In the early to mid-2010s, Archie Comics underwent a massive overhaul in how they handled the Archie mythos. In 2013, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla released Afterlife with Archie, a story that saw Archie and the gang in the setting of a zombie apocalypse. This was a massive shift for Archie, which had never had a teen+ rating on a comic or a horror book despite Archie and his friends being in numerous (and ridiculous) spin-offs of their own. Afterlife with Archie was a success and by 2015, Archie Horror became an imprint for the label in itself, releasing more horror spin-offs (some of which resulted in TV shows of their own like The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina). 2015 also saw the main title undergo its own changes, now offering a title that used linear storytelling in the “main” universe that was kickstarted by Mark Waid and Fiona Staples.
For years Archie Horror and Archie’s main title were doing quite well and resulting in stories that were actually very entertaining and engrossing. Archie‘s malleability as a series allowed the horror imprint to work wonderfully and let creatives take a unique approach to telling the stories of Archie and the gang. It was such a welcome change and for me, I’d never read Archie religiously nor looked forward to the release of an Archie comic until Waid/Staples’ Archie and the Horror line, but when the 2020 pandemic struck, it seemed as though both imprints had come to a halt. Archie Comics: Judgment Day #1 is the first time I’ve seen the print come back since and when it was announced, the opportunity to review it felt too good to pass up.
As I mentioned before, with all the Archie Horror comics, the amount of creativity that goes into telling these stories is what makes them so engrossing. Archie is such a malleable series, having been placed in all sorts of stories like TV-show crossovers, Marvel crossovers, movie crossovers, and even Archie and the gang as superheroes themselves. But the more serious tone the Horror label (and the aforementioned revamped mainline) offer allows creatives to place them in new, completely original scenarios and explore the ramifications of it. Judgment Day is no different in that respect, offering the best of the Horror imprint in a nice, return to form for a series I missed.
Judgment Day brings the best of Archie Horror by pushing the characters to their limits, making Archie ask himself how far he’s willing to go and how much is “too much” in his quest to fight demons. In rescuing Jughead, Archie must ask himself “who am I becoming?” as he quite literally looks his dark reflection in the eyes. It’s a fascinating first chapter in itself and I find myself interested to see where this story will go and where it will take our characters.
Aubrey Sitterson lays out an intriguing scenario for Archie and his internal predicament is front and center. However, unlike other Archie Horror books, Judgment Day doesn’t show us much of the other cast. Aside from Archie, only Jughead and the Blossom twins are shown and it’s hard to get a full feeling for this story and the universe of this story without, at the very least, Betty and Veronica. The best Archie Horror books like Afterlife with Archie take it a step further by showing the cast of Riverdale beyond the main characters while also giving characters like Betty, Veronica, and Jughead point of view issues of their own. The lack of cast is a disappointment in Judgment Day but it’s not one I’ll write the book off for just yet. After all, I’m sure the cast will expand and have greater roles in future issues, but the lack of them is a weak point for issue #1.
Megan Hutchison is the artist for this comic and she does an incredible job with handling the horror atmosphere and drawing the demons and monsters within it. Hutchison’s Archie is adorable, but the real main star of her art is her women. Cheryl and Madam Satan are dripping with personality and have such a mischievous glint to them it’s exactly what you’d want from the characters they are supposed to be. Her art truly shines in the set pieces, creatures, and women of this title.
Judgment Day #1 is a fun and fascinating return to a label I missed reading stories from. While it doesn’t reach the highs of some of other Archie Horror comics in their first issues, it lays an interesting groundwork that leaves me wanting more of the story. Sitterson and Hutchison have served us a good appetizer, and I’m excited to see what they are serving for the main course.
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