Afterlife with Archie is a comic series written by Roberto Aguirre-Scasa and art by Francesco Francavilla. The tale is set in an alternate reality of the Archie universe in which a zombie outbreak threatens to destroy everyone and everything in the quiet town of Riverdale. While the zombie genre is heavily overused in American pop-culture, Afterlife with Archie, Book One – Escape from Riverdale makes you forget about the over saturation of zombies and gives us a grim story that is sure to not only please Archie fans in general but bring in other people that usually wouldn’t pick up an Archie comic book.
Spoilers Ahead:
In an attempt to revive Jugghead’s recently deceased dog, Hot Dog, Sabrina the Teenage Witch uses a particular famous forbidden book to revive the lovable pooch. After it rises from it’s grave Hot Dog bites Jugghead who gets infected and slowly turns into a zombie. He shows up at Riverdale High School’s Halloween Dance and takes his first victims who in turn feed and turn others. The only hope is to escape to Veronica’s house which Archie Andrews thinks would be one of the best places to go since he’s tried to get in many times and can confirm its like a fortress. But in this tale no one is safe. Slowly some of the beloved characters get infected and come for their friends. In times like these that personal feelings and secrets come out. Who will be next to die? Who will be strong enough to survive the now dead town of Riverdale?
End Spoilers
This book came as a real surprise. When I see zombies these days I just shrug my shoulders and move on. But my friend and contributor to the site “Take That Tokyo,” highly recommended it. Being that we have similar taste I awaited the release of volume one eagerly. I’m happy to say I was not disappointed. I grew up with Archie comics like any other comic book fan. I watched the Archie cartoon on TV and always enjoyed talking about who would make the better girlfriend, Betty or Veronica. But like many I kind of grew out of Archie and moved on to other things. I did come back for the comic that asked what would happen if he married Betty/Veronica. And now I’m back for Afterlife with Archie.
The writing is by Roberto Aguirre-Scasa. Roberto is not only a comic book writer but also a playwright and screenwriter who worked on the new Carrie movie as well as Glee and Big Love. The story itself was a surprise since I don’t associate the gang of Riverdale with anything quite so grim. There is feeling of dread throughout the tale. The part I was most fascinated by was Sabrina the Teenage Witch and her family who I may not look at the same way again. I’d like to see a comic told in the style of Tales from the Crypt starring Sabrina and her aunts. Francesco Francavilla is an impressive artist. He didn’t draw the characters in the classic Archie style but it doesn’t matter. His work is great and you can still tell who is who. It gives it a more realistic feel because lets be honest, this comic drawn in the usual Archie style may not have conveyed that feeling of horror. Now I have to hunt down more of Francesco’s work because I’m officially a fan.
Sick of zombies and not a fan of Archie? Pick it up anyway. It’s a lot of fun seeing these characters out of their element. As a tale it stands well on its own. If you love Archie and are a zombie fan then you should be more than okay.
Note the trailer below has some spoilers: