By: Hess Sahlollbey
There's something to be said about the Archie universe and how it is infinitely malleable.
While the presumption may exist that Archie comics are only for kids, there has been a serious shift to expand its line and draw in new readers. Outside of the well-known digests at grocery store checkouts, the publisher has been expanding into new genres.
What started with Afterlife with Archie, a gory and violent horror comic-book where Archie and the gang have to deal with flesh eating zombies, has now resulted in Archie becoming an avant-garde publisher.
The latest addition to their universe of horror is Jughead: The Hunger. Written by Frank Tieri (Wolverine) with cover and interior art by local Hamiltonian Michael Walsh (Secret Avengers), this oversized tale sees the ravenous appetite of the eponymous character take a sinister turn.
It is currently available online and in print.
I had the chance to speak to Walsh at Toronto ComiCon in March, a week before the release of the book, to flip through his portfolio to see firsthand some of the original art that he had put up for sale. He explained that the while his original comic may have be a one-shot tale, the cliff-hanger ending meant that this may have not be the last we saw of Jughead and his "affliction".
While he won’t be drawing the interior art anymore for this series, Walsh will continue to draw the covers when the series returns later this year.
From the first page, Tieri evokes the classic tropes of the classic American monster movies of the 70s and 80s with a cold open featuring the death of Ms. Grundy.
It's a stark juxtaposition with what follows as the reader follows Jughead’s obliviousness to his murderous night time escapades. Given Jughead's reputation as a human bottom-less pit, the mere sight of him in every panel evokes tension and a sense of uneasiness.
Tieri also gets the rest of Riverdale’s residents into the act. Mainstays like Betty, Veronica and Reggie are all present in this story with one character in particular being elevated to an impressive new role.
With a heavy, murky use of black ink, Michael Walsh brings his own flavour to the comic by using the multi-paneled format made popular by Francesco Francavilla. His substantial use of blacks is interlaced with shadowed cartoony elements that create a dark unsettling atmosphere. While the style may be clean, one can quickly surmise on a deeper analysis that it’s a perfect marriage between the emotional weight of the plotting and the art. One standout panel in particular features a dark two page spread of Jughead as he becomes more conscious of his heightened senses. His panels and designs are evocative and moody. As creepy as it is fun, this book is very much a case of the right artist on the right project.
While the plot and the art may be working in unison, the biggest factor working against this book is the restrained nature of the format. Clocking in at about 40 pages, the plotting is efficient, but could benefit from even a small expansion. Nowhere is this more evident than when it is compared to the rest of the Archie Horror books. The short suspenseful nature of the book means that we never get the opportunity to enter into the thoughts of the characters first-hand.
The series will be returning this October two weeks after the premier of the new season of Riverdale and just in time for Halloween.
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By: Hess Sahlollbey
Four issues in and this new Archie series hasn’t simply gotten rid of the old familiar status-quo, it has ripped it apart and there’s no going back. While this fresh new direction for an iconic character may seem strange at first, reading it is one decision you won’t regret.
The last time I read an Archie comic, I was in the sixth grade. My secret Santa gave me an Archie digest, the same kind that you’d see at the checkout at grocery stores. I appreciated the sentiment but was never really an Archie fan.
Fast-forward to 2015 and suddenly the latest Archie comic is what I look forward to the most week in and week out. What started with Afterlife with Archie — a gory and violent horror comic-book where Archie and the gang have to deal with flesh eating zombies — has now resulted in Archie becoming one of the most avant-garde publishers out there. The first spin-off of this new movement was the equally chilling Sabrina the Teenage Witch with its terrifying story and unsettling artwork. This was then followed by Archie vs. Predator where Archie and friends are trapped on an island and hunted down and murdered one-by-one by an intergalactic assassin. All of these new series have become best sellers with fans piling into comic stores to get their latest fix.
With Archie, writer Mark Waid, artist Fiona Staples, colorists Andre Szymanowicz and Jen Vaughn and letterer Jack Morelli have created a truly revolutionary spin on a 70 year-old series.
This new volume of Archie begins right after an off-panel break-up between Archie and Betty, who’ve been “a couple since kindergarten,” in his words. An undisclosed “Lipstick Incident” occurred at some time before this issue leading to their split. And while we don’t know what exactly this “Lipstick Incident” entails, it has clearly left Betty so angry and devastated that she wants no part of Archie in her life anymore. This heartbreak between the two characters does not come off as corny — if anything, it makes them feel all the more real. The comic further distances itself from the old, tired status-quo by not making Veronica a main character until the third issue. When Veronica finally does join the narrative, her vulnerable side takes center stage showing readers a side of her that hasn’t been seen before.
And while this new series still retains a light-hearted and funny tone, it’s now more in tune with coming-of-age classics like John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club. This bold new characterization makes the whole Riverdale crew feel like realistic young adults in a comic-book that tilts more towards naturalistic drama like in the works of Émile Zola, Honoré de Balzac, and Gustave Flaubert instead of zany antics that fill the Archie digests. This is a new Archie for a new generation, and I can’t praise it enough.
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