Archie Volume 1 Review

Title: Archie

Author: Mark Waid
Illustrators: Fiona Staples and Veronica Fish
Publisher: Archie Comics

America’s Favorite Teenager, Archie Andrews, is reborn in the pages of this must-have graphic novel collecting the first six issues of the comic book series that everyone is talking about. Meet Riverdale High teen Archie, his oddball, food-loving best friend Jughead, girl-next-door Betty and well-to-do snob Veronica Lodge as they embark on a modern reimagining of the beloved Archie world. It’s all here: the love triangle, friendship, humor, charm and lots of fun – but with a decidedly modern twist.

Brought to you by some of the masters of the comic book genre, including writer Mark Waid and the all-star lineup of artists: Fiona Staples, Annie Wu and Veronica Fish, the first volume of ARCHIE presents readers with a new take on the beloved Archie Comics concepts while retaining the best elements from the company’s 75 years of history. ARCHIE VOL. 1 collects ARCHIE #1-6 and features bonus content including scripts, sketches, variant covers and the full first issue of the all new JUGHEAD series by acclaimed writer Chip Zdarsky and artist Erica Henderson.

We follow a teen age boy through his life. This must be boring, right? Not for Archie Andrews. We open with a break-up between Archie and his long time girlfriend, Betty. Though neither of them will say more than “the lipstick incident”, nobody knows why these two broke up. And EVERYONE is trying to get them back together. They go as far as to stuff the homecoming court ballet with their names. Will they win or will their friends plan backfire? And what happens when a new girl enters the picture and stirs up everything?

I loved Archie comics when I was growing up. It was one of the things my mother and I had in common. So when I saw that they were redoing the series, I was so excited. And surprisingly, not let down. They have changed the characters quite a bit, but I think that was for the best. They gave them more of a backstory and we really got to know Archie as a character. My major selling point on this series though is the art work. I can’t stop raving about this enough! Fiona Stapes is like a goddess with graphic novels. Though, they did change out artist half way through this edition, I liked all of the art work, but I liked Fiona Staples’s Archie way more. Riverdale has definitely changed and that isn’t really a bad thing. They also dropped @s and #s for the reader to use on social media and actually feel like they are apart of the story, which I think more books should do.

There is one character changed that I didn’t like and that was Jughead. Jughead in the comics, if I remember correctly, was the best pal of Archie and kind of dim. In this one Jughead is actually quite smart and I got the feeling he was trying to sabotage the plan to get Betty and Archie back together. Though that was probably my only problem with this.

Overall, I gave it a 4/5 Stars. If you are looking to stroll down memory lane, this wouldn’t be the book for you, but if you want a re-vamped look at what Riverdale would be like today, pick this up.