The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 1941: Afterlife with Archie #1, December 2013

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Let's just put it out there, shall we? I'm no fan of Riverdale. I thought the first season was a touching tribute and melding of Twin Peaks and Archie Comics, two giants in the establishment of American media. I do not like the direction the show went with Jughead, though creator Roberto Aguiree-Sacasa, today's featured writer, has a history of making Juggie's story a strange one. Witness Afterlife with Archie.

Now, I should also say that I have emotions surrounding this series as Mr. Aguirre-Sacasa left us, mid-story, to go and work on the aforementioned Riverdale and it's increasingly dubious seasons. Mid-story. That's a tough one to forgive, especially given it's the success of this comic that helped him to secure the position of Chief Creative Officer at Archie Comics. It gives me the same feeling as when Neil Gaiman all but abandoned comics after Sandman. Now, it is possible that, in Gaiman's case at least, he had told the story he wanted to in comics, and good enough. Admittedly, his occasional returns to comics haven't ever quite had the same magic as The Sandman. But it's the mid-story bit that really gets me with this series.

And let me be clear: this is easily one of the best series I've ever read. It proves that the Archie characters can translate believably to any genre, as far as I'm concerned, and Mr. Aguirre-Sacasa and his artistic partner-in-crime Francesco Francavilla pull it off beautifully. There's just enough Cthulhu stuff, blended nicely, with a great premise that, despite what I said earlier about Jughead stories, is really perfect. Who else but Jughead, with an appetite to shame the gods, is better suited to be a flesh-craving zombie? It's a truly creepy and inspired piece of writing, though I have been told by people from other countries that it didn't impact them as much as it might those of us who grew up reading Archie. In a lot of ways, it's a comics readers' comic.

So where do I end up standing? Mr. Aguirre-Sacasa, who brings his talents as a playwright to these comics we love dearly,  writes great comics. He's been involved in some projects I've enjoyed, amongst them my beloved Man-Thing, but I'd really like to know how the truncated storyline, "Betty, R.I.P." turns out. Understandably.

More to follow.

Further Reading and Related Posts

If you're interested in more of Mr. Aguirre-Sacasa's work, have a look at these posts.

And if you're an Archie fan, here's all the stuff I've had to say about that venerable gentleman and his publishing empire.