Jughead Jones

Bob Montana stated that Jughead was a character he imagined, unlike other characters in the series who were based on people he knew.[2] Montana's widow, Peg Bertholet, stated that high school friend of Montana's named Skinny Linehan supposedly had some of Jughead's peculiar traits.[2] Bertholet has stated that the "S" insignia refers to a location called Skunk Hill in Haverhill, Massachusetts which Montana turned into Squirrel Hill.[3] The "S" alludes to a combination of the location and Montana's elementary school athletic team near Haverhill called the Tigers.[3] Bertholet has stated that "S" stands for "'Squirrel Hill Independent Tigers,' and you couldn't abbreviate it any other way."[3]

Jughead generally has a characteristic wry and sarcastic sense of humor. He is considered a bit of an oddity, but prefers his nonconformism as opposed to going along with others' styles. His many quirks make him the butt of teasing and abuse from Reggie, Veronica, and even other classmates and teachers. Many episodes involve Reggie and Jughead trying to outdo one another with pranks and bets, and Jughead almost always comes out the victor. He is revealed to be extremely clever and creative when necessary and he often takes advantage of Reggie's and his other tormentors' weaknesses (and has fun all the while).

In the earlier comics, a running gag involved various characters trying to discover Jughead's real name, while Jughead thwarted their efforts. In one story, Archie Andrews and Reggie Mantle go to the school office, where a woman tells them that Jughead's real first name is Steve. After Archie and Reggie leave the office, the audience learns that the woman is actually Jughead's aunt who has just lied as a favor to Jughead to help keep his real first name (Forsythe) hidden. In another story (issue #1 of "The Jughead Jones Comics Digest," June 1977) we find out he is named after his ancestor who is an American hero. For a brief time, Jughead started to use his given name in honor of his ancestor. After learning that this ancestor was married nine times, Jughead reverted to his nickname. In the Little Archie series, his real name is revealed by Miss Grundy at the start of class. He also believes his name attracts girls as in a strip, his name was mentioned and it made the girls crazed for him.

Another mystery that follows Jughead's character is the meaning of the "S" on his sweatshirt. This remains a mystery to this day, although many stories have hinted at a meaning. In Jughead #30 (1992), when his psychiatrist, Sara, asked him "why an 'S'?" he replied "I dunno! My third cousin was called skinny..." The triangular banner on the cover of issue 140 of Archie & Friends shows that the "S" stands for Silby, as in Silby High School, which he attended for a few months as a freshman. At one time after his sweater was filled with holes due to what he thought was a moth when it was actually a chemical accident caused in lab class, he reveals that he simply likes the letter S and finds it "compatible," because the letter can stand for "soup, sandwich, steak and all kinds of goodies!" after his friends ask him. Betty rolls her eyes at the explanation and adds, "S stands for "sorry I asked"!" Another theory is that, as he is a non-conformist, he wears an "S" as opposed to his classmates who wear sweaters adorned with an "R" which stands for Riverdale.

Jughead is known for his disinterests in romantic relationships with anyone. Jughead's philosophy on romantic relationships, gained from observing Archie's romantic entanglements, is that dating complicates a guy's life and deprives him of cash that could be used to buy burgers. This often attracts girls rather than repels them. His most ardent admirer is Ethel Muggs, an awkward but very friendly girl who chases after Jughead at every opportunity, despite Jughead's constant and blunt refusals. Later story-lines showed a decrease in her obsession with him, and even show her dating other guys, surprisingly making Jughead jealous. Jughead secretly enjoys the attention, although he claims he puts up with Ethel's company only if she cooks for him. He has shown romantic interest in her on rare occasions, and eventually fell in love with her in the Life With Archie: The Married Life series where the "Archie Marries Veronica" stories ended with Jughead and Ethel's wedding.

In 2016, Jughead's orientation was confirmed to be asexual[17] in the stories of Chip Zdarsky (and later Ryan North and Mark Waid) for the Jughead comics as part of the New Riverdale line.[18] Zdarsky said of his run on the book that "the next writer could make him discover girls or boys or both and that's totally fine. There have been iterations of Jughead over the decades where he HAS been interested in girls, so there's room to play around if someone was inclined. For me though, I like an asexual Jughead."[19] He later tweeted that he viewed Jughead as "ace and probably demi-romantic, but for the purposes of his teen years, aro."[20] Both Riverdale fans in the asexual community[21] and Cole Sprouse,[22] who portrays Jughead in The CW's Riverdale, have complained of asexual erasure in mainstream television and expressed desire to see the character's asexuality explored. However, Sprouse later noted that the Jughead Zdarsky created is the only asexual version so far. At the same time, he said that Jughead is aromantic in the classic Archie stories, "a different thing [from asexuality] but deserves attention as well."[23]

A group of girls formed the UGAJ (United Girls Against Jughead) in an effort to get him interested in romance,[24] using methods such as computers[25] or food,[26] though ultimately failing.

For his first forty years or so, Jughead often claimed girls were despicable, and even as late as the 1990s. A shift in societal attitudes has caused later writers and fans to try different ways of explaining this, such as past heartbreak from childhood romance, bad impressions from Veronica and Ethel, and in the 2015 reboot, asexuality. There has never been one consistent canon explanation for Jughead's avoidance of girls and dating.[27] In one story, Jughead declares, "I don't hate girls—I just love food more!"[28] In the story "Phood Phobia", Archie and Dilton Doiley discover a hidden layer to this: it turns out that Jughead is actually nervous around girls, and he turns to food for comfort. When confronted with this, Jughead is stunned; finding out that girls are the reason he enjoys food so much makes him lose his appetite. In another story, when Jughead saw that Miss Grundy was upset on her birthday, he rallied the other students to cheer her up.

In "A Lass From The Past", written by Nate Butler and first appearing in Jughead #5 (April 1988), Jughead explains the reason he does not chase after girls is because of a childhood heartbreak, sustained before he moved to Riverdale. Little Jughead befriended Joani and they had a puppy love relationship. Jughead's family moved to Riverdale and he had to leave Joani behind. Determined to not endure heartbreak again, he swore off girls, keeping little Joani's picture in his wallet as a reminder. That changed when Debbie moved to town (in "Jughead's Journal," written by Rod Ollerenshaw and also first appearing in Jughead #5), and Jughead began to overcome his old heartbreak as they started dating. However, Joani suddenly visits town. Now a young woman, she tells Jughead that she never forgot him and still has a crush on him, and they share their first kiss. Before Jughead decides whether he wants to pursue a relationship with Joani, she leaves him, but with a promise that they will be together again. The comic even had Jughead say, "Sometimes, life is just more interesting than burgers and shakes."[29] For a while, Debbie and Joani formed Jughead's own love triangle, but fans did not like it, so both girls disappeared and Jughead reverted to his classic independent lifestyle. A few years later, a girl named Trula Twyst appeared. She tends to drive Jughead crazy with her ability to predict his next moves, and they developed a love-hate relationship.

Another thread that has run through stories involves a psychic experience he is supposed to have had, caused by an odd pin he wears on his hat. In the early 1990s, Jughead had three girlfriends: Debbie, Joani, and January McAndrews. The latter is Archie's descendant in the future, who starred with Jughead in Jughead's Time Police, a short-lived spinoff comic about their adventures traveling through time.

Jughead was the drummer for The Archies. In one four-part story, which included many flashbacks of Jughead's life, Archie had commented that the reason he'd chosen the position of drummer was that he was too introverted to play at the front of the stage. Another reason was that he could put food in his drums to eat while he played.

He has also professed a love for jazz music, once detailed in an issue of Jughead Magazine where he develops an obsession with an obscure jazz drummer named "Crazy" Willie Jim. After collecting his records, Jughead finally met Jim, who was now very old, ailing and reclusive, playing on a street corner. Jughead convinced Jim that he was trustworthy and they became fast friends. Jim even played with The Archies at one of their gigs. Jim died very soon after, so Jughead sat in with Jim's friends on the corner to play one last, mournful version of "St. James Infirmary Blues".

In spite of his reputation as slow and lazy, Jughead is frequently shown to be extremely intelligent, and often surprises his skeptical friends (notably Reggie Mantle and Veronica Lodge) with his vast knowledge on a wide variety of subjects, including history, Shakespeare, sports, and science. In several issues, Jughead has demonstrated that his IQ is well above average. He is an extremely good student, which exasperates his teachers when he sometimes pays them no attention.

His intelligence varies from story to story. In many cases, he has trouble keeping decent grades, but was once given an award for being the best student in the school. Once, in Little Archie, it was revealed that as a student, Jughead was second only to Dilton Doiley. His intelligence is displayed by his sharp wit, the occasional deep insight, and the odd chance he gets to upstage or outsmart Reggie Mantle. In one issue, Mr. Weatherbee tries to cut down on Jughead's food consumption, only to realize that Jughead's brain stops functioning without massive amounts of food. Professor Flutesnoot implies that Jughead's brain burns all the calories, which keeps him thin.

Jughead is also a talented artist, and refers to his works as his "Dipsy Doodles", which feature in one-page comic strips. Often, what he paints comes to life or becomes a real, three-dimensional object. Another recurring gag, featured in the 1960s, was "Professor Jughead", where he would wear a gown and mortarboard and lecture to his fellow teenagers about subjects he considered relevant. However, the content of the lesson was often nonsensical and useless in real life. Professor Jughead's Loony Laws was a strip in which he presented various dumb laws.[30] One strip explores the fact that Jughead is seldom drawn with his eyes open by noting that Jughead has the unusual ability to "see" with his eyes completely shut, and not see with them open.

In his spare time, he enjoys playing video games, reading comic books, and skateboarding. It was also noted in one issue that he has an interest in Japanese anime and manga as well, with titles such as Sailor Lunar, Dragon Tall 33, Tech Robo, and Tragic Knight Sayearth. In the late 1980s, Jughead became obsessed with the skateboarding subculture, and his interests and taste in fashion were revamped to fit this. A number of short-lived characters were added to the Jughead comics, including his paraplegic African-American crush Anita; blind rival for Ethel's affections Jeff and his guide dog Spike; and heavy metal band The Potholes. However, this makeover only lasted for a few years.

Jughead rarely takes an interest in sports, but has a few unexpected athletic talents. These are often side effects of his other activities. For example, he is a very fast runner due to his constant evasion of Ethel and his determination to be at the front of the lunchline every day. Coach Kleats often tries to recruit him for various school teams, usually without longterm success. Over the years, he has been seen as a basketball player, baseball pitcher, martial artist, swimmer, dancer and gymnast.

Many stories revolve around other characters making comments about Jughead's appetite. One story has Dilton Doiley making calculations to scientifically prove that it's impossible for Jughead to eat the way that he does, and even convinces Pop Tate to cook everything Jughead ate earlier to prove it. When the entire gang isn't paying attention, Jughead ate all the food and ended the story by saying that if they didn't believe it they could make the food and he'd eat it again. Another story has Jughead going against a guy from another group in an eating contest. The rival gang sends a girl to feed Jughead to fill him up the night before in an effort to cheat but he manages to win anyway. In still another, Archie expresses concern over Jughead's eating and lack of exercise, which prompts Reggie to show off lifting a single crate of Pop's bottles over his head. Jughead helps Pop by effortlessly lifting three crates at once and carrying them to the back room, stunning Archie and Reggie. Unnerving them even more, he rips out a stool that Pop said he could take for a souvenir (he was replacing his counter stools later that day) with one hand again with no effort. In that story, he says he eats to get strong, cracking up Archie and Reggie, but they change their mind when they see he's very strong, and even take up eating in an effort to get strong, with no success.

Often, when Jughead attempts to join a team, he ends up with an undesirable menial task, such as water-boy or equipment manager. However, he often takes part in less strenuous school activities, such as the school newspaper, the Blue and Gold. His reputation as a food critic and his unbiased views of the school teams make him a valuable member of the staff. In some stories, Jughead has been shown to have supernatural abilities that are never seen again. These include controlling weather, giving the evil-eye, learning the skills presented in any book he reads, and predicting the future.

In the "Super Teens" stories (where several of the main Archie characters are secretly superheroes), Jughead could become Captain Hero, gaining a caped costume and more muscular physique (varying from story to story), but retaining his crown-shaped cap. Captain Hero appeared when Jughead recites the magic incantation (similar to Green Lantern's oath):

Teeny weeny magic beanie pointing towards the sky; give me muscle, power, vigor - form a super guy!

Captain Hero often seemed to possess just the right powers for the problem at hand. These were never completely defined, but he maintained certain "stock" superhuman powers, such as flight, enhanced strength and resistance to injury. Early on, Captain Hero was often the most serious and competent of the Super Teens, and the others would defer to his leadership, in contrast to Jughead's perceived status as Archie's sidekick and a generally lazy individual.

Jughead and Hot Dog

Hot Dog is a long-haired mutt who resembles a white Old English Sheepdog. He belongs to Jughead, although when he first appeared in Pep Comics #224 (December 1968), he belonged to Archie. Hot Dog switched owners frequently in his early appearances, but was eventually given a permanent home with Jughead.

Hot Dog usually thinks like a human, in that his thoughts are presented in thought bubbles. He is lazy, constantly hungry, and, much like Jughead, has a dislike for Reggie Mantle.

Hot Dog is usually considered a member of Archie's Gang. He tends to be attracted to Veronica Lodge’s pedigreed dogs, and even had a litter of puppies with one of them, a poodle named Lucretia, much to Veronica's chagrin. In the 1970s series Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Hot Dog has a sidekick, Chili Dog, who is smaller and red-haired. A running gag is the two dogs' "battles" with Sabrina's cat Salem Saberhagen. In the alternate universe limited series Jughead's Pal, Hot Dog, when Jughead's family objects to Hot Dog living indoors because he is covered in dirt, Dilton Doiley builds Hot Dog a doghouse full of whimsical inventions. Hot Dog's sidekick in that short-lived series is a chihuahua named Pablito.[31]

• Official website
• Archie's Pal, Jughead at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on April 4, 2012.