It’s been nearly five years since I retired my weekly look at Archie comics. Every once in a while I’d get the itch to start it up again, but it took Jughead’s sweater to finally reel me back in.

One of Gary’s favourite comic websites is Comic Book Legends Revealed. The latest installment caught my eye with its explanation on the real-world origin of the ‘S’ on Jughead’s sweater. The author of the piece prefaces this discovery with this statement.

“Just the other week, in this very column, I proclaimed that there has never been an explanation for the S that Jughead wears on his shirt. And as far as the comics themselves go, that is accurate.”

Jughead’s wikipedia entry also doesn’t have the answer.

Another mystery is the meaning of the “S” on his sweatshirt, which has still not been revealed to this day, though many stories have come close.

The 5-page Jughead story “Holey Error”, as drawn by Samm Schwartz, has that explanation.

As you can probably gather from the panels shown, Jughead believes a moth has made a snack of his sweater. In the end, Professor Flutesnoot chastises Jughead for failing to wear an apron in chemistry class to prevent acid from ruining his clothes. It’s not a particularly funny reveal, but it seems obvious that the entire thing was just a vehicle for solving the mystery of Jughead’s sweater, once and for all.

On a side note, I will attempt whenever possible to credit the various Archie artists of the stories I cover here. If I’m incorrect in identifying anyone, and you know the answer, please leave a comment.