Afterlife with Archie has returned after a long hiatus, and wasted no time in reminding everyone this may be the best horror comic going right now.
For those that haven’t been reading this series (and you really need to be), the undead apocalypse was started when Jughead tried to have Sabrina resurrect Hot Dog, his beloved pet who had been hit by a car. But Hot Dog came back as something…different. And with one bite, poor Jughead became the first of Riverdale’s residents to turn. Since then a small group of friends have grouped together to try and stay alive, and their results have been mixed. Archie, Betty, Veronica, Mr. Lodge and a handful of others managed to escape Riverdale and are trying to put some distance between them and the relentless army of undead pursuing them.
This particular issue picks up some time after that escape from Riverdale, and focuses on Reggie mantle, Riverdale’s resident jerk. What we get from writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and artist Francesco Francavilla is a character study of Reggie that shows his internal struggle and his slow realization that he’s a sociopath. Reggie is then presented a choice about whether or not to embrace the role of the villain. It sets the course for the rest of this arc, and I’m equal parts excited for and dreading what I think is going to happen.
I’ve said it before, but I cannot recommend this series highly enough. Not only is Aguirre-Sacasa’s storytelling wonderful, but Fracavilla is easily one of the best artists in the business. He uses color like Dario Argento in some of his greatest films–each issue is a masterclass in color palettes.
For the scares, for the writing, for the art–get Afterlife with Archie.