Aguirre-Sacasa continues the story of the Riverdale survivors in a layered narrative. He uses Betty’s diary as a narrative frame, only she’s recreating her diary from memory, so there are multiple levels of flashback. But he starts near the present action before going back. It’s all over the place in terms of timeline, which is sort of compelling.
It’s also a way to fill out an issue with a lot of back story into the character and her emotional history, but not a lot of action in terms of the zombie apocalypse. Most of it comes in expository narration in the diary–a summary of someone else explaining the zombies to Betty.
There’s also the burgeoning romance between Betty and Archie–then Veronica finds out, right before the cliffhanger. It’s almost too intense. The flashbacks humanize the story, but only can do so much.
And Francavilla appears somewhat rushed.
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