Wednesday Comics – May 6, 2015

You should be reading Archie. 

After a long hiatus, Afterlife with Archie #8 hits shelves today, and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #2 came out a few weeks ago. If you haven’t checked them out, do. They both fully commit to some pretty intense premises, and are dark and gorgeous. Even if zombies aren’t an immediate selling point for you (they aren’t for me), Afterlife is still worth checking out. I’m a trade-waiter on this one, but I think it’s fantastic.

But there’s more.

Now we have Archie vs. Predator, which is bloody and fantastic. It’s the most recent in a long line of weird Archie crossovers, and it’s drawn in classic Archie style. So you get a Predator who might eat your entrails or ask you to the sock hop.

Need more?!

What about that time they aged the characters, and split the timeline to compare Archie’ life if he married Betty versus if he married Veronica? And at the end of the series he DIED!

(It’s not a spoiler- it’s happening on the cover.)

And if you still need more of a reason, there’s the upcoming relaunch. All the stuff I listed above takes place in separate pop-up continuity. Through all of this, the main Archie book has stayed mostly the same. But this summer, they’re relaunching the central book for the first time. The new version is going to be written by Mark Waid with art by Fiona Staples. So now Archie is going to look like this:

If that’s not enough for you, then maybe you just need to take a moment to really investigate why you’re afraid to love.

And then go buy some Josie & the Pussycats comics. If we all commit to getting those numbers up, maybe they’ll relaunch that, too. Kate Leth wants to write it, which would be PERFECT.

Quick last-minute caveat – this week we also got a review copy of Roche Limit: Clandestiny #1(Michael Moreci, Kyle Charles, Matthew Battaglia), which comes out today. It’s a sequel to Roche Limit, taking place 75 years after the end of that volume. The comic follows a team of scientists, military personnel, and mercenaries/hired guns to the now-destroyed space colony. The issue opens after things have gone sideways for this crew, then jumps back to when they crash landed. There’s mistrust, a maybe-evil employer, and a mystery monster.

…I didn’t mean to alliterate.

(that’s a lie – it was an accident at first, but then I saw it happening and leaned into it. I’m sorry for deceiving you.)

The first issue seems to have a pretty big stage to set, so it can be a little exposition-heavy. The characters are established primarily as types. The characters are visually distinctive, though. The colors are dictated by the environment – things are murky in the ship, a little more warm and glow-y once they reach the planet. the energy anomaly at the center of everything is particularly well done. The book does lay the groundwork for a lot of potential threats and mysteries. If space marine horror is your thing, you might be keen to check it out.

We were provided a reviewer copy of Roche Limit: Clandestiny for free. No other payments/considerations/conditions were provided and our opinions are always 100% our own. We keep it so, so real.

Also, the Amazon links (up with all my Archie proselytizing) are all affiliate links.

Books I’m Picking Up This Week:

Convergence #5
Convergence: Batgirl #2
Convergence: Harley Quinn #2
Convergence: Question #2
Convergence: Speed Force #2
Nutmeg #2
Secret Wars #1
Spider-Woman #7
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #5
The Wicked + The Divine #10
Rat Queens Vol. 2
The Woods Vol. 2 
Exquisite Corpse (maybe. I didn’t actually plan ahead on this one, so I’ll be rolling the dice on it being in stock)

So…big week. And we are now officially in TWO major events at once. Yup. That’s great.

Ugh.

So many comics, y’all.