Writer: Bill Golliher
Pencils: Bill Golliher
Inks: Jim Amash
Colors: Glenn Whitmore
Letters: Jack Morelli
Original Publication: World of Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest, No. 25
On-Sale Date: May 10, 2023
Length: 5 pages
Betty and Veronica are outside and see Ginger walking along. Betty asks Ginger what brings their “favorite Hilldale resident here to Riverdale”. That’s some damn clunky exposition. By the way, Ginger’s last appearance failed to mention she lives in another town and instead made it seem like she and her friends live in Riverdale. Actually, Ginger’s town used to be called Hillwood, not Hilldale (and Ginger’s last name used to be Snap, not Snapp). Anyway, Ronnie asks “What situation have you gotten yourself into now?” Ginger just needs a bit of advice. The Hilldale Spring Fling dance is coming up (it was already summer in Ginger’s last appearance), and she hasn’t decided which guy to invite. She pulls out her phone and shows them a picture of Ickky, who’s “as sweet and can be”, but they’re “just friends”. Betty and Ronnie reject him.
Ginger “can always count on” Tom. Betty finds him cute. Whiz (last name Baker, according to GCDb) is the quarterback of the Hilldale football team. “Every girl” wants to be seen with him. Ronnie has an idea: Ginger picks the one that she’s absolutely the most interested in, and she and Betty will accompany the other two. Ginger agrees, because she knows she can trust the girls. She decides to take Whiz. She’s basically assuming he doesn’t have a date already.
On dance night, Whiz is glad that Ginger “wised up” and decided to go to the dance with him. This angers Ginger. So Whiz is basically a blond Reggie. Whiz sees Ickky (who is mistakenly given light blue hair for one panel) with Betty and Tom with Ronnie and gets a boner over the girls. Ginger calls him out for doing this in her presence. Whiz suggests they dance. Ginger is already beginning to wonder if she made the right decision. Ginger decides the guys are having “almost too good” a time with Betty and Ronnie and excuses herself to grab some refreshments. Whiz decides to catch up with the guys. Ginger decides Tom and Ronnie are “a little too close” for her comfort, intentionally trips, and spills her punch on Ronnie’s dress. Tom helps Ginger up. Ginger apologizes to Ronnie for “that tiny splash”. Ronnie’s pissed.
Ginger is pissed at Ronnie. Ronnie says they were just dancing. Ginger is also pissed at Betty and Ickky. Betty compares Ickky to Dilton (of course) but says he’s a much better dancer. She admires guys with brains. Ickky admires blondes. Gingers grabs a fire extinguisher and sprays Ickky. Ronnie and Betty confront Ginger over her behavior. Whiz finds Ginger and asks her what the fuck is going on.
Ginger says maybe she made a hasty decision and admits it was hard to choose between the three of them. Archie knows the feeling. Oh, yeah, he’s here with “one Cheryl Blossom”, who introduces herself. Ronnie is surprised to see Archie. Betty asks Archie and Cheryl what they’re doing here. Archie says Cheryl told him about the Hilldale dance and suggested they meet up here (despite neither of them living in Hilldale or attending this school, if it is indeed being held in the school). Reggie comes by with two cups of punch and demands to know what Cheryl is doing with Archie, since she’s here with him. Ronnie is surprised to see Reggie. Ginger finds this “all too confusing”. Ickky says there’s one common denominator that they can take away from all of this: “there’s just something about redheads”. Tom and Whiz smile. Betty and Ronnie are surprised. Reggie is angry. Ginger, Archie, and Cheryl are shocked, but Archie says “I don’t think any of us would argue with that!”
This story was pretty dumb. Ginger came off as very jealous. Cheryl came off as a two-timer. Archie has his history. So they all get lumped together in a generalization. The part that bothers me the most, though? How did none of these fuckers notice each other until now?!
After the story is the same two-page Archie Encyclopdia entry from Ginger’s last appearance.
Riverdale Reviewed 
