Jughead #1
Jughead #1 (1987) marks the beginning of the character's second solo ongoing series, launched immediately after the original Archie's Pal Jughead / Jughead run concluded with a 352-issue, 38-year stretch — one of the longest uninterrupted runs in Archie history. The relaunch reset the numbering and gave the creative team room to deepen Jughead's family dynamics in ways the original run rarely attempted, most notably by planting narrative seeds that would eventually lead to the introduction of his baby sister Jellybean in issue #50 of this very series. It also arrived in a year when the character was simultaneously being reinvented on television via The New Archies animated series, making 1987 something of a dual-media reintroduction of Jughead to a new generation. The series this issue inaugurated would run for 214 issues across two title identities, sustaining Jughead as one of the few Archie characters to carry his own ongoing title from the late 1980s all the way through 2012.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The 1987 relaunch came directly on the heels of the close of the original Jughead series, which ended with issue #352 in June 1987 after beginning as Archie's Pal Jughead in 1949. Writer Rod Ollerenshaw and penciler Nate Butler handled the bulk of the interior work on #1, with Rex Lindsey inking the cover over Butler's pencils — a largely fresh creative pairing designed to signal a new chapter rather than a simple continuation. Managing editor Victor Gorelick, a longtime fixture at Archie Comics who had been overseeing the line's bimonthly output since the 1970s, supervised the transition, maintaining the house style of rotating creators rather than appointing a single ongoing creative team. No public editorial statement explaining the decision to relaunch rather than continue the numbering has been located; the Copper Age collector practice of launching with a new #1 to boost visibility is the most likely editorial motivation, consistent with industry-wide habits of the period.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published August 1987 by Archie Comic Publications; carries the Comics Code Authority seal; bi-monthly frequency.
- First issue of Volume 2 of the Jughead solo series, launched the same month the original Volume 1 concluded with issue #352 (June 1987).
- Writer: Rod Ollerenshaw; interior penciler: Nate Butler; interior inker: Tom Moore; cover pencils: Nate Butler; cover inks: Rex Lindsey.
- The issue's framing device across its stories is the threat of the Jones family relocating to Ohio — a rare injection of serialized stakes into what was typically an anthology of standalone gag strips; the status quo is preserved by the final story.
- A second story, 'Call Me Jughead!', has young Jughead recall first moving to Riverdale and meeting Archie, offering a rare look at the characters' shared backstory origin.
- A Canadian price variant of the issue exists with a 95¢ cover price (vs. the standard US edition).
- Stories from this 1987 series were subsequently reprinted in Jughead's Double Digest #46 (September 1997), #88 (October 2002), and #134 (November 2007).
- The series this issue launched ran 45 issues under the Jughead title (through May 1993), then continued as Archie's Pal Jughead Comics through issue #214 (September 2012) — a combined 214-issue, 25-year run seeded by this #1.
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