Archie & Friends in Christmas Calamity

Archie & Friends in Christmas Calamity

Archie Comics 2021

Written by Bill Golliher, Dan Parent, Kathleen Webb & George Gladir

Pencilled by Bill Golliher, Dan Parent, Bill Vigoda, Stan Goldberg

& Doug Crane

Inked by Jim Amash, Mario Acquaviva, Jon D'Gostino, Hy Eisman

& Rudy Lapick

Coloured by Glenn Whitmore & Barry Grossman

Lettered by Jack Morelli, Bill Yoshida & Mario Acquaviva

Get ready to enjoy some festive fun… and some festive foul-ups in this collection of holiday hilarity and merry mix-ups featuring a BRAND NEW STORY! When all the reindeer and elves aren't feeling well on Christmas Eve, a hand-wringing Jingles relays the news to Archie and the gang… and even perpetual naughty-list dweller Reggie Mantle is convinced the gang must do what they can to save Christmas for everyone! Do Archie and his pals have what it takes to help Santa out of this jolly jam?

I love that this starts off with a new story and then we get to see classic Archie stories regarding Christmas. I also love the fact that regardless of what era these stories come from they are so completely universal and embody the Archie spirit we’ve grown to love and expect from them. I think the second story is my favourite here because it does come from such an era that’s long gone and yet still stands up today as being relevant. The fashions are so utterly classic and retro that I’d love to wear Archie’s chequered pants with that shirt, sweater vest and tie.

I adore the way that this is being told. It’s great that an anthology series like this can flow from one story to the next and flow like they were all created at the same time to flow this seamlessly. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information are presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances really capture their classic personalities so well. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing the stories it’s easy to forget that there are four separate stories here as they feel so complete. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are impeccably achieved.

With some noticeable style changes, most noticeably with the second one as it’s the oldest, the characters are timeless and never seem to age or essentially change who they are. It’s immaculately rendered throughout and it reminds me why Archie really is the premiere storyteller of all-ages stories. This is the standard that other all-age stories are set to because of just how well they are illustrated. The kids can be hip and now without being overly silly or dressed in skimpy outfits. The wholesomeness that comes with the interiors just makes me smile and warms my heart story after story. That we see backgrounds enhance and expand the moments while they also work to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is marvellous. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show such remarkably talented eyes for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create this work is phenomenally well rendered.

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As the air gets colder and the winter weather is on the horizon there’s no better time for a cup of hot chocolate and a good Archie Christmas comic! Guaranteed to make you smile, laugh or giggle and cheer up any kind of day you're having. Nothing says the holidays like the Archie gang and better yet it can be passed around the house and talked about while making holiday cookies, thanks for the idea Hot Dog!