About this Episode
Despite recognizing the characters, Matt and Tony have never read a single Archie comic book. This week they fix that by sitting down with classic tales of teenage antics as drawn by Dan DeCarlo, the Archie artist who established the house style and solidified the characters' iconic looks. Joining them is Ayla Ahlquist, a Providence-based comedy writer and performer who was raised on the adventures of the Archie gang. Ayla regularly performs improv comedy at Wage House Comedy Theater in Pawtucket, RI (with Tony no less!) and is a cast member of The Empire Revue, Providence's long-running monthly variety show.
The discussion covers Archie's origins and DeCarlo's deceptively simple style, growing up on Archie, Ayla's bias against the CW's modern reimagining of the characters, how Matt and Tony know as little as they do about the characters without ever having read any of the comics before now, and how easily the simple formula of Archie stories allow the gang to crossover with zombies, The Punisher, and the Predator.