Afterlife with Archie-Summerween Comic Review

This book review was written for my annual Summerween Book Club that takes place every June. It's written for those that have read the book so spoilers abound. You've been warned!

I know only as much about the world of Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica and Riverdale that I have gleaned from the paperback covers that faced me while I stood in the check out line at the grocery store when I was a kiddo, and occasional mentions of the TV show via pop culture chattering later on in life. I know who Archie is, that Jughead is his best friend that wears a crown for some reason* and that Betty and Veronica are always after Archie. Aaaand that's about it. When I cracked open this first volume of Afterlife with Archie it was a nice little surprise to see Sabrina the Teenage Witch lives within this same universe as well. Didn't know that either. I also don't really know much about Sabrina past the 90's TV show that used be popular on ABC that eventually switched over to the WB. What I'm trying to say is that I went into this pretty green.

The good news is that you can too. The way in which the story unfolds gives you enough context clues to put tacks into the wall and string together relationships, rivals, histories, etc. of these characters. Well, most of them. But look, I didn't pick up Afterlife with Archie to get to know Veronica better, I'm here for some zombie action and you pretty much get that right off the bat.

Everything starts off with Jughead's dog getting hit by a car. Distraught and desperate, he races over to the only people he knows that can give his dog a fighting chance, Sabrina and her witchy aunts. Only, he's too late. The dog is too far gone to save. I mean, Sabrina could do a necromancy spell and bring his dog back but...it's strictly forbidden. Of course Sabrina does it anyway causing her aunts to exhile her into limbo and causing the undead dog to come back from the dead and return to Jughead only to bite him.

Cut to the high school halloween dance. Cut to Jughead feeling sick and running a fever. Cut to sexy halloween costumed Betty and Veronica. Cut to...weird twincestuous innuendo?** Zombie Jughead eventually makes an appearance at the dance and wouldn't you know it? his costume is killer! That is until he makes his prospective date his dinner.

The rest unfolds like a typical zombie story would. People run for cover, there's some confusion as to what's going on, a few more people get infected...town's on fire. The kids from the dance all take refuge at Veronica's house, a fortified mansion full of security cameras and measures. Veronica's dad is some sort of millionaire and takes them under his wing, whether or not he actually cares is a bit muddy. While I'm not sure he's an upstanding guy, who actually wants to spend possibly the last night alive babysitting a bunch of teenagers and their drama? So, kudos to this dude. I wouldn't want to do it.

The typical zombie tropes show up: someone gets a scratch which they ignore and downplay, Archie leaves the safety of the mansion to rescue his parents, the mansion's defenses are breached, and a zombie horde has formed and are waiting just outside. Volume one ends with Archie and the gang on the move, leaving Riverdale behind as they set out with one goal in mind, survival.

Despite this being pretty much a by-the-book zombie apocalypse set in the world of Archie-actually I probably should be saying set in the world of Riverdale-I quite enjoyed this book. It's not doing anything new, but what it is doing it's doing well. There's a hint of teenage drama, but it's not overplaying its hand. Aguirre-Sacasa is taking this seriously and not veering into camp territory. I think he accomplishes this best with the opening scenes with Sabrina. When her witch aunts morph into these horrific witches that literally remove Sabrina's mouth forcing her into a vow of silence and banishing her into the Nether-Realm for a year really sets the tone from the beginning.

It's also a really great book to look at. Francesco Francavilla (The Black Beetle, Detective Comics) is a perfect artist for this series as he's known for his noirish style and horror sensibilities. There's plenty of dark and moody shadows and I love his choices of color palette and the way he employs it throughout the book. I'm particularly impressed with the page where Archie must kill his own father-now a zombie. The action of Archie swinging a bat, a shot of Archie-in tears as he has to do this, and fond memories he has of him and his father is all blended together seamlessly on a single 15 panel page.

When it comes to the Summerween Book Club, Afterlife with Archie works well to set up a zombie apocalypse story that plays into the tropes so that we can compare and contrast the club's books in upcoming weeks to see how they stray from or stick to a typical zombie narrative.

Afterlife ends with our survivors striking out on their own. This first volume is titled "Escape from Riverdale" after all and if it's done anything, it's made me want to get Volume 2 to see where these crazy kids end up. If you're a comic creator of any kind, that kind of news is music to your ears.

7/10

*I learned later it's called whoopee cap originating in the 30's and 40's.

**The Blossom twins Cheryl and Jason were brought over from the Riverdale TV show. Which makes sense because the show runner and primary writer for the television show Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is also the writer for Afterlife.

Next Week: Daybreak by Brian Ralph