Archie Halloween Spectacular #1

Archie Halloween Spectacular #1

Archie Comics 2021

Written by Bill Golliher, Dan Parent & George Gladir

Pencilled by Bill Galvan, Dan Parent, Jeff Shultz & Stan Goldberg

Inked by Bob Smith, Jim Amash & Al Milgrom

Coloured by Glenn Whitmore & Barry Grossman

Lettered by Jack Morelli & Jon D’Agostino

We’re kicking off this hauntingly hilarious collection of Archie tales with a BRAND NEW STORY! In “Pumpkin Problem-o,” when Archie unknowingly rebuffs a witch friend of Sabrina’s he wakes up Halloween morning with a Jack-o-lantern head complete with the cross hatching on the side! Even worse, he can’t convince anyone it’s real and not a costume! Will our pumpkin-headed friend turn back to a teen before midnight—or will he forever be stuck as an Arch-o-lantern? All that and more in this frightfully fun Halloween special!

I love Archie! This book is utterly fabulous and the fact that we lead off with a brand new tale is even better. One of things about this franchise that I adore is that regardless of when the story is created it fits right in with all the others. You’d just never know by reading this that there are so many different creators working on the issue. It really is one of the best things about the franchise, the stories are literally timeless and no matter when it's created it seems to be just as relevant today as it was when first published.

I love the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter and honestly their personalities that we see are sheer perfection. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story we’re just treated to some of the best Halloween stories around.

I’m still in awe of how each vignette is a complete tale and how they are structured and how the layers within the story manage to emerge and grow. The way all of this adds depth, dimension and complexity to the story as well as that half hour comedy wrap up feeling is perfectly achieved. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably achieved.

The interiors are flawless. I love seeing the fashions more than anything else honestly it really shows off when these were created and it just reminds you that these characters are forever young. The linework throughout is perfectly laid down and how we see the varying weights bringing out the detail within the work is amazing to see. The backgrounds really manage to enhance and expand the moments as well as work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show some remarkable eyes for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is magnificently rendered.

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Four complete stories each one focusing on Fall and Hallloween in some absolutely wonderful ways. It reminds us that these kids are friends or frenemies, Reggie is wishy washy that way and it’s utterly glorious to see. Also that we see Chuck is great as the diversity in Riverdale over the years really grew to include a lot of folks. I also love that this is a standard sized issue and feels like it’s so much longer than it appears. This level and quality of storytelling all around is why Archie remains at the forefront of why I love comics.