Talking Archie’s ‘Young Dr. Masters’ With Writer Goldie Chan

Archie’s love life alone would be enough to scare most doctors away from trying to assist Riverdale’s lovelorn teens but not Young Dr. Masters. In writer Goldie Chan‘s upcoming story for Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest, Hiram Lodge has a new dating app and he wants Young Dr. Masters’ help promoting it. With pencils by Holly G!, inks by Jim Amash, colors by Glenn Whitmore, and letters by Jack Morelli, find out more about the story in this interview with Chan below:

Rachel Bellwoar: For anyone who hasn’t been keeping up with his appearances in other digests, what should readers know about Young Dr. Masters?

Goldie Chan: Young Dr. Masters (or YDM, as I refer to him) is essentially the hot doctor who visits Riverdale and everyone goes a little over the top for him. His first appearances were in the ’60s! One of my favorite research activities to do before writing a story is a web search for old covers and stories on characters that I’m less familiar with since Archie Comics has been around for such a long time.

I really enjoy that Young Dr. Masters truly seems to have a billion different jobs – he’s a doctor, he’s a TV and film star, he rescues people from burning buildings, I think? A true Renaissance man.

Bellwoar: One thing we are told about Young Dr. Masters at the start is that’s he’s “…constantly putting himself in danger to help others…” How did that inspire your idea for “The Doctor Does Dating?”

Chan: What’s more dangerous than talking to teenagers about dating??? In all seriousness, I love making a story about Young Dr. Masters where he uplifts one of the Riverdale teens who is not always seen as the coolest – Ethel. I’m very team Ethel, and just like YDM, I don’t think she needs to change in order to be celebrated (or dated!).

Bellwoar: Young Dr. Masters’ youth is in his name, but that doesn’t mean he’s up-to-date on the latest social media. Did you always want to comment on the speed at which everything on the internet changes and moves on?

Chan: As someone who grew up in Silicon Valley around a lot of emerging tech like Google, Facebook, Instagram, you name it, I feel like social media moves at the speed of light. I think no one could have guessed a decade ago that TikTok would be such a predominant platform, or as we call it in the Archie Universe, “FlipFlop.” Even writing this comic, I had to think about trends that would still be relevant by the time the comic came out as the internet moves so fast. I hope this is a fun story that resonates with some of our younger audience for Archie Comics and who knows, maybe we’ll even get our own FlipFlops around it.

Bellwoar: How did you decide which of Riverdale’s residents you’d have Young Dr. Masters try and assist with their love life?

Chan: This was probably one of the easiest decisions I’ve had to make around storytelling in the Archie universe. First of all, I knew that Jughead would be there with his only regret being that he doesn’t eat more. And I really wanted Cheryl Blossom to show up and be her amazingly fiery self and try to throw a wrench into things. As I’m team Betty, I had to have Betty in this comic. And of course, I had to have Veronica being Veronica. I even looked up a very specific type of ultra expensive car – a McLaren worth $1.7M – that [artist Holly G!] told me later was super hard to draw because it’s a rare car and there are not many reference photos of it online. What can I say, I love some good realism.

Bellwoar: Is there anything you can tell us about the young woman who helps Young Dr. Masters film his “FlipFlops” and carry his ring light?

Chan: Fun fact, I pulled his assistant Sally from the oldest mentions of Young Dr. Masters. Even more fun fact, the amazing artist on this comic, Holly Golightly, referenced a picture of me to modernize Sally’s looks. I wanted Sally to be a super thoughtful helper who is another kind and concerned person in the room.

Bellwoar: If you had to try one of the dating apps in this story, which would you choose – Hiram Lodge’s or Cheryl Blossom’s?

Chan: Oh gosh, this one is tough because I feel like Hiram’s app, “Swipely” is really similar to a Bumble, Hinge, or Tinder and Cheryl’s app, “Flamester” would be more like a Raya app. The difference between these two kinds of apps would be the former is more for the general public, and the latter would be for influencers and celebrities. As someone who has been on both kinds of apps but is currently very happily dating someone, I would probably pick Hiram’s app but I don’t think I could resist if Cheryl personally asked me to join her app (which is how I got gently guilted into joining the Raya app).

Bellwoar: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Goldie!

Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest #325 goes on sale now from Archie Comics.