Monday, October 5, 2015

Archie #3

   The third time may be the charm, but with the third issue of the "new" Archie, the charm is all wrapped up in the teenage body of new-girl-in-town Veronica Lodge, who makes her first appearance at Riverdale High School.

   It's interesting that writer Mark Waid and artist Fiona Staples are stepping back from the classic love triangle that's been the norm in Archie's life since the '60s, and instead has Archie and Betty broken up, and now Archie only has eyes for the new girl.

   It's a situation not at all to the liking of Jughead, who's much more of a mystery here - and much more capable than you might expect (but still pretty darn funny).

   To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about all the antagonism going on in the series. One of the things I liked about the past version was that everyone, down deep, liked each other (despite occasional squabbles) - there was a nice "family of friends" atmosphere that was reminiscent of life in high school.

   The drama is amped up, but the comedy is still running strong throughout, and the "new" take on the characters is interesting. I love the art, I like the characters, and I'm intrigued to see where the story is taking us, so I'll continue to hang with the series.

   So far, the fresh start is working... for me.

Grade: B+

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3 comments:

Mr. Brooks said...

ARCHIE has been must read for me. Waid has worked his magic and once again proved that solid writing and art trumps "throw out the baby with the bathwater reboots".

Bottom line, ARCHIE has done in 3 issues what SUPERMAN has failed to do in 44...treat the characters with the respect they deserve.

Ed Francisco said...

I'm absolutely loving the new Archie series. Waid and Staples are a great combination. The whole Archie line has been in a sort of renaissance in the past few years, starting with the Life Of Archie series and the new horror line, Afterlife With Archie and Sabrina. Jughead came out this week, and that is quite good too. The Archie line is now one of the first things I read when I get my comics on Wednesday.

James said...

As a LONG time Archie fan I've been slow to embrace the new direction, but I must say it has slowly grown on me. Still not sold on the new look but I do love the classic reprints.