In every installment of “If I Pass This Way Again,” we look at odd comic book plot points that were rarely (sometimes NEVER!) mentioned again after they were first introduced.

Today, we take a look at a strange Betty and Veronica story from 1981 where Betty almost took things to a level that you wouldn't expect to see in an Archie comic book.

Here's the interesting thing about the history of Archie Comics. In the early days of the 1940s, comic books were being bought in mass quantities, not just by kids (who WERE a huge part of the comic book audience, of course) but by adults and as a result, comic book publishers often tried to appeal to both demographics at the same time. So, for instance, in the adventures of Archie and his pals and gals, there was a definite attempt to give the book some sex appeal. There's an ad from 1943's Pep Comics #41 that flat out shows two middle-age dudes checking out an issue of Archie Comics trying to see what Veronica Lodge is wearing in that issue.

By the end of the 1940s, however, Archie Comics had become so popular that there was naturally a bit of a desire to tone things down some. By the time that the Comics Code Authority came into existence, Archie Comics were already tame enough that the institution of the Code really didn't affect them that much (which is presumably why they were so gung ho about the Code to begin with - they knew that it was a bigger problem for their competitors than it was for them).

This isn't to say, though, that Archie Comics didn't still skirt the edges a bit. Here's a late 1950s cover by the great Harry Lucey (essentially THE Archie artist of the 1950s) showing Betty and Veronica exercising...

Betty is rocking the ponytail that Dan DeCarlo had recently started giving her. DeCarlo had been freelancing for Archie since the early 1950s, but it was not until right around 1960 that he found himself committed to them full-time due to a downturn in the comic book market. DeCarlo, of course, was not only a brilliant artist but also a guy who loved to draw the female form. During his period as pretty much the top teen humor artist of the 1950s through, well, through his death in 2001, DeCarlo often drew nude pin-ups for adult magazines. DeCarlo was cut out of the same mold as the late Mort Walker. He got a kick out of drawing his famous characters nude on occasion.

With this in mind, it is not a surprise that when DeCarlo became the dominant force at Archie Comics in the second half of the 1960s (after they got him to agree to sign up with them full-time by letting him use his own style, rather than the house style that they had been forcing Lucey to use, which was based on the original Archie artist, Bob Montana), he managed to get as much skin into the comic books as he could.

Archie Comics in the 1970s involved a LOT of stories with Archie and his pals ogling at women in bathing suits.

However, everything was kept to innuendo. There were a LOT of innuendo, but it was all innuendo. Except, oddly enough, one short story from 1981...

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Archie Giant Series Magazine was an anthology series where each issue would be dedicated to a specific sub-title. Instead of having a bunch of spin-off series, they would all just share this one title, where each one would get a crack at the spotlight. Eventually, in 1992, they canceled it and just gave the most popular features their own series.

One of the features was Betty and Veronica Spectacular, which, like Spectacular Spider-Man, was just a second Betty and Veronica title.

The lead story, "Saved by the Bell," was written by Frank Doyle and drawn by DeCarlo, with inks by Rudy Lapick.

It opens with Betty and Veronica discussing Archie and Betty drops in a surprising word to describe Archie...

You have to love the look on Veronica's face. "We don't say words like that in this magazine, Betty!"

Betty explains that Archie just does something to her, to the point where she is starting to not trust herself when she is alone with him. Well, wouldn't you know it, Archie comes over to Betty's house that night and her parents are off visiting Betty's aunt. So, when Archie kisses her, can she resist?

It's a well told story with a fine ending (Doyle and DeCarlo, come on, how can you beat that pairing?) but wow, that's certainly unlike most Archie Comics of the era and sure enough, it wasn't like this was ever followed up on. It was just this one off story that stood out like a sore thumb from their typical stories of the era, or even their stories twenty years later.

Okay, that's it for this installment! If someone else has a suggestion for an interesting plot point that was introduced and then almost instantaneously ignored, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!