Afterlife With Archie

   Here with a Guest Review of a different take on Archie, the eternal teenager, is our man Dave Wright:    

   In the new horror series, Afterlife With Archie, all of Riverdale's regular cast characters are there.  If you've ever read one of the Archie comics throughout the years, you'll instantly remember and recognize the old gang and settings pretty quickly.  

   Not much ever changes within the Riverdale universe, and it's been that way pretty much since its origins. They are only updated to fit more inside the current timeframe when the stories are written.  In fact they have Best of the Archie Americana trades from the '40s, '50s,'60s, and so forth if one is ever in the mood for some of the older stories.  

   In this new comic series though we get to experience a bit of that nostalgia through horror and zombie tropes, and it's an awful lot of fun. It's Halloween, and Riverdale High is having a Halloween Dance. Archie has made plans to attend with Betty, and yes, Bettie and Veronica are still rivals over the attentions of Archie.  

   As the story opens Jughead is distraught over the death of his dog. Out of despair he takes his pet to a friend, Sabrina. She was a newer character to me, but you figure out quickly she's a teenage witch.  

   She brings the dog back to life for Jughead, but in doing so breaks the laws of the witch covenant.  This sets in motion the zombie infestation in the series. Things heat up at the Halloween dance. To give away any more story or plot would be a spoiler and you'd miss out on too much fun from reading the series.

   Afterlife With Archie is a romp down memory lane for those of us that have ever read Archie comics in the past. It's also a homage to the horror genre with different characters discussing which movie horror characters are better, Freddy Krueger or Jason Voorhees and so forth.  

   The story is written well by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who also penned the story Archie Meets Glee, with some terrific artwork by Francesco Francavilla. I also have to say the coloring of the book goes a long way to create mood and atmosphere. 

Grade B+

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