Archie's Double Digest Magazine #131

History

Archie's Double Digest Magazine launched in 1981 as one of four giant-sized digest magazines published by Archie Comics, formatted at roughly twice the page count of a standard digest — approximately 256 pages — to fit supermarket and drug-store checkout racks. Issue #131, dated 2002, falls squarely within the long-running original volume of the series, which ran under the 'Archie's Double Digest Magazine' cover title until issue #212, when the title was shortened to 'Archie Double Digest.' The issue was produced by the regular stable of Archie freelancers of the era, including writers Mike Pellowski, Greg Crosby, Craig Boldman, and George Gladir, and artists Jeff Shultz, Stan Goldberg, Fernando Ruiz, and Bob Bolling — the latter the co-creator and signature artist of the Little Archie feature, whose Silver Age work from the late 1950s and 1960s was consistently recycled in digest reprints throughout this period.

Trivia · 8 facts

• The issue was published in 2002 by Archie Comic Publications, Inc., falling within the original 'Archie's Double Digest Magazine' volume (1984 series), which changed its cover title to 'Archie Double Digest' at issue #212.
• The Double Digest format debuted in 1981 and ran at approximately 256 pages — double the standard digest page count — designed specifically for supermarket and newsstand checkout distribution.
• The 2002 publication year coincides with Archie Comics' 60th anniversary, during which historical and geographical hints to the real-world origins of Riverdale were embedded in every digest issue.
• The issue indexes The Comet (John Dickering), one of the most historically significant characters in American superhero comics: he debuted in Pep Comics #1 (January 1940), drawn by Jack Cole for MLJ Magazines, and in Pep Comics #17 (July 1941) became the first superhero to be killed in the line of duty — a distinction noted by comics historians including Jess Nevins.
• Steel Sterling (John Sterling), also indexed in this issue, first appeared in Zip Comics #1 (February 1940), created by Charles Biro and Irv Novick for MLJ Magazines; he carried the 'Man of Steel' tagline years before Superman adopted the moniker.
• The Little Archie characters indexed (Little Archie, Little Betty, Little Jughead, Little Reggie, Little Veronica, Little Ambrose Pipps) represent the pre-teen spin-off created and primarily written and drawn by Bob Bolling beginning in the mid-1950s; Bolling's classic stories from that era were regularly reprinted in the digest line throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
• Little Ambrose Pipps, indexed in this issue, is a minor supporting character from the Little Archie universe whose appearances are relatively infrequent, making his catalog presence a useful reference point for completionists tracking the full Little Archie cast.
• The issue's character catalog encompasses the full core Riverdale cast (Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Reggie, Moose, Dilton, Chuck Clayton, Ethel, Ginger Lopez, Pop Tate, and the adult characters including Weatherbee, Grundy, Svenson, and the Lodge and Andrews families), confirming the typical broad-spectrum anthology content of the Double Digest series.

Cast · 38 characters

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