#bughead hobby

During a regular hangout at the chock’lit shoppe in Thought For Food (Jughead’s Double Digest #167, 2011), Betty complained that Jughead only talks about food so she decided that what he needs is a new hobby to help him expand his interests. After leaving Pop’s, Jughead immediately visited the Riverdale hobby shop to buy a kit for model building. Of course, the scale model he built was later revealed to still be food-related (a sort of fast food town with a pizzeria and a burger joint, among other things), but it is sweet that he took Betty’s suggestion seriously. She is one of the few people in Riverdale who can actually influence the very individualistic Jughead in some way and it is very evident in the number of hobbies he has taken up over the years.

While reading a book in The Unfolding Crisis (Archie’s Pal Jughead #124, 2000), Betty suddenly asked Jughead about his opinion on origami. Jughead was unfamiliar with it, so Betty tried to explain that origami is the art of paper folding and showed him the page with a how-to guide. Jughead tried following the instructions out of curiosity, but he ended up discovering that he has a natural talent for it when he successfully folded a “pretty paper ballerina” on his first try. He became so obsessed with origami that he started folding every piece of paper he sees: Coach Clayton and Coach Kleat’s game plan, Dilton’s Blue & Gold layout, Professor Flutesnoot’s test forms, Ms. Beazley’s menus, Principal Weatherbee’s speech notes, Mr. Svenson’s paper towels, and even Reggie’s candy bar wrapper.

In Summer Fun.. and Some 'R Not (Jughead #316 1981), Jughead took Betty’s suggestions even seriously when he put his trademark laziness aside to try a bunch of summer sports. He tried everything from windsurfing and beach volleyball to diving and surf boarding. Although he proved to be quite inadequate when it comes to all those sports and he eventually resorted to what he does best (eating, of course!), Jughead still showed in this particular story how much he valued Betty’s opinion by trying out all of her ideas without any hesitations.

Another Jughead hobby that was influenced by Betty is cake decorating, which was featured in Cake Mistake (Archie’s Pal Jughead #135, 2001). In the story, Jughead became interested in the art of cake decorating after Betty told him that she taught herself how to do it by simply watching an instructional video by Marta Stewmeat. Jughead, who decided he wanted to learn how to “adorn a cake so festively” like Betty, borrowed the said video, bought a multi-nozzle pneumatic decorator, and went on to ice every random thing he lays his eyes on (much to the Riverdale townsfolk’s dismay, of course). 

Betty's influence over Jughead also made him change his mind about certain activities that he would otherwise not touch with a ten-foot pole. In The Quiet Man (PEP Comics #266, 1972), Jughead was very vocal about his dislike of miming. He even went as far as making fun of the people who perform it. A furious Betty, who flat-out accused him of having no culture, insisted that miming is an ancient art form that is very difficult to pull off. Years later, in the story Mime Your Own Business (Jughead #39, 1992), Jughead went full-on Marcel Marceau by performing a mime act at the park: he entertained passers-by while sporting the stereotypical mime outfit consisting of white facial makeup, black suspenders, and a silk opera hat. To say that Betty approved of this change is an understatement. The girl was charmed.