Afterlife with Archie is the gritty reimagining no one knew they wanted. Excellently written and hauntingly illustrated, Volume 1: Escape From Riverdale throws Archie and friends headlong into a zombie apocalypse. When Jughead’s dog is hit by a car he turns to Sabrina the Teenage Witch to raise the dead, but things don’t go as planned. Distinctive art and vivid color bring this chaotic and heartbreaking beginning of the end of the world to life. It’s also worth noting how fully the Archie universe is leveraged. Characters and locales are satisfyingly explored and on brand. Archie, Betty, and Veronica are their same old selves—and Jughead, well, Jughead loves to eat. The only bad thing about this is that there’s only 3 issues outside of this. But what we do have of Afterlife is a real treat.
