Archie Sabotages Ms. Grundy's Secret Santa Party in WORLD OF ARCHIE COMICS DIGEST #44!

I was traveling this weekend with my boy Les, which offered me the opportunity to read through WORLD OF ARCHIE COMICS DIGEST #44. It seems that we've jumped straight from Halloween to Christmas with this issue -- but that's okay because there's lots of fun stuff in this issue. Such as a great story featuring Jingle the Elf early into the digest, as well as a whole bunch of vintage Super Duck stories!

But I'm writing today about the brand new lead story featuring Archie and the Riverdale Gang and they prepare for Ms. Grundy's "Secret Santa" gift-exchange party. Everybody pulls a random name from a box and is assigned to give them a cool gift!

(Notice Harper Lodge in her second comic book appearance!

As you can see, not everybody is happy with the person they've been assigned. Archie is upset because he's pulled Kevin Keller's name, but he really wants to give something to Veronica instead. God forbid that he give Ronnie her gift away from the party and instead try finding something nice for Kevin instead, but Reggie comes up with a way for Archie to selfishly flaunt the sacred rules of the Secret Santa Party: Swap!

So Archie runs from person to person trading Secret Santa names and hoping that somebody will direct him to the right person with Veronica's name!

Actually, it's fun to see all sorts of familiar faces in this story, including Chuck, Nancy, Harper, the various New Kids, Kevin, Two-Fisted Toni Topaz, and even Kevin's cheating ex-boyfriend Devon! It's nice that all of these newer characters, such as the New Kids and Devon aren't completely forgotten these days!

What Do You Suppose Kevin & Devon Got Each Other?

As always, this story ends with a bit of a twist. But twists are what keep these stories entertaining!

"The Secret Santa Secret Swap" is written by Paul Kupperburg, penciled by Fernando Ruiz, inked by Bob Smith, lettered by Jack Morelli, and colored by Digikore Studio.