Archie: Pureheart the Powerful Volume 1 (Archie (IDW))
Thanks to Archie’s recent nuptials and the introduction of a homosexual student to Riverdale High, we’re in the midst of an Archie renaissance, which will shortly include a revival of the very short-lived respective superheroic alter-egos of Archie and Jughead, Pureheart the Powerful and Captain Hero (as in sandwich). Reprinted here is the first array of comics, from 1965 to 1967, featuring those characters, originally intended to capitalize on the silver age’s renewed interest in superadventures. Eschewing the focus on the human elements of superheroing that came into vogue at the time (thanks mainly to Marvel characters like Spider-Man), these are innocent little adventures, light on drama and high on simple humor, where heroes get their powers from a pure heart and villains shout things like “You’ll interfere with my evil plans no more!” With bright pages of friendly, unthreatening art, these tales will appeal most to an even younger crowd than they were originally intended for, or as a glimpse into a time when there was little consideration for sophistication in most comic books. Grades 4-7. --Jesse Karp