Batman Finally Makes it to Riverdale in Archie Meets Batman '66 #4

For the past three issues of this miniseries, the villains of Gotham have been putting into place their scheme to take over the adults of Riverdale, a town without a caped crusader to stand in their way. While Batman tracked down the 'electronic book' stolen by Bookworm, Robin and Batgirl responded to the call for help, and are only now seeing the depth of the villain infestation in Riverdale.

As Catwoman infiltrates Riverdale High to ply her feminine wiles on high school boys (not creepy at all), Robin and Batgirl get captured, and are placed in the same mind-melting trap where the Clown Prince of Crime has been holding Jughead prisoner.

Fortunately, Batman is now on the way, and makes his entry as Bruce Wayne at the party at the Lodge mansion, where he discovers that Siren has been mentally controlling the adults of the town with her song. Protecting himself with bat-branded ear radios to filter out her frequency, he makes the acquaintance of Archie, Reggie, Betty and Veronica just in time for the big announcement that the city leadership is stepping down and introducing Catwoman, Riddler, Penguin and Joker. It should be Biff-Bam-Kapow time, but out the window is something Riverdale has never seen before: someone is shining the Bat Signal! (And yes, it looks suspiciously like Jughead's beanie, upside-down, so where it's coming from isn't that great of a mystery).

I love the concept of this crossover, but there are simply so many characters to write that it's difficult for Jeff Parker and Michael Moreci to give any of the characters any justice. Archie and the gang have been relagated to the role of, at worst, victims, and at best, observers. I'm hoping at some point soon Archie becomes a little bit more the good-hearted hero I grew up with. And maybe that will still happen. In fact, I'd be giddy if things required the presense of Pureheart the Powerful and Super Teen (although no doubt in costume only). I've hung with it this long, so I'll finish the ride, but please, let's get something happening for the Riverdale side of the story.