We’ve written about the bold leaps taken by Archie and the Riverdale gang before, but there are just so times this comic book about a bunch of high school kids got really strange.

Faculty Funnies

In 1989, Archie publishers apparently thought that what their legions of kid and preteen readers really wanted was a comic book devoted to the teachers and staff at Riverdale High. Archie, Jughead, and the rest barely appear in favor of stories about the work and personal lives of Miss Grundy and Mr. Weatherbee.

Archie’s R/C Racers

Radio controlled cars were a hot toy in the late ‘80s, and Archie cashed in with this serialized comic about Archie and Reggie as captains of teams of a cross-country auto race…held entirely with tiny toy cars. There were also supernatural elements, such as a side-story about a tour guide Archie meets that gets electrocuted and gains the ability to control electronic devices—such as R/C cars—with his mind.

Archie Meets KISS

There’s an uprising of zombies in Riverdale. Weird? Sure. Even weirder: the ‘70s rock band KISS helps Archie and his band (The Archies) use rock n’ roll to destroy the monsters. (This was published in 2011, long after the heyday of KISS.)

Hot Dog

Like Jughead, his gigantic, shaggy dog Hot Dog is forever sleepy and forever hungry. And he got his own spinoff comic book in which he lived in a fully automated dog house and went on crazy adventures. In one issue, he’s abducted by a UFO and saves a planet of dogs from an army of evil alien cats called the Galacticats. (The doghouse was actually a reward from those dogs.) In another issue, Hot Dog and a Chihuahua friend turn themselves into humans and go on a double date with Betty and Veronica.