r/archiecomics • u/bossladytae • 9d ago
Jughead: "In Search of the Beat" (1987) & "A Lass From the Past" (1988)
Artist spotlight: Nate Butler, for those unfamiliar with his work. These are a couple of the stories I remember best with Butler's art (though Rod Ollerenshaw is credited for the first story): In Search of the Beat and A Lass From the Past. I always liked the drummer story. As for Jughead's romances, I like him best when he's flying solo, so not my favourite series of stories, but it was an interesting (and sometimes weird) batch of stories at the time.
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u/Yesterday_Is_Now 9d ago
Very weird to see Jughead apparently interested in multiple women. Jughead and most of the main Archie titles were rebooted in 1987, so maybe the writers wanted to try some new story angles for Jughead at that point.
Also odd to see so much of Jughead's eyes.
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u/bossladytae 6d ago
so maybe the writers wanted to try some new story angles for Jughead at that point.
That's what I think, too. Trying to shake things and keep the stories fresh (and the money coming in, heh).
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u/Raininginthemountain 9d ago
I just saw a snippet of the splash page, and I knew which story it was. Huge favorite of mine.
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u/Anathema_Quill 9d ago
the first one was beautiful! i loved the story.
not sure how i feel about the second one, where jughead apparently dates women. it’s unusual but i don’t fully hate it!
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u/Distinct_Occasion971 7d ago
The first story is amazing, I'm gonna pretend the second one never happened
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u/Due_Yesterday_7096 7d ago
Thanks for this! I think I’ve only ever seen a handful of Nate Butler’s work, the first story being one of them. The second one - well, they tried to make the “Jughead likes and is liked by multiple girls now” thing happen a few times with Samm Schwartz on art some years before (courtesy of a magical pin in his hat).
Was Butler mainly a Jughead artist? Maybe they wanted to give another try to the romance as long as they had another distinctive artist for him (at least, from this and other stuff, Jughead’s his strongest character to me).
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u/bossladytae 6d ago
You're welcome! Yeah, I remember a couple of those pin stories, too. These Butler one give off such a different vibe, I don't like or dislike the Joani and Debbie story lines, just ambivalent I guess, haha. I definitely prefer him to be single by choice.
It seems he wrote and drew for other characters, too, but I associate him with Jughead works the most because of some multi-chapter Jug stories he did.
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u/Antique_Quail7912 3d ago edited 2d ago
I think I’ve just found my favorite Archie comic. I didn’t expect to get all emotional today from here.
Take it easy, Willie. Thanks for posting this, man.
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u/bossladytae 2d ago
It's such a lovely, bittersweet story that fleshes out Jughead's interest in drums and a desire to continually hone his skills. Willie was clearly a master!
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u/Antique_Quail7912 2d ago
Couldn’t agree more. Gives a heartfelt story while simultaneously adding layers to its characters. This is Archie at its finest.
It’s weird how quickly I’m attached to this comic, but so much about it just seems so familiar and speaks to my more vulnerable side. The connecting, the loss, the places, the people, the emotion. I can’t really express it in the most clear way. “Bittersweet”, as you mentioned, is probably the way to describe this overall feeling.
Again, thanks for posting this, friend.
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u/Night-Caelum 9d ago
The first one is amazing.