This year saw the debut of Riverdale, a new live action TV iteration of Archie Comics that transposed the idyllic world of Archie and friends into a Twinpeaks-esque murder mystery. This new take on an American comic classic opened up Archie Comics to a far wider audience and the series’ run on Netflix UK has led to the franchise getting far more attention from UK audiences than in previous years. And with season two currently underway, Archie Comics have provided a perfect supplement series that is packed with untold tales from the world the Riverdale TV series occupies.
Whilst the Archie revamp that occurred in 2015 is a large part of the inspiration for Riverdale, it still for the most part had the light-hearted charm that the original comic was known for. This series however very much keeps the atmosphere of the TV incarnation with a darker edgier tone. Visually, it goes for a moodier approach (which is especially evident if you compare it to the brightly coloured reprint of issue one of the main Archie series included at the end) with a toned down colour palette and a generally more aggressive edge to the artwork. Tone wise, the team of artists working on the series do an incredible job keeping it in line with the atmosphere created in the TV series. Special credit to Joe Eisma who provides the bulk of the artwork and manages to alter the style he uses on the main Archie comic to fit with the darker tone.
Riverdale showrunner and Archie Comics’ chief creative officer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa oversees the plotting whilst the scripting is provided by several of the Riverdale writing staff. The result is a collection of stories that fit right in with the TV series and fill in gaps that you may not have noticed. Whether it be how Archie’s affair with his music teacher Ms. Grundy started, Veronica’s life in New York before her father’s criminal activities threw it into turmoil, an opportunity to look further into the rather twisted mind of Cheryl Blossom, Betty’s mystery romance in Los Angeles or just Jughead watching everything whilst being his usual snarky self, this is material that any fan of Riverdale will happily devour. And with Sacasa involved with the writing along with his team of writers, every character sounds as though they have leapt right off the screen and nothing ever feels unfaithful to what has been created for TV.
For anyone who can’t get enough of their Riverdale fix once a week, this collection will be well worth their time. With writers and artists who know the characters and the source material inside out, this is a collection well suited to the growing group of Archie fans new and old.
Riverdale Vol. 1 is published on 2 November 2017 from Archie Comics
9781682559581 – P/B – £14.99
Post by Leo
