Jughead-Time-Police-Charm-Featured Reviews 

“Jughead’s Time Police” #1

By | June 14th, 2019
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

From a well written, fluid script to art that feels fresh and vital, “Jughead’s Time Police” #1 artfully blends a contemporary aesthetic with familiar elements we already know and love. (Warning: may contain minor spoilers.)

Cover by Derek Charm
Written by Sina Grace
Illustrated by Derek Charm
Colored by Matt Herms
Lettered by Jack Morelli

When Jughead messes up his Riverdale Annual Bake-Off pie recipe so terribly, he is disqualified and banned from all future Bake-Offs! Jug goes to unthinkable lengths to fix his error: time travel! Even Riverdale’s most erudite teenager can’t manage the delicate dance of going back in time, and poor Juggie lands himself in an epic battle to keep the time stream intact!

Whether or not we’re experiencing the “Golden Age” of Archie comics, there seems to be somewhat of a gold rush mentality currently driving the brand. At this point – especially for many newer, younger fans – it’s nearly impossible to conceive of the franchise before “The Afterlife with Archie” and the numerous spinoffs it’s spawned. The surprising story of how a single, pulp-inspired variant cover for “Life with Archie” #23 by Italian artist Francesco Francavilla essentially launched the Archie Horror imprint and provided the spark that helped to reignite a fairly lackluster lineup is a fascinating in its own right. After you’ve finished reading your daily dose of Multiversity news and reviews, you’d be wise to hit the Google and dig a little deeper. For our purposes, however, suffice it to say that the decision to release “Afterlife with Archie” #1 with a Teen+ rating was a major game changer for everyone involved.

With a stylish blend of dark humor, plenty of gratuitous gore and tongue-in-cheek pop culture tropes, Archie Comics hit paydirt and the rush was on. Soon, writers, artists and TV producers everywhere were scrambling to stake their claims. Ultimately, much like this increasingly tortured analogy, not everything panned out. Granted, there are definitely some nuggets buried within the avalanche of recent Archie team-ups, reboots, crossovers and line extensions – both in terms of single issues and entire series – but not all that glitters is gold. Some are just shiny objects. At a distance they dazzle, but upon closer inspection, they reveal themselves to be nothing but hollow clunkers.

Thankfully, by contrast, “Jughead’s Time Police” #1 is a eureka moment, deftly demonstrating how a contemporary Archie title can remain grounded in the original Riverdale mythos while simultaneously keeping things fresh, unexpected and vital. Throughout this debut issue, both Sina Grace’s script and the book’s visual aesthetic – with inks by Derek Charm,colors by Matt Herms and letters by Archie mainstay Jack Morelli – strike a lovely artistic balance between staying true to the things we know and love, while simultaneously updating the characters, relationships, settings and themes that continue to make the Archieverse so compelling and fun.

Somehow, it manages to feel equally familiar and unexpected. It looks and feels mostly the same, yet staunchly refuses to be mired in the aesthetics and arcs of the past. Rather, Grace’s witty dialogue and the clean, contemporary art style evoke a definite sense of the here a now – a contemporary, real time, highly relatable story that lives in the moment.

Visually, the pacing is brilliant, with a great mixture of page layouts and intuitive use of panel sizes. The book also happens to feature some of the best page turns you’re going to see anywhere, with outstanding reveals and transitions. The bottom right panel on page three, for example, perfectly sets up the quiet, contemplative, nearly wordless 4-panel page that follows. After Jughead is told the devastating news about his disqualification in the Riverdale Pie Contest, we see a series of subdued, almost unchanged horizontal panels that are virtually drained of color. Jughead is clearly crushed. His head and body don’t move. His eyes are closed and downcast as life slowly passes him by. It’s simple, touching, authentic and highly effective.

Elsewhere in the book, there are subtle visual jokes, like a vertical spinner rack of Archie books at the local library; a baby picture of Jughead wearing his trademark hat; and a reference to “A Beautiful Mind.”

Continued below

Colorist Matt Herms is a master who’s worked numerous “Sonic the Hedgehog” books as well as “Jughead the Hunger” and the flagship “Archie” series. Here, he is without a doubt at the top of his game. The colors are bright and bold, but never feel indulgent or arbitrary. Time travel effects are a washed-out neon blue, while Jughead is often gray and surrounded by earthy colors. There’s plenty of orange, naturally, plus lots of green and occasional reds. It’s colorful, bright and fun yet stealthily avoids looking overly cartoony.

Grace’s script is equally layered, interweaving jokes and wisecracks with more straightforward dialogue and even some rare moments of authentic emotional insight. One minute, Jughead explains his crude understanding of time travel’s inviolable rules based on the movies he’s seen, concluding they should be fine as long as, “We don’t run into ourselves or touch any butterflies.” Later, after alternate-timeline Betty says to Archie, “See you at Pop’s…. I’ll tell Veronica to wait,” Jughead interjects, “Not unless he changes outfits and beats you there,” slyly paving the way for Betty’s encounter with alternate-timeline Archie. The sparing use of quips and wry observations from Jughead’s shaggy dog Hot Dog, the book’s exceedingly droll, semi-omniscient narrator, is an equally inspired choice, adding just the right level of meta-commentary. Especially when he drily concludes, in the book’s final panel, “Okay, I’m intrigued.”

Final Verdict: 8.7 In the end, arguably, there’s not a ton of plot that goes beyond what’s mentioned in the solicit. Still, with great art and a wonderful script, “Jughead’s Time Police” #1 is an excellent introduction to the creators’ funny, fresh, insightful take on the familiar Archieverse.


John Schaidler

EMAIL | ARTICLES