Archie Comics Publications 2014
Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Illustrated by Robert Hack
As we continue this look at Sabrina growing up her life is portrayed wonderfully as a human teenage girl who happens to be a witch and belongs to both worlds struggling to fit into to both. This issue opens with an interesting home school field trip where her aunts quiz her on the history of witces, a baptism, and the difference between the Salem trials and the Inquisition and we see from their point of view why.
Robert does this amazing job in bringing this to life, we start in 1962 and he sets the mood, tone and dress for something soft and beautiful but at the same time tinted with something darker as if just behind the scenes.
we move ahead to the present, five years later, and a white haired Sabrina and her boyfriend Harvey are at Baxter High School where Ms. Porter is lurking and wants to talk to Sabrina. Last issue we saw who Ms. Porter really is so seeing her here you just know she’s up to no good and well let’s face it she isn’t and what she’s planning all ties into this issues prologue. She really is a wonderful villain and it’s kind of exciting to see her in action and almost root for her to cause as much trouble as she can.
I have to admit that kids are universal and the writing of two young love birds being well sexually frustrated and waiting is portrayed nicely as Harvey really wants to move their relationship to the next level. Though let’s be honest back then high school sweethearts did tend to get married a lot more often. Still between the dialogue and the interior artwork it paints a lovely picture of this time and Sabrina’s upcoming baptism where she must decide whether to live the life of a witch or a mortal it’s all being done perfectly.
Ms. Porter’s spy the talking crow however knows what’s coming for Sabrina and that Harvey feels sexually frustrated and left out and you can see what she’s planning here with her whole ominous warning that “it would catastrophic for all parties involved” if a mortal were to lay eyes on such a ceremony. There’s just something so darn creepy about this darker look at Sabrina and her life that’s incredibly appealing and fits in with what’s happening over in Afterlife with Archie. While personally I cannot wait to get back to seeing Sabrina’s ramifications for starting off that whole zombie outbreak getting a look at her life and her decisions leading up to that are well worth the wait.
I love the conversation between the cousins here too and the dialogue alluded to his orientation coming into question when he describes Harvey well it all just does add this whole new level to her. Actually the whole story intertwined from the past to the present with her baptism and Ms. Potter’s intervention of the ceremony with the dark one, though really they worship Satan hmm okay he gives the witches their power and long life we’ll go with that, and Harvey showing up witnessing this is what you call incredibly storytelling.
The way things play out and what we’ve always known about Sabrina being twisted on it’s ears makes this the most fascinating and exciting version of the character ever depicted. I anxiously await each new issue of this series to see what is going to happen next because it really is better than we could have possibly hoped for.