Archie #703: Blondes to the Left of Me, Brunettes to the Right…

This review is my first review of an Archie Comics publication. In fact, picking up and reading from #700 through #703 is the first time I’ve read Archie Comics since I was a kid in the 80s. I’ll start off by saying– what a pleasant surprise this has been! I’ve been watching Riverdale since it began and expected something similar but that is simply not the case. Nick Spencer manages to strike a perfect balance between classic Archie fare (the romantic tensions and awkward situations coupled with light-hearted attempts at modesty and humor) and elevate them for a more mature audience without resorting to sex and darkness to propel the narrative. This comic is clean, both narratively and visually, but doesn’t read as a book targeted to children. The maturation of this series is a spectacle of modern comics story-telling.

Jarrell and Herms’ clean and vibrant art style fit the story seamlessly. Stylistically, they manage to still evoke the standard art of the Double Digests with the simplicity of design but add a modern flair, to include in the layouts department. If I had one complaint, it would be that the female faces are mostly interchangeable, but each character has a distinct style eliminating any problem of knowing who is who.