Good grief, what a depressing issue. Aguirre-Sacasa definitely knows how to construct an effective story. He even mini-apes the dog issue of Hawkeye, only he does it here to greater success. Archie might be where he can have zombie attacks and make very adult observations about Archie Comics, but it’s also got an air of sincerity. Aguirre-Sacasa uses the Archie trappings as a tap into the readers’ nostalgia and familiarity to make the issue all the more devastating.

This issue Aguirre-Sacasa utilizes flashbacks rather well. Francavilla draws them bittersweet, like a too wise for its years comic strip. The flashbacks are pretty awesome technically and always drawn out just enough they never seem cheap in the context of the modern events.

The modern events are zombie attacks, human and not, and how to deal with them.

The creators have turned a gimmick title into great comics.

There’s something off about this issue, like Aguirre-Sacasa didn’t have a big event planned for it so he went with three smaller ones. Or two smaller ones, it’s hard to determine whether Archie’s jaunt around apocalyptic Rivertown will be a subplot or the main plot.

But the smaller events are a couple regular cast members turning into zombies and having a rather lackluster finish to their first attack and then a flashback to how the diner burned down and why.

Instead, Aguirre-Sacasa focuses on some human interactions. There’s a lot with Veronica’s dad about his feelings of concern over the teenagers in his care, there’s a little with Betty and Archie (barely enough to mention) and some more with Betty and Veronica.

Even though these characterizations are modernized, they’re famous characters with familiar relationships. They don’t need the same time as new characters.

Still, it’s a great read.

The craziest part of Afterlife with Archie isn’t the idea of “Archie with zombies” but how Aguirre-Sacasa’s writing makes me wonder if I shouldn’t be reading Archie on a regular basis. He does a fantastic job with the characters when they’re dealing with the non-zombie related scenes.

Aguirre-Sacasa tells the issue in flashback–with a couple interludes (and what’s up with the weird brother and sister from college… are they in the regular comics); Veronica is telling her father the story of the dance. The recent past tense thing works for the story, particularly because Aguirre-Sacasa gets how to insert Veronica’s panic into her recounting.

And then there’s the Francavilla artwork. He’d do an amazing regular Archie comic too; the way he toggles between horror and teen drama is wonderful.

Even just engaging with the characters as icons, there’s still a lot of tension. Afterlife’s awesome.

Afterlife with Archie is a lot better than it should be, a lot better. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa sets up the issue beautifully–or maybe he doesn’t. Maybe in Archie comics these days Sabrina the teenage witch is a lot different than I was expecting… and maybe Betty and Veronica do act like mean girls.

But even if these instances are examples of the norm, Aguirre-Sacasa still comes up with an excellent script. He pays a lot of homage to horror classics and starts out to make one of his own. The way he plots the issue–Sabrina, Jughead, Archie–he’s really thought it through how he wants the issue to read.

And the Francesco Francavilla artwork is outstanding. Afterlife both looks like the traditional Archie but also has a lot of gothic realism to it. It’s creepy; Francavilla really makes sure it’s always creepy.

It’s a very pleasant surprise.