AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE - HALLOWEEN COMICFEST EDITION No. 1, January 2014 |
Created in 1941
by Vic Bloom and Bob Montana, the character of Archibald Andrews is something
of an American comic book phenomenon, as attested to by his official website
receiving “forty million hits a month”; at least according to the late Chairman
of “Archie Comic Publications” Michael Silberkleit. The decision to therefore
‘kill off’ the adult red head and end “Life With Archie” in July 2014 was
condemned by some fans, upset that his demise, defending a friend from an
assassin’s bullet, was nothing more than a publicity stunt. Such an outcry
seemed particularly persuasive when it was revealed by Jon Goldwater, CEO of
“Archie Comics” that Andrews’ adventures would continue as a seventeen-year-old
once again attending Riverdale High School.
The events of “Afterlife With
Archie” however occur within a different timeline altogether, albeit the zombie
apocalypse it depicts still focuses upon the same town of Riverdale first
established within the pages of “Pep Comics” back during the Fifties. Written
by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who notably has previously adapted horror novelist
Stephen King’s “The Stand” as a thirty-one issue comic series, and noteworthy
for being the publisher’s first title to be rated ‘teens and up’, the sheer wealth
of backstories to the personalities from Archie’s world who reside within this
book could be rather bewildering for the uninitiated.
Admirers of Sabrina The
Teenage Witch, whether enthusiasts of the Nineties television series or her
more recent ‘chilling adventure’ comic book, will be all too familiar with
Hilda and Zelda, and have an appreciation of the girl’s deep feelings for her
cat Salem; thus understanding her willingness to try and resurrect a distraught
Jughead’s pet pooch. But the likes of Reggie, Midge, Moose, Mister Weatherbee,
Miss Grundy, Betty, Dilton and Veronica are probably far less accessible to
non-aficionados.
However the basic storyline is simply about an inexperienced
witch trying to help out a friend by bringing his dead dog back to life, and
getting her black magic horribly wrong. So instead of being reunited with a
lively bouncy Hot Dog, a small-town teenager is bitten and infected by a
four-legged zombified corpse. What then follows is actually a pretty standard tale
of an increasing contagion being spread from person to person by bite to bite.
The biggest thrill by Aguirre-Sacasa is undoubtedly the reader’s excitement as
to how once familiar (and beloved) ‘Archie’ characters are going to survive this
zombie plague or the anticipation as to how they’re going to gruesomely die.
But there is still an awful lot for those ‘not in the know’ to enjoy as well,
as the American playwright does a tremendous job in building up the tension as
Andrews’ best friend succumbs to the infection, potentially feasts upon his
unsuspecting parents and then stumbles into the local high school’s annual
Halloween party.
Additionally adding to this apocalyptic atmosphere is the
terrific, though singularly stylized, artwork of Francesco Francavilla. The
Eisner award-winning penciller’s technique really suits this sort of creepy and
kooky storyline. Whilst his page composition, especially at the start of the
book when Jughead races to the front door of Sabrina’s home to present her with
both his dog’s battered body and a plea for help, actually gets the heart
pounding with its sequence of short sharp pacy panels.
Interestingly this
Halloween Comicfest (reprint) edition has been produced in a black and white
format, and therefore forgoes the experience of the original magazine’s vivid
orange and blue-grey interior colouring. But in many ways this version’s grayscale
may actually be preferable and considerably adds to the comic’s overall feeling
of bleak eeriness and menace.
Story: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Art: Francesco Francavilla, and Lettering: Jack Morelli |
Simon, I bought the graphic novel featuring issues 1 to 6 of this series purely on the basis of the many great reviews of it I'd read. I never expected to ever buy a book or comic featuring these characters but my goodness, what a treat it proved to be. This is one of the best written zombie stories I have read and I am eagerly awaiting volume 2. I am so glad that you have discovered it and you clearly love it as much as I do. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bryan. I actually do most of my chatting about comics on a very friendly American FB Forum who seem to like my reviews, and constantly offer up new titles which they think I'd like. "Afterlife With Archie" was one which I kept politely declining, as he's such an American institution that I thought I'd never understand what was going on. Fortunately this cheap reprint came up and I thought I'd buy it to see what all the fuss was about. With the exception of a genuine #1, I now have the complete run, with a pre-order for #8. As you say, it is superbly written and I am a big fan of the artist too, who actually tends to draw a lot of the variant covers I enjoy too. Look out for a review of #2 soon. I take it the "Altered States: Vampirella" one-shot by "Dynamite Entertainment" didn't impress you ;-)
DeleteYou're absolutely right - the artwork complements the writing very well. All of the variant covers are shown in the graphic novel and there really is a lot of them.
DeleteYeah, Vampirella: Altered States was disappointing. I pretty much buy anything that features Vampirella and I'm really delighted she's getting so much attention this year, her 40th anniversary since her first appearance.
You'll be seeing a lot more of Francesco Francavilla, as he is also drawing the covers for a load of other mini-series I'm collecting at the moment, such as Zorro-Django and the Black Beetle (which he does the interior artwork too). My fingers are crossed for the other "Altered States" titles but I'm not hopeful...
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