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This is an archive article published on March 19, 2021

‘Life imitates art’: Archie Comics’ 1997 cartoon predicting online classes is blowing minds

Written by George Gladir, with art by Stan Goldberg, Mike Esposito, Bill Yoshida, and Barry Grossman -- this comic was about Betty and her friends in Riverdale dealing with the struggles of virtual home schooling!

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archie comics, archie comics online classes, archie comics remote learning prophecy, comics predictions from future, viral news, indian expressPeople on social media were pretty impressed with the comics' predicting skills.

Even though the past one year of the coronavirus pandemic has got people adapted to work-from-home and remote learning, it wasn’t something most people saw coming. However, it seems the creative minds at Archie Comics may have had an inkling about it over two decades ago. Now, as online classes have become the new normal, a comic strip published in their magazine in the late 90s is going viral and netizens are amazed by its uncanny prophecy.

The comic strip features a set-up of remote learning, predicting that in 2021 AD, children will have a proper school experience within the comforts of their homes. In the comic strip, Betty Coopers is seen telling her mother that she has “all of thirty seconds” before school starts, something that hit home for many in recent times, logging in just seconds before classes go live.

Apart from the CRP monitor fitted with a video camera used for attending classes at home and her parents’ futuristic attires — the comic got it pretty much bang on.

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Take a look at the cartoon originally published in February, 1997.

“Kids today are so lucky! They’re able to go to school in their own home,” Betty’s father was sketched as saying 24 years ago. Written by George Gladir, with art by Stan Goldberg, Mike Esposito, Bill Yoshida, and Barry Grossman — this comic was about Betty and her friends in Riverdale dealing with the struggles of virtual home schooling!

The second segment eerily shows Betty asking her parents to be quiet, reminding them, “video monitor must remain uncovered at all times”.

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The strip got everyone talking online, amused how it all worked out. And as netizens were interested to know how the story fared, the comics publication also released a link where all six pages are accessible for free.

“Well, we don’t have flying cars but this is oddly prophetic,” one commented on the cartoon, while others equated the artists with The Simpsons’ predicting skills and wondered if it was all a coincidence or was “time travel” involved.

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