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A review by verkisto
Archie Vol. 5 by Mark Waid
4.0
This was the first collection of the reboot I read since watching Riverdale, which takes a lot of liberties with the Archie characters. Waid's take on the characters is much more traditional, which isn't a surprise since his notes in the first volume were that he wanted to do no harm to the characters. After Betty's accident in the last collection, though, I wondered if he had forgotten about that promise.
Waid wraps up that story arc well, concluding the events without resorting to cliches or obvious resolutions. He also avoids the "woman in a refrigerator" trope by having the accident affect Betty's own resolve, instead of having it as a reason to develop the other characters. That happens, too, but it's not the primary result of the accident. I had concerns at the end of Volume Four because it seemed like he was taking that route, but he pulled it off well.
I grew up on Archie, so I'm the target audience for this title, but I think it's doing some impressive things with the characters. Where Riverdale takes the license as a place to begin a noir story that does what it needs to with the characters, regardless of their background, Archie is staying faithful to the characters as they've been for so long. It's no surprise that I'm preferring the comic to the show (and I do like the show!).
Waid wraps up that story arc well, concluding the events without resorting to cliches or obvious resolutions. He also avoids the "woman in a refrigerator" trope by having the accident affect Betty's own resolve, instead of having it as a reason to develop the other characters. That happens, too, but it's not the primary result of the accident. I had concerns at the end of Volume Four because it seemed like he was taking that route, but he pulled it off well.
I grew up on Archie, so I'm the target audience for this title, but I think it's doing some impressive things with the characters. Where Riverdale takes the license as a place to begin a noir story that does what it needs to with the characters, regardless of their background, Archie is staying faithful to the characters as they've been for so long. It's no surprise that I'm preferring the comic to the show (and I do like the show!).