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A review by maybetitanium
Archie by Nick Spencer Vol. 1 by Nick Spencer
4.0
This post-Waid run is, well, post-Waid. Archie #700 is understandably an important milestone, but Spencer, Sauvage, and Jarrell could have done more to carry over the tone and narrative from the 2015 reboot. This arc does reference some of the events of the previous 6 volumes of Archie comics, but does little to make those references matter. Spencer does well at weaving in classic Archie references, and Sauvage and Jarrell include delightful visual callbacks to Jughead: The Hunger, but it's all surface level. Instead, this new volume takes more influence from Riverdale, which is a disappointment.
From a purely narrative standpoint, the story is fine. It's driven by mystery and secrecy, which is, again, fine. I just miss the more character-driven storytelling of Waid's run.
Artistically, I wish Jarrell would try to set her own style. Right now, it feels like an imitation of Sauvage's work in the first couple of issues. It's a good look, but what made Archie 1-36 stand out to me, art-wise, was the variation of style in each new artist.
From a purely narrative standpoint, the story is fine. It's driven by mystery and secrecy, which is, again, fine. I just miss the more character-driven storytelling of Waid's run.
Artistically, I wish Jarrell would try to set her own style. Right now, it feels like an imitation of Sauvage's work in the first couple of issues. It's a good look, but what made Archie 1-36 stand out to me, art-wise, was the variation of style in each new artist.