues depicting what it would be like if he married Veronica. Whether all this really constitutes strong art is, again, purely opinion.

Original art from the currently ongoing story is on display at the exhibit. Me thinks you should go to MoCCA and decide for yourself!

Free for MoCCA members, $5 admission for non-members.