The Archies Will Meet the Monkees

The Hollywood Reporter has announced that The Archies #4 will send the group back in time to meet the Monkees in the 1960s. The issue is due out in January 2018.

Alex Segura, co-writer of the series, tells Heat Vision that the two bands are “a perfect pairing, and they resonate in really similar ways — embracing pop sensibilities, crossing over from different mediums and just channeling the most fun parts of whatever they’re doing, be it TV, music, comics, and beyond.”

Co-writer Matt Rosenberg says, “Getting the chance to put them side by side with The Archies, two classic bands that blur the line between fiction and fact, is a real and surreal honor.”

I love the Monkees, so I’ll definitely seek this out. But nowhere in this article is the biggest connection between the two groups mentioned: They had the same producer! Don Kirshner handled the music for the Monkees early on, producing a number of top hits, until the members of the group began asserting their own rights and musical tastes. After the falling-out, Kirshner went on to work with the Archies, who (as animation) couldn’t talk back to him. All he had to deal with then were studio musicians. He’d be a great choice for a villain the two groups could team up to defeat.

Mark Pinkus, president of the current owner of the Monkees properties, Rhino Entertainment, hopes the comic will introduce their music to new listeners:

“What a great opportunity to expose a whole new audience to the classic music and antics of The Monkees. I look forward to seeing Micky, Davy, Mike, and Peter in Riverdale!”

Typical for the current comic market, the book will have three covers, all of which evoke classic Monkees iconography. The first is by Greg Smallwood:

It’s a redrawn version of actual Archies album art with the heads of the Monkees from the closing credits of their TV show added to the bottom. (You can tell from the eyelines.)

The cover by interior artist Joe Eisma is more creative:

It plays off of a famous Monkees promo picture with them in directors chairs (although the artist seems to have used Mickey’s later, curlier haircut):