So while not an Archie fan, I am not a hater either. I guess I can appreciate the charm and admire the Jugheadian fantasy of being able to eat a seemingly unending plate of cheeseburgers.
Recently, the fine folks at Archie Comics, after over 70 years of accumulated stories, decided to spice up the already spiced up world of Archie by killing Jughead, turning him into a zombie, and having Riverdale overrun with a cannibalistic orgy of violence.
Just another day in the Afterlife with Archie!
I bought the first trade recently and was very, very impressed.
It's not played for laughs and a lot of the comic style hijinks from the regular comics seem to come across as being a bit more sinister. But it's also not played for grossness for grossnesses sake either.
The series is written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa with art by Francesco Francavilla. Aguirre-Sacasa is a writer and producer for the TV series Glee. I don't have much to say about Glee because I have never watched Glee. That's about all I know about Glee. I can sure tell you though that his writing on Afterlife with Archie is stellar.
I think it's ballsy to take a 73 year old perpetually teenaged wacky hijinks comic character and translate it into a dark, serious, mature work that echoes old EC Comics horror stories. Ballsy is kind of Archie Comics' brand these days though, as they introduce openly gay characters and give them their own series (Archie's pal, Kevin Kellar) and advance the plot through two different series exploring Archie marrying Betty and Veronica. The latter isn't as ground-breaking as the former but it is still pretty big when most of Archie's adventures seem to involve thwarting Reggie's attempt to cheat on a high school test while eating cheeseburgers at Pop's and mooning over the same two girls.
NEITHER HERE NOR THERE!
Back to Zombie Jughead. Juggy's dog Hot Dog gets run over and he approaches Sabrina the Teenaged Witch (sadly not played by Melissa Joan Hart - the only flaw in the story I think) to Pet Semetary the furry brute back to life. Faster than you can say "Necronomicon", zombie Hot Dog is spreading the undead cannibal plague all about Riverdale and a horde led by Jughead "Zombie" Jones is surrounding the surviving Riverdellians, holed up at Veronica's Lodge Manor.
There are dark character moments, strong action beats, scary and constructive uses of the zombie tropes, and really clever plays on 70+ years of character building that pay off even for casually Archie-aware readers, such as myself.
All round I have to say this is the best zombie comic I have read. Sorry, The Walking Dead. It's also one of the best horror stories I have read in a while too.
Now, about that art...
Holy crap do I love Francesco Francavilla's work! GALLERY GO!
The above is his cover to Avengers Arena #16, featuring Cammi, a Marvel character. It's dark, retro, modern, dangerous...AWESOME!
Fantomex Max #1. It's Jim Steranko and Mike Mignola's art love child for this fantastic take on personal fave Grant Morrison's Danger: Diabolik expy Fantomex! AWESOME!
Check that out! Jason has never looked better! AWESOME!
I love how he uses red. And somehow he makes post-AvX Cyclops look like a Kirby-created classic. AWESOME!
This is just a piece Francavilla did for kicks. JUST FOR KICKS! This comic doesn't exist but I wish Steve McQueen had been Batman. AWESOME!
Here's a take he did for horror writer Joe Hill's novel N0S4A2. Which was the best horror story I have read in years. MORE AWESOME RED! Has he made some devil-deal to use the blood of angels in his art? I don't know and I don't care because it is AWESOME!
I forget what this was from. I think it was just a pin up in a What If?. AWESOME!
I love his art because it feels simultaneously modern and classic. Like I could have found this in 1922, 1952, 1982 or 2222. Timeless. These could be covers, panels, posters...they just work. The composition is so brilliant, with the lights and darks and OH MY GOD THE RED.
Yes I am gushing. But I have not found an artist I have enjoyed this much since Frank Quitely. (Aside: Laurence Fishburne looks like a living Frank Quitely drawing. Go ahead, watch an episode of NBC's awesome show Hannibal and tell me I am wrong. You cannot.)
Should it ever come to pass that someday I am a writer of illustrated fiction, I would love to work with Francesco Francavilla.
Ahem.
All that aside, I really did like Afterlife with Archie and I will definitely be following it in trades as it goes along.
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