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| #13: The Mad Doctor |
Welcome, one and all, to the 2014 edition of
The MonsterGrrls’ Thir13en For Halloween!
We took a year off, but as they say, we’re
back from the grave and ready to party, and this year we’re kicking off the
Ghost Wonderful Time Of The Year with a bit of total weirdness: the new comic series
Afterlife With Archie.
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| Night Of The Living JugDead |
While some may argue that the world really doesn’t need an
Archie zombie comic, or that Archie Comics is jumping on an already enormously
crowded bandwagon, there is no denying that ALWA
is giving Archie Comics a much-needed zap of creative energy. Archie has been a teenager for some 73 years
now, and while Archie has played with horror before (such as the introduction
of teen witch Sabrina Spellman, who serves as a catalyst for ALWA, and Filmation’s Saturday morning Archie spinoff Sabrina and The Groovie Goolies), ALWA is Archie’s first foray into full-blown horror. Inspired by an alternate cover for the Life With Archie magazine edition by regular
ALWA artist Francesco Francavilla,
the series has gone on to serve as both a fascinating addition to the Archie
Comics universe and a straightforward horror comic in the classic mold.
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| It begins |
ALWA begins with
the death of Jughead Jones’ beloved Hot Dog, run over by a car.
Jughead goes to Sabrina, begging her to use
her powers to save Hot Dog, but Sabrina’s aunts tell him that it is already too
late.
Determined to help her friend, Sabrina
goes against her aunts’ wishes and uses the
Necronomicon
to bring back Hot Dog, who comes back from the grave… and comes back
wrong.
Hot Dog’s reanimation sets in
motion events which spell doom for the town of Riverdale and end with most of
the main Archie characters trapped in the Lodge mansion, seeking escape from
the zombies who have spread their contagion through Riverdale.
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| The Doom That Came To Riverdale |
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| Not completely bloodless horror |
While there will be some inevitable comparisons to Image Comics’
The Walking Dead (which can now be
considered a modern classic and a template for zombie comics),
ALWA does a good job of fitting
well-known Archie characters into a zombie apocalypse setting.
Eschewing the usual hallmark Archie-cartoon
style for a realistic style with a slight E.C. comics feel,
ALWA presents a serious and
straightforward version of the Archie universe, evoking as much horror as
possible from its characters and situation.
At the same time, the series seems to have set its own limits on gore:
there is blood and graphic content, but artist Francavilla and writer Roberto
Aguirre-Sacasa seem to instinctively understand that what is
not shown and evoked in the imagination
can be just as horrific without completely going over the top.
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| Things to come |
The first four issues have sold out, but
ALWA’s initial five issues have been
collected into a handsome paperback edition that collects issues 1-5, as well
as a showcase of all alternate covers including the
Life With Archie #23 cover that began the horror.
It can be found
here. If you’re looking for some good horror
comics, or want to get started, Archie has provided both a familiar group of
characters and the beginning of an excellent horror saga.
Plus,
ALWA
has spawned a just-released sister series,
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, also headed by Sacasa. Though we in the Monster Shop are quite selective in our zombie viewing, we can say with certainty that
ALWA is shaping up to be a fun ride.
Join us tomorrow for our next installment of
The MonsterGrrls’ Thir13en For Halloween, and come see what’s on
the slab…
