Archie’s Butthole

I was reading Archie: The Daily Newspaper Comics 1946-1948 when I ran across a panel that startled me:

© Archie

Betty Cooper: Being an usher after school must be prime!
Archie Andrews: Oh, it gets kind of butthole at times!

I find it hard to believe that:

• Bob Montana would’ve used the word in a 1940s comic strip.
• Newspaper editors wouldn’t have excised the word or rejected the strip.
• Citizens wouldn’t have written in bitching about ‘profanity.’

Even in the 21st century daily newspaper strips conservative venues where buttholes will not appear.

Did someone insert the word in the reprint? I remember how Golden Age reprints were defaced some years back.

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