When it comes to predicting the future, “The Simpsons” is eerily good at it.
But this time, it wasn’t the FOX animated sitcom that saw into the future and predicted the idea of virtual learning.
Fans recently uncovered that Archie Comics published a story about Betty and her friends attending virtual school in 2021.
After gaining buzz on social media and Reddit, the official Archie Comics page confirmed that the comic was authentic and released in 1997.
Per the post, the 6-page story was first printed in issue #46 of the “Betty” series in February 1997 and originally titled “Betty in High School 2021 A.D.”
In the story, Betty uses a computer (which looked a lot clunkier in the illustrations than our current laptops) to attend school virtually from the comfort of her bedroom.
Eventually, Betty, along with Veronica, Archie, and Jughead, pay a visit to Riverdale High School, which has been turned into a museum, to get an idea of what in-person learning used to be like.
Archie Comics notes that when the story was reprinted in 2015, the year in the title changed from “2021” to “2104” likely because the authors were slightly off about their prediction of flying cars.
“But rest assured, the original story was published in 1997 and eerily predicted elements of virtual home schooling now commonly found across the world,” the page notes.
While virtual learning was definitely foreseen for the year 2021, Archie Comics didn’t include anything about a pandemic, which is what led to remote learning in the first place.
However, not to worry because “The Simpsons” seemingly predicted the pandemic during an episode that aired in 1993.
The episode, titled “Marge in Chains,” appears to foreshadow the pandemic by featuring a fictional infectious disease called the Osaka Flu, which originated in Asia after someone coughed into packages. In later scenes, the public demands a cure for the disease and then gets attacked by killer bees (which is awfully similair to murder hornets that made their debut in 2020).
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