Let’s clear this up right away. If you’re a B-movie fan and you’re not familiar with Archie’s Weird Mysteries then you’ll be happier than Jughead eating a Blimpie’s Best the first time you settle in with an episode or two. In this 1999 era, animated take on the Riverdale gang, Archie Andrews is a reporter for the school newspaper and writes a column about all of the strange, supernatural, events that have been taking place in their little town since an experiment in the high school physics lab went awry. All the usual crew is there…Betty, Veronica, Reggie, etc. But now Riverdale has become a magnet for B-movie monsters. During it’s 40 episode run, Archie and the gang face off with mad scientists, vampires, giant cockroaches and my favorite, alien potatoes. There’s even an episode with a 50-foot Veronica!
If you grew up reading Archie’s Comic Digest like I did through the late seventies and most of the eighties, you’ll undoubtedly enjoy the familiarity of seeing Mr. Weatherbee, Ms. Grundy and Pop Tate’s malt shop. But what really makes this animated series snap is the Riverdale-meets-X-Files vibe that runs through each and every campy episode. And the really good news is that there are 40 episodes total. You can join Archie and his pals in a new monster collection of Archie’s Weird Mysteries from Mill Creek Entertainment. That’s approximately 15 hours of entertainment! I’m about half-way through and my eyeballs are about to melt out of my face, but I ain’t stopping!! There’s also a more humble, understated 10-episode collection from Mill Creek that’s just as fun for those who are a little less ambitious. It’s thrills, chills and a whole lot of yucks!
