Afterlife With Archie #1 review

It's the Witching Hour on the Greendale/Riverdale border and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch has a visitor. It's Jughead, carrying Hot Dog. The pet has been hit by a car and Jughead hopes for magical help. But despite the healing spells of Aunts Hilda and Zelda, it's too late. Hot Dog is gone. Jughead asks if they can bring him back to life, but is told that necromancy is the most dangerous of charms. Jughead takes Hot Dog home for burial.

The sisters are practical, their niece all empathy; she knows how she'd feel were her cat, Salem, to be taken from her. Sabrina visits Jughead and does something very rash indeed ...

And that's the starting point for possibly the most unusual comic from Riverdale since Archie Meets the Punisher. This isn't Archie with a few spooky jokes and dress-up ghouls, it's a proper horror comic with moody artwork and characters going to some very dark places, figuratively and literally. By the end of the book one character has admitted to killing Hot Dog, a second has been exiled and two others are full-on zombies. Even Archie's love rivals Betty and Veronica are shaded that much darker.

Don't they realise they're dealing with Pureheart the Powerful?

And yet it all feels true to the Riverdale mythology; the story arises logically from classic character traits and situations - what's different is the treatment and how far things are pushed. Writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacas and artist Francesco Francavilla push and push and push, but they never break Archie's pals and gals; this comic feels different, but it feels true. The first page is 'just' words and colour, but it drips dread; the second masterfully builds pace and suspense with a cascade of small panels; the third, a splash, reveals Jughead's situation ... every page propels the story towards a terrible final image. The creative synergy between writer and artist is off the scale here - they even manage to give fratboys Archie and Reggie a bit more depth than usual, again, without it seeming as if they're trying to reinvent the wheel.

This series was inspired by an alternate cover Francovilla produced for Life With Archie #23 and it's evident the artist loves Archie as much as he loves horror stories. The characters are off-model only to the extent that they're that little bit more realistic, there's no mistaking who the leads are. Because he colours his art, Francovilla can ensure every panel has the moody tones that evoke what he's trying to say; I especially like that blood is represented by a dark orange that also works as Archie's distinctive hair hue.

Always hungry, that Jughead Jones

There's an authentic horror vibe throughout the issue, with script and art working together to bring moments of real intensity, ones so effective, I can't show them here - and I don't wish to spoil the surprises (but wait until you get a load of two very ticked-off relatives).

Jack Morelli's letter art is perfect. I'm not usually a fan of upper and lower case lettering in balloons but here it works, lending a tentativeness to the dialogue that suits the situations. Captions get the more usual all-upper case treatment, spot-on for assertive scene setting and narration.

The thought and care with which this comic has been put together extends to the cover stock, which is rougher, grainier than the norm, complementing the story being told. Add in interesting backmatter ('Afterthoughts with Archie' and 'Afterwords with Archie') and excellent package design from Joe Morciglio and you have a comic that looks and feels as good as it reads. And it's just $2.99, with 22 pages of story and art before the bonus material kicks in.

If future issues maintain this standard, and I expect they will, the collected Afterlife With Archie will be a classic Hallowe'en read. For now, it's a spooky serial to savour.