The Bingos and the Madhouse Glads are enjoying their musical adventure. However, they're feeling like third and fourth wheels compared to the more popular Archies and Pussycats. (I'll leave it to you to determine which of those latter two bands is the first wheel and which is the second!) Their luck changes when they get invited to fill in for a smaller Australian band tour. That concert was wonderful and these lesser-known bands are left with a quandary. Do they honor their earlier commitment and continue playing with the Archies and the Pussycats or do they strike out on their own? Or maybe there's a middle ground?...
And then there is also the on-again-off-again relationship between Archie and Valerie. Archie became smitten with Indian singer Amisha and got caught on camera professing his love to her. Cheryl and Alexandra revealed this information to Valerie, who promptly dumped Archie's red-headed butt. Amisha seems to have gone back to India, but Valerie can really hold a grudge! Now both Valerie is spending most of her time in Oz grumbling at each other while secretly missing Archie:
Josie and Melody from the Pussycats launch a plan to rekindle the romance between Valerie and Archie. But is it too late?
On a positive note, ARCHIE #652 re-introduces Archie Comics readers to supermodel Katy Keene. She's organizing the Rock 'n' Roll Fashion Palooza and is using Archie's Rockin' World Tour to raise money for charity. In a shocking turn of events, Archie doesn't go gaga over the lovely Ms. Keene. Instead, Raj immediately begins crushing on Katy!
The Rock 'n' Roll Fashion Palooza will feature musical performances by our bands (of course), but our friends will also strut their stuff on a fashion catwalk -- if Archie doesn't ruin things with his usual shenanigans!!
Katy didn't come to the party alone. She brought along another singer to help out with the fundraising event. This new singer has ties to Riverdale: It's Brigitte Reilly!
I don't know much about Brigitte. I know that she is a good singer, that she threatened to break up Frankie and Maria, and that she was designed to be a plus-sized character. But she kind of disappeared from the comic books before I got back into Archie Comics. I just figured that she faded into the background to make room for Kevin Keller, the zombies, and the fairy tale princesses. But I guess she graduated from high school early in order to become a world famous singer.
Was that part of an earlier storyline or was that an explanation of why she disappeared from the comic book? Feel free to educate me in the comments section. Thanks in advance!
Either way, Brigitte has a famous hit song called "End of Time." And the people of Australia love her! She's warmly welcome back into the Riverdale Gang and invited to perform for the joint Rockin' World Tour/Rock 'n' Roll Fashion Palooza.
"Blunder Down Under" is written and pencilled by Dan Parent and inked by Rich Koslowski.