Addendum

In my previous post I neglected to explain who Midge was in the world of Archie.
Midge was the girlfriend of "Big Moose."
Moose was not especially bright and was insanely jealous and possessive, and so he was therefore likely to pulverize anyone who so much as looked at Midge.
She had no real identity of her own apart from serving as the catalyst for pretty much every Big Moose story.
Since she was on the periphery and not a part of the core group, I thought that in that regard Midge was the closest analogue to Maria.
Not a very accurate or flattering comparison, I know, but you work with what you've got.
So there you go.