Archie Comics is experimenting with new books. It's also experimenting with extra Archies — and extra Veronicas, Bettys, Jugheads and Sabrinas. Recently, several different Archies have hit print. Let's have a look:

Future tense

A few months back, Archie Comics set a lot of pundits and talking heads atwitter by announcing the death of their namesake character. Naturally, comics fans knew not to take that at face value. But Archie Comics did kill off a couple of superfluous Archies.

The deaths — there were two — took place in "Life with Archie" magazine, which has been running two story lines simultaneously per issue for several years. One story each issue continued a possible future where Archie marries Veronica, a second where he takes Betty to the altar. These have been good comics, with superhero veteran Paul Kupperberg doing his best soap-opera stylings.

In the penultimate issue of "Life with Archie," Kupperberg dovetailed the two stories by cleverly writing around all the differing elements, and spotlighting only the parts the two series had in common. So, for example, when Marmaduke "Big Moose" Mason appears, no mention is made of his occupation — which in one story is mayor of Riverdale, and in the other is a would-be police officer.

The reason for this merger is that both stories necessarily end the same way, with Archie sacrificing his life to save a friend. The final issue follows this now-singular story line, with a "one year later" coda to see how an Archie-less Riverdale gang fares.

And it's terrific. A refresher course in "Life with Archie" is easy, because the publisher has been collecting the magazine in trade paperback form all along. "Archie: The Married Life Book Six" ($19.99), the latest and last, recently was shipped to comic shops.

Present tense

Archie and the gang still appear every month in various titles — forever teenagers, forever in high school, forever evoking laughs in eternally unchanging Riverdale. But there's another Riverdale, where change — and its handmaiden, death — are very much in evidence.

"Afterlife with Archie" launched a few years ago, sparked by a fad: the walking dead! The first one in Riverdale was Jughead Jones, and other familiar faces have followed suit.

Why bring it up now? Because at Halloween ComicFest — an annual party where participating comic shops give away free comics — a reprint of "Afterlife with Archie" No. 1 was available. And following in the footsteps of "Life with Archie," the title is being reprinted in magazine form, with the second issue recently out ($4.99).

Past tense

But if all you want is some old-fashioned Archie laughs, that's covered, too. IDW is reprinting the 1960s "Archie" comic strips, with the second volume having arrived in June ($49.99). Written and drawn by Bob Montana, the original heart and soul of America's favorite redhead, this is the pure essence of Archie humor.