![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
[167] Who's been sleeping in my head?
So I skipped going for a run today in favour of not having to wait to read Afterlife with Archie and I regret nothing? I have... a lot of feelings about it.
First, I just have to talk about the premise. It would have been so easy (SO EASY) to just jump on the 'zombies are so hot right now' bandwagon and throw the Riverdale gang into a story with them and call it a day, just another Archie comic with an off-the-wall twist, like Archie Meets The Punisher. It could have been pretty neat and a lot of fun.
But they didn't do that.
They said FUCK IT and played it entirely straight. This is not an Archie comic with horror elements played for laughs. This is a horror comic featuring Archie characters. And I have an absurd amount of respect for the company to be willing to go there, to be so loose with a 70-year-old brand built on being as kid-friendly as possible. So that's a thing.
THEN THERE IS THE COMIC ITSELF. The art man, the fucking art. If you read comics, you probably know Francesco Francavilla for his badass stylized covers and super moody interiors (he's done a couple of issues of Hawkeye, which I know y'all are reading), and he just goes full-on EC oldschool horror comics on this with the silhouettes and the contrasting colour palettes and just AGH. It's SO PRETTY even when it's all fucked up (the page when Hilda and Zelda go all freaky right before they steal Sabrina's mouth? HOLY SHIT.)
JUST LOOK AT IT
Also, it's such an interesting take on the characters! It's not just a matter of plunking these characters into this world, because that would be jarring as hell, they're all subtly tweaked to fit in. At first, just seeing out of context panels, it all seemed a little bit OOC to me, but reading the book, it just feels right. Reggie staying up all night washing Hot Dog's blood off of his car without telling anyone? Veronica and Betty being straight-up bitches to one another? Yes, these are the things these characters would get up to if they weren't primarily tasked with being appropriate for all ages.
Also contributing to this not being as jarring and awkward as it seems like it should be in concept? These characters have been around for 70 years for a reason. They're archetypes, stock characters with which you can do pretty much anything. And what genre loves its stock characters more than horror? I mean really now, it's the perfect fit.
Also, the little horror movie shoutouts just filled me delight, between Dilton and Chuck's Freddy vs. Michael nerd-off and all the Pet Sematary references to acknowledge that they're blatantly ripping it off (Aunt Zelda busts out "Sometimes... sometimes dead is better" on the fourth page, okay?)
I have to shut up now so I can go to work. This comic is wonderful, and just in time for Halloween. You should all read it and I can't wait to see where they go with it, end of story.
First, I just have to talk about the premise. It would have been so easy (SO EASY) to just jump on the 'zombies are so hot right now' bandwagon and throw the Riverdale gang into a story with them and call it a day, just another Archie comic with an off-the-wall twist, like Archie Meets The Punisher. It could have been pretty neat and a lot of fun.
But they didn't do that.
They said FUCK IT and played it entirely straight. This is not an Archie comic with horror elements played for laughs. This is a horror comic featuring Archie characters. And I have an absurd amount of respect for the company to be willing to go there, to be so loose with a 70-year-old brand built on being as kid-friendly as possible. So that's a thing.
THEN THERE IS THE COMIC ITSELF. The art man, the fucking art. If you read comics, you probably know Francesco Francavilla for his badass stylized covers and super moody interiors (he's done a couple of issues of Hawkeye, which I know y'all are reading), and he just goes full-on EC oldschool horror comics on this with the silhouettes and the contrasting colour palettes and just AGH. It's SO PRETTY even when it's all fucked up (the page when Hilda and Zelda go all freaky right before they steal Sabrina's mouth? HOLY SHIT.)
JUST LOOK AT IT
Also, it's such an interesting take on the characters! It's not just a matter of plunking these characters into this world, because that would be jarring as hell, they're all subtly tweaked to fit in. At first, just seeing out of context panels, it all seemed a little bit OOC to me, but reading the book, it just feels right. Reggie staying up all night washing Hot Dog's blood off of his car without telling anyone? Veronica and Betty being straight-up bitches to one another? Yes, these are the things these characters would get up to if they weren't primarily tasked with being appropriate for all ages.
Also contributing to this not being as jarring and awkward as it seems like it should be in concept? These characters have been around for 70 years for a reason. They're archetypes, stock characters with which you can do pretty much anything. And what genre loves its stock characters more than horror? I mean really now, it's the perfect fit.
Also, the little horror movie shoutouts just filled me delight, between Dilton and Chuck's Freddy vs. Michael nerd-off and all the Pet Sematary references to acknowledge that they're blatantly ripping it off (Aunt Zelda busts out "Sometimes... sometimes dead is better" on the fourth page, okay?)
I have to shut up now so I can go to work. This comic is wonderful, and just in time for Halloween. You should all read it and I can't wait to see where they go with it, end of story.
"Each buries his own."
-- Sabrina Spellman, apparently???
no subject
no subject
Only three bucks at Comixology~
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject