Archie Comics 2020
Written by Kelly Thompson
Illustrated by Veronica & Andy Fish
Lettered by Jack Morelli
PREVIOUSLY IN THE TOWN OF GREENDALE...
Something wicked has come to Greendale—and teen witch Sabrina Spellman is set on using her magic for good to fix things. Her first project is casting a spell to stop mean girl Radka Ransom and her brother Ren from unknowingly shape-shifting into a dangerous wendigo. Sabrina’s spent so much time trying to find the perfect spell that it’s taking a toll on her personal life as well as her schoolwork, but she’s committed to keeping Ren and Radka’s secret safe. Fortunately, head witch Della has taken Sabrina under her wing—introducing her to the Witches Council and Savoir Faire, the oldest and most treasured game for witches. This inspires Sabrina and gives her the confidence to try a new approach—instead of undoing the spell on Radka and Ren, she instead traces the origin of it to see who could have cast such an awful spell. Unfortunately, Sabrina learns a harsh truth: the spell appears to have been cast by her very own aunts, Hilda and Zelda!
For me what Kelly is doing with the story here feels like a blend of the classic Sabrina blended with the Netflix show so in essence creating a new vein for us to explore. This creative team has undying love and support for whatever project they are working on. This book is so creative and so original and totally familiar yet foreign at the same time that it's kind of like a drug, once you start it you just can't enough of it. This for me is what the evolution of Archie should look like and with my critical eye, and yes I know it can be too critical at times, if I am going to rave this much about it I can't wait to hear what you think about it.
I love the way that this is being told and how we see the book being structured. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold and how the reader learns information is impeccably presented. Also I love that while we read the story we become engaged in ways that makes the mind wander and think of other elements within the Sabrina universe. This kind of interactive experience and how immersive it can become is a definite highlight of the book. The character development we see is utterly marvellous. Sabrina is a teenager and a witch so she has growing pains and problems the rest of us could never truly comprehend. Although she is so relatable to nearly everyone regardless and even more so to the LGBT community. Still the way she faces the circumstances and situations that are thrown at her help keep shaping the woman she'll become. The pacing is great and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists and turns along the way and how it works with everything else to create the books ebb & flow is magnificent.
The interior artwork that we see is phenomenally rendered. The linework is nice and strong and while sometimes the detail can be lost it never once loses it's power to emote or evoke feelings from the reader. Plus seeing the backgrounds such as in the kitchen or the secret witches council chamber and the cards they were utilising it all enhances and adds to the mystique and normality to what we see. Also that we see the backgrounds are utilised within the panels being essential to the how we see the depth perception, sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope of the story is coruscating. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show this masterful eye for storytelling. The colour work is divine. The way we see the choices utilised and how the various hues and tones within the colours create the shading, highlights and shadow work is very kaleidoscopic.
This book makes me want to see this either extend into a monthly or a regular series of arcs. Writing and artwork of this high a calibre is something the world needs to see more of on a consistent basis.