Art: Michael Walsh
Review: Will Dubbeld
I would never had guessed such a thing would ever exist, but here we are.
The Afterlife With Archie comic follows the Riverdale gang as their little slice of Americana lies plagued by the zombie apocalypse. Survival horror through the lens of Archie Andrews; special guest stars Josie and the Pussycats...
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina shows us a side of the beloved teenage witch we never would've dreamed existed. Sacrifice, witch covens, devil worship, and a few lesbian overtones worthy of a Hammer Horror flick are all found within.
These two books are great, albeit disturbing on a few levels. From the Blossom twins and their (alluded to...) dark secret to the balls-to-the-wall insanity Sabrina Spellman deals with, Archie Horror gets my money every time.
Which I never though possible with Archie comics, but hey, see what some diversity can do?!!!
Naturally I preordered this Jughead one-shot, and it's a doozy.
Our sleepy little town of Riverdale is under assault by a serial killer dubbed (womp, womp) the Riverdale Ripper and nobody is safe. In fact, a beloved Archie character meets a horrible fate in the opening pages.
Well, presumably beloved. I don't know much about Archie fandom...
The following pages are a fast-paced and expertly crafted example of how a one-shot should be written. What could easily be a three of four part miniseries is concisely laid out with a series of short beats. The gang at an all-you-can-eat diner leads fluidly into an exposition about the Riverdale Ripper, and cuts to the next Ripper attack, and so on. I've read plenty of Frank Tieri's work, enjoying almost all I've read, and this stands out as one of the top 5 pieces.
As previously mentioned my Archie lore is fairly basic, so I'm sure some nuggets of canon were lost on me. Brief character appearances and mentions that probably meant everything to Archie fans certainly flew deftly over my head, but it certainly didn't detract from my enjoyment.
Jughead's insatiable hunger and the fact Reggie is a dickhead resonated, though, so all is well.
Spoiler alert (and actually it's not a spoiler; the back cover copy spells it out):
Jughead is a werewolf.
The Jones family has a heritage of lycanthropy, accounting for Jughead's classic insatiable hunger. A hunger that can only be SLAKED BY BLOOD!
If that weren't fun enough, Archie love interest Betty Cooper dips her toe in the Buffy Summers pool of asskicking and Archie Andrews doesn't steal any of the spotlight.
Fantastic work.
Tieri writes a great book and Michael Walsh follows suit on art detail. This is in no way your archetypical Archie cartoon strip. The colors are muted, lines a bit muddy, and inking thick. The look fits a moody horror comic perfectly and, to be honest, I think it fits all horror books better than a cleaner, more crisp style.
Kudos to Michael Walsh and co-colorist Dee Cunniffe.
Look, until a real crapper comes along I'm all in with this Archie Horror imprint. I love the twisted dichotomy between Archie's four-color world of sight gags and malt shoppes and the grim, visceral world of horror.
Horrible fates befalling such normally bright and optimistic characters gives me more of a gut-punch than strangers in similar situations. Shock and awe aside, the writing and art on these books are phenomenal.
I'm by no means an Archie Comics fan, I appreciate the impact it has on comicdom and I'm glad it exists, but it's not my bag. These horror books, though, can stay as long as they want. I highly recommend taking a look at any of the Archie Horror comics and eagerly await future installments.
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