Sardonic Humor is Just My Way of Relating to the World

Fun fact about the VQ Library: it lives on bookshelves in my home and is guarded by a carefully curated collection of items that mostly consist of Funko Pops and crystals. One of the said Funko Pops is none other than everyone’s favorite Ace Icon, Jughead Jones. Er, the comic book version of Jughead Jones. Don’t worry, dear readers. I have a lot to say about the Riverdale version of Jughead, and there will be a time when I will appear in a cloud of sulphurous smoke to rattle off every thought I’ve ever had while watching all—seven?---seven seasons of Riverdale. But, alas, today is not that day. Lucky you. Now, back to the reason we’re all here. Jughead.

Jughead Jones has had a place of honor in my heart for as long as I can remember. I grew up in a sleepy suburb on the east coast where we have an idyllic Main Street that boasts misspelled graffiti, litter, and too many smoke shops to count. But we also have a small convenience store that used to sell comic books when I was a kid in the late nineties (shhh, that was just yesterday, I swear). In 1996, I was five and obsessed with Scooby Doo, and that was it. That was my personality. My dad would take me to the convenience store with him on Saturday mornings, and I’d get to pick out a Scooby Doo comic book that I could barely read, but there were pictures of a talking Great Dane, so child-me was very satisfied. Anyway, one day, the store was out of Scooby Doo comics—or maybe they were racked too high for me to reach, who knows? Either way, I picked the closest thing my grubby little kid hands could reach: an Archie comic. And my dad—who has a lot of flaws but also a great sense of humor and a whimsical way of viewing the world sometimes when he’s not spending time with my stepmother—was very excited to find me enchanted in the colorful world of Riverdale. Alas, my comic book collection began to grow.

I can’t tell you much about that first Archie comic I read. The goofy jokes have left me. Whether Archie was in his Betty or Veronica era has escaped me as well. But what I can tell you is that it was very clear that I had a favorite character right off the bat—Archie’s dog Vegas.

Okay fine. Two favorite characters. Vegas and Jughead. Not necessarily in that order (a little in that order).

Jughead was different. His storylines weren’t wrapped up in who he was dating. He didn’t get all tongue-tied around Betty or Veronica. He cared about his friends, his family, and hamburgers. He could talk to both Betty and Veronica because he viewed them as his equals and his friends, not these goddess-like creatures who he could woo into a Friday night at the drive-in. Jughead enjoyed spending time with his little sister instead of viewing his babysitting duties as a chore. He just was. He floated through life and enjoyed each little moment. Especially when they included hamburgers. Have I mentioned he liked hamburgers? It was a primary focus of his character. And I was a weird kid so when my parents and I would go to the local diner (my very own version of Pop’s), I’d also pretend to be way more into my hamburger than I actually was, because I related to Jughead, okay?

You’re probably thinking—alright, you read a comic book and liked hamburgers. A Jughead Jones, this does not make. And you are correct, dear reader. No, what connected me to Jughead was something I didn’t really come to terms with until much later in my life. Jughead had a special place in my heart for all of these reasons I listed above.And in a time before I knew what the term asexual meant, I knew that Jughead and I had pieces of the same type of soul.

As I’ve grown older, Jughead Jones still is near and dear to my heart as the first representation of an ace character I think I ever saw, definitely the first one who made an impact on me. And when I stop to think about that, like really think about it, here’s what I come up with: 

The first Archie comic was printed in 1939, and Jughead pops (no pun intended) into the scene in #22, which came out in 1941. Think about the implications of 1941. Kids were going to the sock-hop and presumably waiting until marriage to have sex for the sole reason to procreate (I’m rolling my eyes, you just can’t see it, I swear). And amidst a sea of “aw-shucks-dad-how-do-I-get-a-girl-to-talk-to-me” television shows, radio shows, and literature, this quirky little hat-wearing, hamburger-loving guy emerged and was like “no, I’m just gonna wear my hat and fantasize about hamburgers and get really uncomfortable when a girl flirts with me.” And people loved him. In fact, he’s one of the only consistent elements of Archie comics, even with all the twisting universes.

I like to think that a 1941 version of me picked up an Archie comic and read about Jughead and saw themselves in those panels. I like to think that, even if they didn’t have the words yet, they knew that they weren’t alone, that life wasn’t all about the stereotypical paths laid out in mainstream media. I like to think that Jughead saved more than one person in his time. 

Of course, as time has passed, Jughead’s asexuality has become more and more a topic of conversation, and it has become canonically stated in Jughead’s solo series, number 4. But when the writer of said panel was asked about Jughead’s asexuality, he responded with, “he’s been asexual for 75 years.” (Zdarsky). And that’s that.

Jughead has been asexual since 1941, and he’s an integral part of the Archie gang. His wit, his sarcasm, his quips, and his support is unmatched. He’s a wonderful friend and, I would argue, acts as the glue—nay, cement—of their found family.

So today, on Ace Awareness Day, I’d like to just give a shout out to my favorite ace icon, Jughead Jones, and just let you all know that your books, all of your beloved stories with characters who remind us and save us and bolster us are protected by Jughead, ever so casually munching on a burger. 

-C 

PS: this was originally meant to post three weeks ago. However, I have zero chill when discussing Jughead, and it took me three weeks to write something coherent about my favorite character and separate comic Jughead from Riverdale Jughead, and what I discovered is that I clearly just have to write more Jughead posts to fit in everything I want to say. So something to look forward to I guess!