Hello, my friends. 2026 sees us pushing forward and fighting for a slightly better future. While we continue to venture towards new kinds of media to cast judgment on, there’s always going to be new kinds of content that not only pops up but is connected to franchises and series that’ve been previously covered. As such, there’s no better time to kick off America’s Semiquincentennial year on the C-Cubed than to once again revisit a world forged from humble independent roots. In November 2024, I made a two-part retrospective on the numerous comics that tie themselves into the View Askewniverse series. Over the span of the nine films that’ve been released within said line over the course of 28 years, various publishers have released three decades worth of books that’ve showcased its vast number of characters taking part in different kinds of situations that’ve taken place outside of the regular cinematic realm. For the featured comic that will get put underneath this site’s microscope, this world will find itself crossing paths with a longer-standing universe with its own cast of characters in order for a particular one-shot venture to occur. Not only that, but it also allows another familiar publisher to finally shine around here. As such, we’ll be checking out a certain comic called…
Published in July 2025, this particular book serves as a joint venture between Secret Stash Press and a certain company known as Archie Comics. Founded in 1939 as M.L.J. Magazines and named after its initial founders Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit & John L. Goldwater, the Pelham, New York-based company has produced decades of comics showcasing various characters such as the familiar teenage witch known as Sabrina Spellman, a fashion model/movie actress called Katy Keene, its own superhero team called The Mighty Crusaders and has even delved into a few notable video game licenses such as Sonic The Hedgehog & Mega Man. Naturally, we’ll be focusing on their most famous cast of characters from a certain humble town while we also delve into the familiar Garden State-based business. With Kevin Smith solely handling the writing duties, penciled by Fernando Ruiz, inked by Rich Koslowski and colored by Matt Herms, what kind of shenanigans will go down when these two worlds collide? Let’s pay these townships a visit and find out.
We open at the Quick Stop Convenience Store where owner Randal Graves mentions a familiar quote that his deceased friend Dante Hicks used to say: “I’m Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today!”. He then tells his fellow co-owner/assistant manager Elias Grover that it’s something that his longtime companion used to say about their business and that recently, it’s been stuck in his head as if Dante is trying to tell him something. He then says that because Hicks’ passing has made him realize that he’s not getting any younger, he’s going to work “smarter” and hire someone to work behind the counter. Sure enough, someone comes in for their job interview as it turns out to be Archie Andrews. After a proper introduction, Randal then tells the famed redhead that he heard about him from the “Gay Grand Dame Of ’90s Indie Comic Books” known as Alyssa Jones and asks him how he even knows her. Archie explains that Alyssa’s cousin’s son is actually his best friend named Forsythe “Jughead” Jones, to which Graves says that he likes his energy and proceeds to hire him.
We then shift to the next day as Randal returns to the store with some food from Mooby’s while Andrews is hard at work. After Elias essentially praises their new co-worker, Graves then has Andrews go on a lunch break in order for him to have a Moo-ilk Shake. Archie enjoys its taste and mentions how it’s almost as delicious as the milkshakes back at Pop’s, to which Randal says that it’s made of a “liquified potato base”. Just then, someone comes in and mentions how Mooby’s isn’t allowed to call said drink a milkshake since there isn’t even any milk in it as it turns out to be Betty Cooper. Andrews then introduces her to Randal as “the smartest girl in Riverdale” before she then mentions how he didn’t mention that she was his girlfriend. Archie says that it’s “complicated” just as Veronica Lodge also comes in, to which he then introduces her to Graves as “the richest girl in Riverdale”. With her under the belief that they’re a budding couple, Veronica then has her butler Smithers present him with a specially-prepared lasagna called “Lodge-sagna”. Smithers explains that it was made via Alps-based water to help prep the noodles, Sicily-imported ricotta cheese and sauce that was infused with Tuscany-based truffle flakes.
After he takes in the delicious scent, Betty then reminds Andrews that he has to be honest with Veronica about “the girlfriend part”. From there, he proceeds to tell Lodge that while he does appreciate this action, he reminds her that they’re not an official couple. This angers her as she acquires the lasagna from Smithers and tosses it into his face before telling him that he can now be with his “boyhood crush”. Archie then says that he never had a crush on Cooper, which causes her to get angry at him. He tries to ease the tension by explaining that he never had deep romantic feelings for her since he always saw her as “one of the guys”, but she responds to his confession by kneeing him in his crotch before both ladies head out together in order to return to Riverdale.
After receiving a Moo-ilk shake to help soothe his groin, Randal assures him that he’s not the first guy to get assaulted in the same ways & also at his job since Dante also tried to court two different ladies and wound up with the same painfully messy predicament. Not only that, but he also received lasagna from a woman named Veronica (specifically Veronica Loughran). As such, Graves tells Andrews that he’s going through the same ordeal that guys have gone through with women for centuries and that things will ultimately work out, especially since he’s in the prime of his life. However, Randal then mentions that he can’t be coming to his job with both ladies fighting over him since he should be after both of them. Archie says that both Betty and Veronica don’t want to see him again, yet Graves didn’t see it that way since he feels the potential for his co-worker to take part in “a three-way throw-down”.
At that moment, they’re met upon by Jay and Silent Bob as Andrews learns that they operate the dispensary next door. After Archie gets excused in order to get cleaned up, Randal lets the duo know that his new co-worker is a “wholesome teen” before Jay reminds him that he hasn’t fully healed ever since Hicks passed away.
From there, we shift over to Pop’s Chok’lit Shoppe in Riverdale where Terry “Pop” Tate presents some burgers to Forsythe Pendleton Jones III a.k.a. Jughead. Pop then notices that the young man doesn’t have his best friend with him, to which Jughead says that Andrews had gotten a New Jersey-based job and that it’s caused him “to live life” without his pal. As he realizes that Jones has gotten sore over his buddy now hanging out alongside “a small-business-owning senior citizen”, Terry tells Jones that Archie hasn’t abandoned him and is simply learning how to be responsible at his new job yet will ultimately call him up once he gets a day off. From there, he wants Forsythe to pay off his massive diner-based bill.
Back in the Garden State, Andrews heads over to the dispensary next door in order to give Jay his Mooby food order since it was mistakenly dropped off at Quick Stop. However, he discovers that Millennium “Milly” Faulken is looking over the store before Jay and Silent Bob return from their recent attempt “to score” as Archie learns that she is Jay’s daughter. Milly then asks her dad if he managed to get her concert tickets, yet Jay says that he wasn’t willing to pay thousands of dollars for nosebleed area seats to the Newark-based Josie & The Pussycats concert. Andrews then says that he can get her tickets for their upcoming show in his hometown of Riverdale, especially since his band will serve as the opening act and that he used to date Valerie Brown. With Jay, Silent Bob and Milly stunned by this revelation, they accept his offer as Archie tells them that he’ll reserve some backstage passes for them before taking his leave.
We then shift to the next night at the Riverdale Arena where Randal, Elias & his friend named Blockchain Coltrane, Milly, Jay and Silent Bob are about to attend the impending concert. While Milly and the rest of their gang is heading to the backstage door, Jay tells his daughter that he and Silent Bob will join them in a bit after “a li’l bizness”. From there, they arrive at the backstage door which is guarded by Marmaduke “Moose” Mason. Graves wakes him out of his sleepy state and says that they’re friends of Archie, to which Moose decides that they’re now all friends and proceeds to entrap them in a big hug. Out in the parking lot, Jay and Silent Bob aren’t able to sell any of their weed to any civilian. Just then, they’re approached by a woman who calls herself the “Riverdale River-Dealer” and says that no one around here wants to smoke anything from New Jersey when they can simply smoke their local supply. After she mocks him on his age, Jay says that he’s been smoking since the 1980s and that there isn’t any kind of weed that he hasn’t experienced. Despite that, she decides to present them with her 1960s inspired Sativa called “Riders On The Storm”.
Back inside the arena, Moose knocks on the dressing room door where he’s met upon by Reginald “Reggie” Mantle who tells him that they currently have some “Archie issues”. Marmaduke tells him that “some friends from Jersey” are here to see the band before they’re all let inside. To their surprise, Archie has gotten sick with a fever and isn’t well enough to sing let alone speak. After Randal learns that the band is named after his fellow co-worker, Andrews’ bandmates wonder how they’re going to perform without their leader. Just then, a stoned out Jay and Silent Bob show up as Jay offers to handle singing duties.
We then shift to a short time later as the concert begins with Josie McCoy telling the crowd how glad she and her bandmates feel to be back home after their world tour. She then introduces her bandmates named Valerie Brown and Melody Valentine before they present the Archies as their opening act. From there, the band proceeds to play their set as Jay sings the Doors song “Five To One”.
During the performance, Faulken assures Graves that her dad has always been high yet he mentions how Jay seems to be higher than he’s ever seen him before. Just then, Jay stops the show and ignorantly tells the crowd that they’re all slaves. Randal then realizes that he’s gone “full Morrison” as Reggie and Veronica try to calm the growingly agitated crowd with the group’s signature song “Sugar, Sugar”, but Jay’s drug-filled attitude isn’t able to shake him from his high & ranting state. He then rips off his shirt and demands for “a li’l nakedness” as a pair of naked women actually rush the stage, causing the police to try and get the situation under control while the band gets back to playing. Just then, parts of the stage collapses from the whole commotion as the whole crowd gets won over while Jay sings an altered version of “Break On Through”.
Following the show, the Archies and the Jersey gang have a post-concert meal at Pop’s Chok’lit Shoppe as Betty finds a post-performance review online from “Reggie’s dad’s paper” that mentions how Jay doesn’t come close to replacing Archie as the band’s lead singer, even though Veronica found him to be “awesome” and Cooper had fun at the entire concert. Randal then asks Jay about his drugged-out experience, to which he says that “Riverdale weed” was a unique “trip”. Jughead then mentions that he should try some marijuana, to which Jay tells him to come to his Jersey-based area in order for he and Silent Bob to help him get started on his drug-taking venture as Jones agrees to take him up on his offer. And so, the comic ends with Andrews telling Graves that he’s unsure if he’ll be well enough to come into work tomorrow. Randal tells him that he can take as much recovery time that he wants, especially since he’s officially part of his group since he’s “a Quick Stop clerk”.
Overall, this was a light venture for View Askewniverse fans (given what went down in “Clerks III”) and makes for a mildly risqué romp. For Randal Graves, he’s feeling the void of not having his longtime friend alongside him which sets up Archie’s arrival as well as a potential arc for Graves to try and have him fill Dante’s shoes in his eyes. It’s a good narrative idea to take and naturally allows both of these different properties to cross paths with each other, yet we don’t spend too much time with Randal given what we’re presented here since his struggles to have Riverdale’s famed red-head handle the unique ways that Hicks helped Graves feel whole should’ve been brought to the forefront a little bit more in order to help him deal with any lingering grief from the loss of his comrade. Not to mention that outside of the convenience store itself, he doesn’t contribute too much to the main narrative given the cumbersome size of a cast that comes with combining two longtime worlds together for the sake of a story. As such, it’s a lost opportunity for a character who had been in Kevin Smith’s signature franchise since the very beginning. In terms of Andrews himself, his wholesome personality along with the equally wholesome world that he and his famous cast of characters come from does pique the curious onlookers’ interest into seeing how these two different properties could possibly operate amongst each other given all the adult humor that the View Askewniverse has provided. As for Archie, he doesn’t have too much in terms of a major character arc. He gets a job outside of his regular town in order to make some money and provides a comforting feel towards his co-workers in the process. As the comic progresses, the narrative structure becomes more about how Andrews interacts with the core characters of Kevin Smith’s personally-created domain. After all, it starts with Archie joining the small Quick Stop team before the two famed ladies of his long-standing love triangle come along. From there, he manages to get Randal and his cohorts to Riverdale via a Josie & The Pussycats concert which ultimately has Jay causing a drug-fueled ruckus in front of the vast Archie-Verse. Ultimately, his kind-hearted and somewhat naïve teenage nature had him proving his worth towards the Jersey gang by not just presenting him as a committed Quick Stop worker (which also has him learning some dating advice from Randal), but he also helps Milly and company see a music group that she’s been wanting to see. Speaking of which, I should point out that Valerie Brown is more known for playing bass guitar and tambourine while also being a back-up singer. I say that because Andrews does tell Faulken that he used to date the band’s “drummer”, yet that’s Melody Valentine. Valerie does mention before the start of the Riverdale-based concert that she does find Archie to be “the sweetest, kindest, most wholesome boy I was ever lucky enough to date”, so it’s more likely a slip-up from Kevin Smith for not writing ‘bassist’ or even ‘tambourine player’ along with editor Jamie Lee Rotante for not noticing this. Either way, Andrews gets his good deeds towards the Jersey gang out of the way prior to the Riverdale concert before an illness takes him out of the story until the final scene. In a way, Archie’s good-natured actions has ultimately left a helpful impact upon them and it shows why he’s been an enduring icon ever since his initial debut in Pep Comics #22 in December 1941. His humble nature and his means to do good (even if they’re a little misguided) serves as a quality that all people should strive for since they’ve never been outdated, no matter what kind of powerfully malevolent force comes along. As a whole, I’ve already mentioned that the narrative doesn’t have much of a regular structure throughout. Andrews bringing his world into the View Askewniverse via a need for employment is what sets this crossover in motion as he and the rest of Riverdale’s occupants discovers how foul-mouthed and lewd our featured Jersey players can get. I can only wonder what a longtime Archie Comics fan would think about this, especially since this isn’t the first time that they’ve crossed paths with other notable characters and franchises (since they’ve shared stories with the Punisher, Batman & Robin from the 1966 TV series, Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy, Predator, Red Sonja, KISS, the Ramones, the B-52s, etc.). From the perspective of a View Askewniverse fan, it does fit itself after “Clerks III” rather nicely and presents itself as a low stakes romp given what they’ve just gone through. Though they do retain their semi-foul tongues and immature mind sets at times, their interactions with Andrews and his friends was handled pretty well. The artwork is pleasantly colorful and hides some nods to parts of Kevin Smith’s key franchise at different points, while Randal and company are respectively presented within the Archie Comics style. Despite its narrative structure not being as solid as it could’ve been, the pacing was pretty decent and didn’t have any threads that felt like they were excessively dragging. All-in-all, this matching of two different worlds had more of a breezy feel in its presentation. It may not be as outlandish as it could’ve been given the initial concept, but these two franchises were able to co-exist amongst themselves surprisingly well with good character interactions, comforting artwork and a presentation of humor that’s not suitable for young readers yet will leave a smile on older fans’ faces. It’s recommended for fans of Kevin Smith’s main IP, yet Archie Comics fans could also get a kick out of this somewhat-absurd romp given their own list of crossovers. In the end, this low stakes affair is worth a read while cozying up with either a traditional milkshake or even a Moo-ke Shake by your side.
Archie and all related characters are owned by Archie Comics Publications, Inc. while the View Askewniverse series is owned by Kevin Smith.