Betty or Veronica?

The walk home from school took a half-hour or so (depending on how motivated we were on any given day) giving Bobby and I plenty of time to talk about the plethora of things that tickled our curiosity. One conversation came up…in differing permutations (the names changed but the intent remained)…a bit more often than the most.

“Betty or Veronica?”

I shrugged at first, I only read Archie comics when there weren’t any more super-hero comics in the spinner rack at the drug store. “Betty, no doubt,” I said resolutely. “She’s so sweet and Veronica is a spoiled brat. Archie is a dope not to see that.”

“Well you’re right that Betty is sweet…and cute. But Ronnie has all that dough…”

“Money ain’t everything, Bob,” I said, though I had to admit that my conviction was a bit lacking. “Kato or Karate Kid?”

Bobby rolled his eyes. “That’s too easy. Dude, Kato would kick Karate Kid’s butt so fast it wouldn’t even be funny. Superman or Spider-Man?”

I chuckled. “Talk about easy, Superman.”

Bobby looked at me incredulously. “Are you nuts? Superman is a big boring boy scout who can do anything! What kind of a stupid power is ‘super-breath’ anyway??? Spidey is a kid like us!”

I shook my head. “Spider-Man is always whining. He’s got all of those powers and yet he’s always crying about this or that. It’s boring.”

“That’s what makes it real!” he said. “Marvel’s heroes all have problems and they still get the work done. That’s what makes them cool! That’s what makes them real!”

“I don’t want my super-heroes to be ‘real’, Robert,” I said patiently. “I want my super-heroes to get in there and get the job done without all of the whining. Superman and Superboy and the Flash and the Teen Titans and all of those guys are too busy stopping super-villains to worry about whining about how hard their lives are!”

Bobby sighed. “You just don’t get it, man.”

“Guess not,” I said knowing that, yet again, we weren’t going to agree on that particular point. “Lois or Lana?”

Bobby weighed his options. “Hmm, I’m gonna go with Lana…redheads are cute. Gwen or Mary Jane?”

“Mary Jane,” I said with a sly smile. “She’s cooler…and redheads are cute. Aquaman or Sub-Mariner?”

“Give me a break, Sub-Mariner…it ain’t even close. Supergirl or Wonder Girl?”

We looked at each other and smiled. We nodded and, at the same time, we both said, “Wonder Girl!” with satisfied smirks on our faces. We walked on, the subject of discussion flowing seamlessly to the relative merits of long division as we rounded the corner that led to Bobby’s house.