Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by Steve Bennett of Super-Fly Comics and Games in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  This week Bennett reviews several recent Archie launches, notes a Mexican comic starring Donald Trump, and wishes Bugs a happy birthday.

I haven't said anything about Archie #1 since it came out, but as far as I can tell from the Internet the Mark Waid/Fiona Staples makeover/relaunch received nothing but rave reviews, positive press, and strong word of mouth.  Though for the record I would still like to know what the final print run was.  I'm notoriously bad at guessing but I've been predicting that sales would break the million copies mark (see "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--Gender Equality, Empowerment and Market Share").  And it's always nice to know just how wrong I've been.

It's no coincidence that the comic looks and feels like a contemporary TV show, or that the artwork promoting the Riverdale TV pilot looks a lot like the comic (see "Archie-Based 'Riverdale' Live-Action Series Gets Pilot Order").  According to the press release, the show will have a "bold, subversive take… exploring the surrealistic twists of small-town life plus the darkness and weirdness bubbling beneath Riverdale's wholesome façade."  Which sounds like something that belongs on Fox, not the CW, a network which primarily focuses on programs featuring impossibly attractive looking young people hooking up.

Which brings us to the core question of just how "contemporary" either Archie or Riverdale will be allowed to be, and of course by "contemporary" I mean sex and drugs.  I’m not expecting (nor do I want) Riverdale to transform into Degrassi overnight, but if the characters are to exist in anything like the "real world" those things are going to have to exist, at least as theoretical possibilities.  But of course, there’s the little matter of just how much of either is needed to be considered "realistic."  According to a report from the Centers of Disease Control the rate of sex among teens in the States is the lowest it's been in 25 years, with only 44% of females and 47% of males between the ages of 15-19 engaging in sex between 2011 and 2013.  And a study by the University of Texas at Austin shows 25% decline in "weed-related activities" over the last 11 years.

Ever since the success of Afterlife with Archie the publisher has been buttressing its brand by producing edgier material and it’s worked, for the most part.  However, there have recently been a couple of titles that seem to solely exist so we can see some of America's most recognized comic book characters acting wildly out of character while being systematically dismembered and destroyed. As I wrote back when it was first announced (see "Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--Wary But Hopeful"), I know that it's kind of pointless to complain that a comic titled Archie Vs. Predator "doesn’t make any sense."  But having read the final issue I can now confirm that it doesn't, either as a Predator comic or an Archie one.

But far, far worse is Archie vs. Sharknado.  It's hard for me to say exactly just how awful it is because it’s based on a series of Syfy "original films" that were intentionally awful.  After years of being mocked for making cheesy monster movies, the network decided to make films which were intentional mockeries.  Now I like to think I'm familiar with all the various ways you can make fun of a genre, but what Syfy has done with Sharknado goes way beyond spoof, satire or parody.  In spite of the fact there are Rifftrax versions of them, they’re really not necessary because the Sharknado movies are self-ridiculing.

Archie vs. Sharknado doesn't seem to be so much a comic book as a Mad Magazine spoof of one.  I don't hate myself quite nearly enough to go back and reread it so I can actually count the number of severed limbs and exposed femurs in this comic but rest assured these are the comic’s central source of "laughs."  I frankly just don't see the appeal and I'll happily admit that this could be a generational thing.  My friend Steve Thompson, who's roughly my age, wrote an extremely negative review of Archie vs. Sharknado that seems to be inadvertently advertising the title; "people are saying it sounds great, they’re sorry they passed it up and they'll head back to the comic store and buy it!"

I'll be honest with you, I'm always looking for something else to write about.  So usually every day I'll stroll down the Yahoo, Bing and Google news sections looking for anything connected to comics or superheroes.  Which I how I came across a piece titled "Trump takes it on the chin in Mexican superhero’s latest adventure" by Kieran Peterson that appeared on the PRI website.  It was about El Peso Hero, a street level superhero who appears in his own comic book published by Rio Bravo Comics and created by Hector Rodriguez, a Texas grade school teacher.  El Peso Hero usually deals with Mexico's cartels and human traffickers but after presidential candidate Donald Trump's comments about Mexican immigrants Rodriguez decided to strike back.  Literally, with a cover that pays homage to the 1941 cover of Captain America #1.  I can't wait to read the story that goes with it.

And, finally, a Happy 75th Anniversary to Bugs Bunny, star of film, television, and yes, comic books.  I know that DC still publishes his adventures on the pages of Looney Tunes, but as always I wish the publisher would make better use of all of that previously published material featuring him that’s now just sitting around in some dusty archive.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.