Iconic cover art by the legendary Dan DeCarlo and Rosario “Tito” Peña
This year marks the 85th anniversary of the first appearance of Archie Andrews in 1941's Pep Comics #22 and, as part of Archie Comics celebrations, a new magazine is being launched for the occasion.
Hitting stores on March 18, the first issue of Archie Jumbo Comic Magazine is a 112-page collection of the comic strips from throughout the decades.
Honouring 85 years of heart, humour, and hijinks, this must-have magazine will collect some of the most important (and hilarious!) stories in Archie’s history, featuring your favourite characters from the worlds of Archie, Sabrina, Josie & the Pussycats, and more!
Unfinished horror masterpiece Afterlife With Archie aside, it's this continuity-free, classic style of Archie antics where my love for these characters lies.
In March, Archie Comics is releasing a "jumbo comic magazine" celebrating 85 years of the wholesome adventures of Archie Andrews, Jughead Jones, and Betty Cooper (Veronica didn't appear until the following year!).
The publishers publicity blurb for the 112-page book reads as follows:
"Archie Comics is proud to present a jumbo-sized magazine celebrating 85 years of heart, humour, and hijinks! This magazine will collect some of the most important (and hilarious!) stories in Archie’s history, featuring your favourite characters from the worlds of Archie, Sabrina, Josie & the Pussycats, and more! This is a collector’s edition you can’t miss!"
The Dan DeCarlo/Rosario “Tito” Peña cover depicts the icomnic image of Archie sharing a milkshake with Betty and Veronica.
Desperate for a job to cover his rent, bumbling Paul Carpenter (Patrick Gibson) - through a series of unlikely coincidences - stumbles into an interview at London's mysterious J.W. Wells and Co.
Somehow acing the interview, he and fellow interviewee, Sophie Pettingel (Sophie Wilde), are taken on as interns.
It is only then that they truly discover what the company does: magically shift reality to create beneficial coincidences for their clients.
Paul, it seems, has a gift for "divining", which company CEO Humphrey Wells (Christoph Waltz) seeks to use to find his missing "portable door" (which turns out to be a brilliant magical device capable of opening portals to anywhere the user desires).
However, there are forces within the company seeming set upon blocking Paul's progress.
Overall, The Portable Door is a fun, fantasy adventure, with an amazing cast of distinguished actors, such as Sam Neill and Miranda Otto, bringing their A-games to a variety of supporting roles.
Based, apparently, on the first in a series of books by Tom Holt, the twists and misdirections in Leon Ford's script (directed by Jeffrey Walker) are impressively orchestrated, if occasionally obvious.
However, while I'm all in favour of weirdness and inexplicable goings-on in my films, for what is essentially a "young adult" story there's a bit too much obfuscation and confusion in the narrative, hindered by the common problem that a lot of the action takes place in poorly lit environments.
There is also the issue of the story's obvious comparisons to the Harry Potter franchise, with JW Wells feeling like a corporate Hogwarts - with a dash of Warehouse 13 craziness thrown in for good measure.
Paul is a Harry/Ron surrogate, the gifted Sophie is a Hermione, Sam Neill's hostile Dennis Tanner is Snape, Miranda Otto (drawing upon her Zelda Spellman from Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) as Countess Judy is Professor McGonagall etc
The way the story employs supernatural goblins is also an obvious similarity (not that JK Rowling has a copyright on "goblins", of course).
Nevertheless, for all the Potterisms on display, ultimately the world of The Portable Door remains intriguing and full of possibilities.
Running for almost two hours, the film doesn't drag, but could also do with tightening its belt a bit. It certainly doesn't need to be that long.
I've never heard of Tom Holt's J.W. Wells & Co. book series, and this didn't make me want to rush out and read them but I'd certainly be interested in seeing further adaptations in this "corporate magic" style of adventure.
My pop culture Odyssey: a slice of super-powered geek life with heavy emphasis on pulp adventure, superheroes, comic books, westerns, horror, sci-fi, giant monsters, zombies etc
