Writer: Dan Parent
Pencils: Dan Parent
Original Publication: Betty and Veronica Double Digest Magazine, No. 150
Cover Date: May, 2007
Length: 12 pages
This isn’t a story. It’s meant to be Betty and Veronica’s scrapbook, giving some details about the girls’ history.
I got the title from the fact that, on page 1, Betty and Veronica hold up a book with the title of “Betty and Veronica’s Scrapbook”. It’s dumb that the registered trademark symbol is on their own scrapbook, though. Come on, Archie Comics, couldn’t you have withheld that in this case?
Betty and Veronica present their scrapbook to the readers on page 1. As a personal rule, stories in which the characters are aware that they’re fictional characters aren’t canon. That means, to me, none of the information in this story can be trusted.
There are some dumb items that Betty and Veronica saved throughout the years, which I won’t get into here. I’m going to focus on the history of the girls as presented here.
There are pictures of Betty and Veronica as babies. There are also pictures of themselves as little kids. They actually call themselves “Little Betty” and “Little Veronica”.
Betty and Veronica first met when they were in their “Little” stages – or slightly older (they met Archie around that time, too). Please note that their ages at their first meeting have varied from story to story across the decades – from as recently as the current school year to lying next to each other in the hospital’s nursery.
There are pictures of Betty and Veronica fighting over Archie (who took this?!) and making up.
There’s a picture of Veronica in a pretty dress with the text: “Becoming a Fashion Plate!” Meanwhile, Betty’s picture has “Happy in T-shirt and Jeans!”
The core five are at Veronica’s fancy seventh birthday party somewhere. Veronica also had a fancy invitation sent out. For Betty’s birthday party, Betty, Veronica, and Archie celebrate at Pop’s.
For their first dance at junior high, there was a coin toss to see who would get to go with Archie. Betty won. Veronica went with Reggie, but Reggie stared at himself in the mirror for a while. He did dance with Veronica, though.
One of Betty’s honor roll report cards (from eighth grade) is included. She had Math, Science, Geography, Spanish, Health, Home Ec., and Gym (the last subject was obscured, but this is my guess based on Veronica’s report card, which otherwise matches Betty’s precisely). Betty got an A or A- in every subject for every quarter. Veronica was too embarrassed by her own report card, so she covered it with a photo of herself.
Betty responds by including a photo of herself, wearing an ensemble that she made herself.
They started playing together as The Archies when they started high school.
They met new friends: Brigitte Reilly, Chuck and Nancy,…
The scrapbook is interrupted by a “Learn To Draw Veronica” page (oh, come on! why here of all places?!) and a “TMNT: The Video Game” ad.
…and Ginger Lopez. There’s also a mention of Maria Rodriguez being thrilled when Frankie Valdez moved back to Riverdale (no mention of when Betty and Veronica met either, though).
There’s a picture of a young Jellybean (though not at her birth as the text suggests), who is “a lot cuter than that brother of hers” (with a picture of Jughead sticking out his tongue).
There’s mention of a “dark” period when Cheryl Blossom moved back (no mention of her first time here). The “Love Showdown” logo is partially seen, and it’s mentioned Betty and Veronica almost lost Archie for good, got him back, and still don’t trust Cheryl (the stories where they hang out together apparently didn’t happen).
Betty and Veronica then list other boyfriends that have “filled in” for Archie – Adam (a boyfriend for Betty during this time period, Reggie, and Jason Blossom – but they “always go back to that lovable klutz”.
There’s a picture of Veronica introducing Betty to The Veronicas (is it from the issue of “Veronica” that introduced them?) as well as their album cover.
There’s some text from Betty and Veronica in quotes, which is confusing. Are they supposed to be saying those things to the readers at that point? If so, then why is the text in the scrapbook? I think I might have an explanation for this. You see,…nah, they just fucked up.
The next text reads “And now, here we are, getting ready to go out into the world!” The included photos are Betty reading a physics book and Veronica filling out a college application online. This means Betty and Veronica are high school seniors.
They wonder what the future will hold for them.
They praise their families (pictures of Mr. and Mrs. Lodge, Mr. and Mrs. Cooper, and “Chick” and Polly are included) and friends (a picture of Ethel, Moose, Archie, Midge, Brigitte, Dilton, and Jughead is included).
A pair of scissors is shown on the scrapbook, which makes no sense if they’re currently showing the scrapbook to us.
Of course, Betty and Veronica don’t know which one of them will end up with Archie.
This was pretty enjoyable, but Betty and Veronica’s histories seem a bit too simplified.
Tune in next Wednesday!
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