Archie Vs. Predator II #1-5
Duna Haller
Recap
Betty, Veronica, and Predator-Archie have been left in the wreckage of their town, all their friends dead. Normally, they’d just go down Memory Lane and get home again where everything’s okay, but that’s no longer an option. It isn’t until they find an undamaged car and drive it down a different road where they can finally return to Riverdale—but their hometown feels different. And it’s made even more bizarre when they come face-to-face with a few people they’d never expect: themselves. Only different, newer versions. Little do they know, Predators on Mars are watching them—planning their next attack!
Review
This story has every thrilling detail you can expect from a horror flick placed preciously. The weight of the characters that die is heavy and shocking, even if we know this is an alternative continuity (heck, we’re even reassured of that in a fourth-wall-breaking sign). Everyone on the Riverdale family is so on point and well characterized we get to see post–apocalypse Betty and Veronica interact with pre-apocalypse Betty and Veronica and well, the four of them are just very convincingly them in every flaw, but also in everything that can make you fall in love with these characters.
Alex de Campi continues her story in this Vol II that, not only works perfectly on its own, but shows the writer perfectly using, exaggerating and subverting tropes. Like, if Veronica sacrificing herself for everyone wasn’t a hyperbole of her character, if Predators’ hungry dogs fraternizing with Jughead over food is not just Jug to the extreme, if the (almost) most desperate solution is calling the devil, I mean, Cheryl and Jason Blossom. And of course the actual most desperate one would be summoning the actual devil who is there for playing the wise genius in the bottle and saving the day in Riverdale. Plus, we’re filled in all of this narrative with the sweetest character moments, like those moment with Jughead and the pre-apocalypse Betty in space, where we learn to love them even more (and they, apocalypse impulsed, learn to do so themselves).
A definitely brilliant move is the subversion of one of the most latent tropes in Archie comics, that of the eternal gal pals story of Betty and Veronica. Heck, they both admit in this comic that this is not about Archie, or about anyone else, it’s about them (and, well, their lips almost touching). Veronica prefers blondes, and this comic makes it clear they’re one of the most perfect and most fitting couples, and all years of reassured gal paling suddenly break by their vibrant and tense storytelling. It also ultimately places them in a realistic place with each other, one that will feel comfortable to all-time fans, while at the same time acknowledging how real and tangible this romantic chemistry is. I have to say it, I’m so comfortable with this post-apocalypse Betty and Veronica that I can’t wait to see them again (and, well, actually kissing!). If and whenever that happens.
If the story is perfect and plays with these characters deliciously, Robert Hack’s art is overall perfection. The apocalypse setting is dark and bloody, while at the same time feeling subtly cartoonish, in one of the most terrifying versions of Riverdale. One that leaves room for humour, both in Archie-Predator emoji dialogues and in the overtly funny and sometimes bittersweet way the characters interact. The goth-ness of the style, the dark school scenarios over make up covered faces and the general setting, with Kelly Fitzpatrick’s marvelous colour palette rounding it, is so perfect it gets you deep into it. The only (small) defect is some of the covers are generally very minimalist and humouristic in comparison, even if they still succeed to be Riverdale apocalypse encapsulated in small doses. However, covers of #1 and #5 – that with a Predator mask presiding it – achieve the same dark horror (but fun) setting perfectly.
Final Thoughts
A delightful piece of terror flick comics, Archie canon exploration (including canon subversion) and masterfully crafted storytelling and art. Just pick it up!
Archie Vs. Predator II #1-5: The Perfect Apocalypse Story
- Writing - 10/1010/10
- Storyline - 10/1010/10
- Art - 10/1010/10
- Color - 10/1010/10
- Cover Art - 9.5/109.5/10
9.9/10
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