Archie vs. Minor Threats #2 shouldn’t work as well as it does. It’s not that crossover itself is a bad idea – after all, Archie’s had far wilder crossover events. It’s the potential clash of tones: Archie‘s an idealistic slice of teenage Americana, while Minor Threats shows the rise and fall (and rise) of a group of supervillains. Yet it’s that kind of genre clash that makes Archie vs Minor Threats #2 so much fun to read.
It also doesn’t hurt that the writing team of Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum, and Timmy Heague are clearly having an insane amount of fun writing the different crossovers. Whether it’s Archie running into Salem the Cat (and Salem pointing out that a talking magic cat is far from the weirdest thing he’s seen today), Jughead stopping into the restaurant that Shiteater from Minor Threats: Barfly works at, or the magician Top Hat encountering the support group from Minor Threats: The Alternates, there’s plenty of fun matchups scattered throughout these pages.
Oswalt, Blum and Heague also deliver a great balance of humorous and heart-wrenching moments. The former mostly belong to the Archie characters: Jughead enters an eating contest at Shiteater’s restaurant and singlehandedly wins, while Betty, having a near-death experience, tells Archie that he shouldn’t move on – and definitely not with Veronica. But those emotional moments will hit readers when they least expect it. Archie, feeling out of place in Redport, is tempted to fully tip into villainy; Playtime’s hatred of magic is revealed to be less of a business decision and more lingering trauma from her past.
Dark Horse/Archie
The chaotic crossover is brought to life courtesy of Scott Koblish, who once again manages to meld together two different worlds. The Archie characters, even though they’re clad in jumpsuits resembling Playtime’s costume, are instantly recognizable by their rounder, more innocent-looking faces. In contrast, you can see the years on the Minor Threats characters’ faces, which are drawn to be more angular and threatening. Koblish even gets to draw a few new characters; my favorite is the Dinosorcerer, who can magically summon the ghosts of dinosaurs. It’s the perfect comic book mashup of punny names and unique powers, which Minor Threats thrives on.
Hi-Fi and Nate Piekos also deserve a great amount of credit, as their color and letter work add an extra bit of characterization. I mentioned before that the Archie characters stand out due to how they’re drawn, but they also feel very brighter as well, thanks to Hi-Fi’s work. Piekos alternates between Archie and Playtime’s inner thoughts, with the former represented by plain white boxes and the latter by a harsh yellow. Reading these two’s inner thoughts shows how they’re completely different, yet also more alike than you’d think.
Archie vs. Minor Threats #2 fully leans into its crossover chaos, delivering plenty of unexpected character mashups and deeper character moments. The final page isn’t just a major surprise, but an unspoken promise that the creative team is nowhere near done with the potential this comic offers.
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