Riverdale has been making waves as the best TV show this side of The Bachelor to enjoy with a group both ironically and unironically. Is this one-shot as entertaining as the show, or is it just a collection of its flaws? Check our review, but be wary of spoilers.
Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Brian E. Paterson, Britta Lundin, James Dewille, and Will Ewing
Illustrated by Elliot Fernandez, Jim Towe, Thomas Pitilli, and Alitha MartinezLearn the secrets and hidden tales from the summer before the eternal love-triangle begins in this special issue, which features four short stories focusing on the major players and events in the Riverdale series. You dare not miss this special commemorative issue in advance of the upcoming ongoing Riverdale series, written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Afterlife with Archie, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) and the writers of the CW’s Riverdale series, with stunning art by Alitha Martinez (Black Panther)!
Tie-in comics to TV shows tend to exist in a strange space, in that they can’t step over what the show has done or will do, but at the same time must tell a story themselves. To get around this, they usually tell small one-off stories that take place in between the scenes on the show it ties into. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. In the case of this one-shot, it’s more of the latter.
First off, the issue itself is conceptually flawed. We are given four separate ten-page stories, each focusing on a different character, explaining what happened to them in the months leading up to the first episode of the show. With a continuity-heavy drama like Riverdale, there isn’t much breathing room, so we end up with 40 pages of rehashing details viewers already know. I suppose there is something to be said for the fact that we finally see some small events only referenced in the show, but even so, none of them add significant enough details to make the stories worth reading. For all the faults in the show’s writing, there is a reason they started the story where they did: the stuff that happened before isn’t interesting or important.
My biggest problem with these stories is how most don’t tell a story; they tell backstory. Archie’s pages show how he felt aimless over the summer and eventually started his affair, without giving him a clear goal or reason for us to latch onto his struggles. Betty’s story shows her going off to LA and missing her friends, again without much of a reason for showing us other than the fact that it happened. Veronica’s story details her reactions to her family losing their money, with some interesting character interactions but no real meat other than to end with her in Riverdale. Jughead’s section is the only one that actually gives its character a clear goal: he wants to write a story but can’t figure out what to write about, and by the end he has his answer. It’s still not the strongest plot, especially as viewers of the show already know the answer from Jughead’s narration in every episode, but it was enough to keep me interested the whole time.
The credits say “stories by” Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and “written by” different members of the show’s writing team, one for each vignette. These writers are all clearly new to the comics medium. Some use basic techniques for their artists in a few spots, like the two successive panels which show Veronica’s car in the same position in the city versus in the suburbs, or a section in Betty’s story that similarly switch between panels of a situation in LA and that same situation in Riverdale. Overall, though, no writer/artist collaboration stands out, and while these writers don’t completely stumble at any point, they don’t make much use of the medium either.
Taken on its own, the art in each story ranges from serviceable to very good, getting better as the issue progresses. Fernandez, who illustrates Archie’s story, uses a straightforward approach for the most part, excepting the few panels where the faces look oddly rubbery. Towe, on the Betty story, uses a somewhat more curvy style with cleaner lines and thicker inks. He represents the two cities well with his backgrounds, giving a distinct look to each of LA and Riverdale. Pitilli, on Veronica, has a scratchy style that uses more thin lines. He was my favorite artist in the book, and I particularly appreciated his compositions. His art felt more like each panel was a complete environment that happened to have characters in it, whereas the first two artists in the book felt more like they were drawing backgrounds as an afterthought after drawing the characters. Finally, Martinez, on Jughead’s story, felt like the most seasoned artist, playing well with angles, panel composition, and body language to tell the story. She was likely a large part of why I enjoyed that final story the most.
In all, while the art is great at points, the writer/artist collaboration isn’t completely there for these writers who are not only new to the medium, but were also saddled with uninteresting stories. If you like the TV show and want more Archie, you’re much better off checking out the publisher’s other current titles, like “Archie,” “Jughead,” or “Afterlife with Archie.”
Final Verdict: 5.8 – Viewers of the show have already seen everything here, and while some of the art is great, it’s not enough to save the insignificant stories.
