blogging by Andrew Wickliffe

Afterlife with Archie (2013) #6

Afterlife with Archie 6

It’s not hard to identify Aguirre-Sacasa’s influences for this issue, which tracks the story of Sabrina (the teenage witch) following her brief appearance earlier in the story.

The issue is Lovecraftian homage, sort of by way of The Wicker Man, which works out splendidly.

In some ways, the issue should be predictable to Lovecraft afficonados, with Aguirre-Sacasa hitting a lot of familiar notes. It’s just the presence of Sabrina–as she tries to figure out what’s going on (is naming her doctor Lovecraft just homage or is there more to it)–it distracts from the narrative beats. Even for someone who’s never read Lovecraft, just seen or read a handful of adaptations. Aguirre-Sacasa knows what he’s doing.

And Francavilla does a beautiful, beautiful job. It’s gorgeous and tragic. Aguirre-Sacasa’s script has some dream sequences and flashbacks so Francavilla gets a whole bunch to draw.

Phenomenal stuff.

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2 responses to “Afterlife with Archie (2013) #6”

  1. Matthew Hurwitz

    I felt like this issue was a bit of a misstep; Lovecraft pastiche-homages have been done to death but more than that, there’s nothing really connecting the story to Archie-land. I didn’t read the first story arc for lack of zombie comics in the world, I read it for the witty, modernized take on all the classic characters. Still great art from Francavilla though, of course.

    Reply
    1. Andrew Wickliffe

      That’s a good point. I think I went for it possibly out of less experience with Lovecraft homages (I can only think of three I’ve read or seen) and also because I liked how well Sabrina got established. There was a lack of wit, but the absurd level of tragedy worked for me.

      And, yeah, Francavilla just nails it….

      Reply

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