The Archies #2
Script: Alex Segura and Matt Rosenberg
Art: Joe Eisma, Matt Herms, Jack Morelli
Cover: Greg Smallwood
Variant Cover: Fiona Staples
On Sale Date: 11/8
32-page, full color comic
$3.99 U.S.
NEW ONGOING SERIES! The Archies hit the road—but tour isn’t all it’s cracked up to be! Can they still make some great music? Or will they go broke and make a U-turn for home?
The Archies #1 is an earnest as heck comic from writers Matthew Rosenberg and Alex Segura, artist Joe Eisma, and colorist Matt Herms that tells the story of the early days of The Archies. The band lineup is Archie on lead guitar and vocals, Jughead on drums, Reggie on bass, Betty on tambourine and backup vocals, and Veronica on keyboard, and they play open mic gigs to crowds in the single digits. However, the Archies (Especially Archie himself) have a lot of heart and passion for playing music together, and their fortunes could be on the rise in the future even though
Joe Eisma is the perfect artist for The Archies ongoing series because he understands the pulsating energy of playing a gig with a band, and the concert scenes are easily the highlight of the book. He can do humor too cutting away to reaction shots of Jughead or Archie when things get serious and also draws clothes that actual human young people wear. Matt Herms pumps up the colors for the concert scenes with cool Photoshop lighting effects and some fantastic purples in the Archies’ gig that opens up the issue before retreating lower in the mix for the post-gig hangout at Pop’s.
It’s the comedown after a huge shot of musical adrenaline and helps capture the mood of uncertainty that Archie and the gang have about the future of their band. Are they gonna go big? Are they going to break up? Does anyone even care? Eisma makes a clear distinction between the big epic moves and gestures that the Archies do on stage versus when they’re just shooting the breeze as friends. (Or frenemies in Reggie’s case.) Archie is confident on hell shredding on his guitar or moving back to back with Betty while doing vocal harmonies, but after that, he’s back to his goofy, yet still passionate self. Eisma hits that sweet spot between the “hot Archie” of Riverdale and Fiona Staples and humorous, “nu-house style” work of Dan Parent in Your Pal Archie in his art style that fits the tone of the book.
Matthew Rosenberg and Alex Segura’s plot forThe Archies #1 is a lot of dot connecting and setup for The Archies on tour antics that will be the main story of the ongoing series. Archie does a lot of fourth wall breaking exposition, but Rosenberg, Segura, and Eisma successfully sell his passion for music throughout the book and give him a fun two man dynamic with Jughead, who is there to not take things too seriously and make dry quips about food. But he cares in his own way, and it’s nice to see Jughead and Archie actually be friends and not bogged down by pointless drama. Archie definitely takes up most of the panel time, but Rosenberg and Segura give Veronica, Betty, and Reggie hints of personality along the way like Veronica’s bored look when Archie geeks out on and on about the band.
Even if The Archies #1 feels like a particularly scrumptious appetizer to a future main course (CHVRCHES is going to be in this comic, guys.), Matthew Rosenberg, Alex Segura, Joe Eisma, and Matt Herms create an intoxicating aura of energy and passion every time the band takes the stage. There is a scene late in the issue that made me realize that Eisma is definitely the best at drawing live music in comics. They’re not superstars yet, but each member of the Archies loves what they do in their own way. I can’t wait to see what shenanigans they get into as they go on tour.
Story: Matthew Rosenberg and Alex Segura Art: Joe Eisma Colors: Matt Herms
Story: 7.5 Art: 9 Overall: 8.2 Recommendation: Buy
Archie Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
THE ARCHIES #1
Script: Alex Segura and Matt Rosenberg
Art: Joe Eisma, Matt Herms, Jack Morelli
Cover: Joe Eisma
Variant Covers: Matthew Dow Smith, Sandy Jarrell with Kelly Fitzpatrick, Thomas Pitilli
On Sale Date: 10/4
32-page, full color comic
$3.99 U.S.
What’s next for the teenage rockers The Archies? When someone makes a decision that leaves the rest of the band scrambling, can the group keep it together? It’s friendship vs. fame in this must-read #1 issue to the new, ongoing THE ARCHIES series!
The Archies #1 is an earnest as heck comic from writers Matthew Rosenberg and Alex Segura, artist Joe Eisma, and colorist Matt Herms that tells the story of the early days of The Archies. The band lineup is Archie on lead guitar and vocals, Jughead on drums, Reggie on bass, Betty on tambourine and backup vocals, and Veronica on keyboard, and they play open mic gigs to crowds in the single digits. However, the Archies (Especially Archie himself) have a lot of heart and passion for playing music together, and their fortunes could be on the rise in the future even though
Joe Eisma is the perfect artist for The Archies ongoing series because he understands the pulsating energy of playing a gig with a band, and the concert scenes are easily the highlight of the book. He can do humor too cutting away to reaction shots of Jughead or Archie when things get serious and also draws clothes that actual human young people wear. Matt Herms pumps up the colors for the concert scenes with cool Photoshop lighting effects and some fantastic purples in the Archies’ gig that opens up the issue before retreating lower in the mix for the post-gig hangout at Pop’s.
It’s the comedown after a huge shot of musical adrenaline and helps capture the mood of uncertainty that Archie and the gang have about the future of their band. Are they gonna go big? Are they going to break up? Does anyone even care? Eisma makes a clear distinction between the big epic moves and gestures that the Archies do on stage versus when they’re just shooting the breeze as friends. (Or frenemies in Reggie’s case.) Archie is confident on hell shredding on his guitar or moving back to back with Betty while doing vocal harmonies, but after that, he’s back to his goofy, yet still passionate self. Eisma hits that sweet spot between the “hot Archie” of Riverdale and Fiona Staples and humorous, “nu-house style” work of Dan Parent in Your Pal Archie in his art style that fits the tone of the book.
Matthew Rosenberg and Alex Segura’s plot forThe Archies #1 is a lot of dot connecting and setup for The Archies on tour antics that will be the main story of the ongoing series. Archie does a lot of fourth wall breaking exposition, but Rosenberg, Segura, and Eisma successfully sell his passion for music throughout the book and give him a fun two man dynamic with Jughead, who is there to not take things too seriously and make dry quips about food. But he cares in his own way, and it’s nice to see Jughead and Archie actually be friends and not bogged down by pointless drama. Archie definitely takes up most of the panel time, but Rosenberg and Segura give Veronica, Betty, and Reggie hints of personality along the way like Veronica’s bored look when Archie geeks out on and on about the band.
Even if The Archies #1 feels like a particularly scrumptious appetizer to a future main course (CHVRCHES is going to be in this comic, guys.), Matthew Rosenberg, Alex Segura, Joe Eisma, and Matt Herms create an intoxicating aura of energy and passion every time the band takes the stage. There is a scene late in the issue that made me realize that Eisma is definitely the best at drawing live music in comics. They’re not superstars yet, but each member of the Archies loves what they do in their own way. I can’t wait to see what shenanigans they get into as they go on tour.
Story: Matthew Rosenberg and Alex Segura Art: Joe Eisma Colors: Matt Herms
Story: 7.5 Art: 9 Overall: 8.2 Recommendation: Buy
Archie Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
THE ARCHIES #1
Script: Alex Segura and Matt Rosenberg
Art: Joe Eisma, Matt Herms, Jack Morelli
Cover: Joe Eisma
Variant Covers: Matthew Dow Smith, Sandy Jarrell with Kelly Fitzpatrick, Thomas Pitilli
On Sale Date: 10/4
32-page, full color comic
$3.99 U.S.
What’s next for the teenage rockers The Archies? When someone makes a decision that leaves the rest of the band scrambling, can the group keep it together? It’s friendship vs. fame in this must-read #1 issue to the new, ongoing THE ARCHIES series!
When Riverdale’s upstart rock group The Archies run into trouble during their first tour, they’ll turn to Scottish synth-pop band CHVRCHES for guidance in the new opening arc of The Archies ongoing series!
After completing their first show in May’s The Archies One-Shot, Archie, Jughead, Betty & Veronica, and Reggie hit the road together in October’s The Archies #1 and will learn first-hand that the rock star lifestyle isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Riverdale’s rockin’ teens find themselves at a critical point while on tour in November’s The Archies #2 when they come across CHVRCHES’ frontwoman Lauren Mayberry and instrumentalists Iain Cook and Martin Doherty, who look to set them on the right path.
Writers Alex Segura & Matthew Rosenberg are no strangers to mixing the real-life world of music with the colorful fantasies of Archie and the gang.
CHVRCHES will be the first real life musical act to have their comic book counterparts meet Archie and the gang in the new ongoing series beginning with a cameo appearance in The Archies #2 and a guest-star role in December’s The Archies #3.
The new series debuts in comic shops and on digital platforms just in time for New York Comic Con on October 4th, 2017 and features artwork by Joe Eisma, colorist Matt Herms, and letterer Jack Morelli.
The world of music is crossing over in the pages of your favorite comics – who do you want to see meet The Archies next?
A new rock and roll adventure with The Archies is about to begin – are you ready to sing along?
Archie meets the Ramones? Archie meets KISS? Well, Archie is about to meet a whole lot more real bands in the new ongoing series The Archies which launches this October from co-writers Alex Segura and Matt Rosenberg and artist Joe Eisma.
After successfully playing their first real show together as a band, Archie, Jughead, Betty & Veronica, and Reggie leave Riverdale as they begin their first tour across the country – and meet real-life bands along the way!
Segura & Rosenberg, the writing team behind hit one-shots Archie Meets Ramones and The Archies one-shot, are no strangers to mixing the real-life world of music with the colorful fantasies of Archie Comics.
Artist Joe Eisma, colorist Matt Herms, and letterer Jack Morelli, the art team from March’s hit one-shot, will reunite to bring all the drama and excitement of The Archies to life in the new series.
The new series debuts in comic shops and on digital platforms just in time for New York Comic Con on October 4th, 2017 and features covers by Joe Eisma, Matthew Dow Smith, Sandy Jarrell with Kelly Fitzpatrick, and Thomas Pitilli.
In the penultimate issue of Josie and the Pussycats #8, the band does Japan with the Archies in tow. Writers Marguerite Bennett and Cameron DeOrdio also bring a boatload of romantic angst to their script as Alexandra Cabot (who recently became friends with Josie again) becomes friends with benefits with the Pussycats’ manager Alan M, who broke Josie’s heart a few issues back. Audrey Mok and Kelsey Shannon’s art is glorious per usual, and they get to fly high fashionwise when the Pussycats and Archies visit the Harajuku District, which ends up to be a calculated move in former supervillain, Alex Cabot’s bid to be their new manager.
The crossover with the Archies is handled in DeOrdio and Bennett’s usually clever way as Alex slips that it was a “PR move” on Josie’s part to let a bunch of cool teens who believe the world revolves around them (Except for Jughead, duh.) open for them. This joke has another, meta, comic book industry level because companies often bring in more popular characters to save lower performing books from cancellation, which is like Deadpool’s only job. And who’s more popular at Archie Comics than Archie? The Archies are used mainly for comedy/cliffhanger setting up, but Deordio, Bennett, Mok, Shannon, and colorists Kelly Fitzpatrick and Matt Herms include a wonderful shopping montage featuring Veronica and Melody, who bond over great outfits and selfie filters.
Other than the frankly insane and Saturday morning cartoon type ending, the main conflict in Josie #8 comes from the not-so-great people that still have an influence on
the band, namely, the Cabot siblings and Alan M. Alan M and Alexandra spend most of the issue eating tasty ramen and having cringeworthy banter about their relationship status. It’s the dark mirror of the Josie/Alan M adorableness in Josie #4 so Fitzpatrick and Herms’ palette is more restrained and not so romantic. They do pour on the intense blues and pinks when Josie finds out about their tryst in an extremely emotional sequence. Josie, Valerie, and Melody are a cool right now, but they should really find a new manager who isn’t a total player or supervillain-turned-sycophant, who makes random Sean Connery references. Those kind of people are great for drama purposes though.
In Josie and the Pussycats #8, Audrey Mok and Kelsey Shannon demonstrate that they’re the perfect artists to draw high grade angst with close-up shots of Josie and Alexandra crying over their shared soft boy experience. This builds nicely from a quick shot/reverse shot sequence at the Shinto festival the bands go to where Josie almost puts together the Alexandra/Alan M shaped pieces and is cushioned in a few panels that focus on Josie, Valerie, and Melody’s flawed, yet amazing friendship. Yay, hugs!
Josie and the Pussycats #8 has comedy, sadness, and a few great Jughead one-liners plus Audrey Mok and Kelsey Shannon’s intricate attention to costuming and setting, which makes me excited for Mok taking over as the main artist on Archie. Marguerite Bennett and Cameron DeOrdio craft a solid story out of the lingering feeling Josie has for Alan M plus the drama bomb that is the Cabot siblings and then go bonkers at the end because the next issue is the last one.
Story: Marguerite Bennett and Cameron DeOrdio Art: Audrey Mok and Kelsey Shannon Colors: Kelly Fitzpatrick and Matt Herms
Story: 8.5 Art: 9.0 Overall: 8.7 Recommendation: Buy
Archie Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Decades before the Gorillaz, a cartoon band called the Archies topped the charts with “Sugar, Sugar”. Yes, you can have a number 1 single even if you’re cast member of a Saturday morning cartoon. But in The Archies #1 one-shot, writers Matthew Rosenberg and Alex Segura, artist Joe Eisma, and colorist Matt Herms modernize the late-1960s bubblegum pop sensations into an angst-ridden, high school garage band. The (Pre-Riverdale) Archie characters were known for being an idyllic reflection of Americana, but the members of the Archies don’t really like each other too much with romantic and creative drama taking place throughout the comic. But this keeps things entertaining between Eisma’s beautiful montages. They’re also pretty pop culture savvy with Veronica reminding everyone of her preference for Sleater-Kinney over the Pet Sounds Beach Boys, or Jughead reminding Archie that the Violent Femmes were a trio.
I like to describe Joe Eisma’s art style on books like Morning Glories and Archie as “attractive human chic”. Sure, Veronica, Betty, and various Riverdale residents have killer hairstyles and great senses of style, but Eisma’s lines are more frenetic, especially when the band members are arguing or playing not the greatest. Without the obvious aid of audio, he and colorist Matt Herms make the Archies seem like a pop punk band with maybe a touch of New Wave from Veronica’s keyboards. Archie is a wannabe Billy Corgan/Jack White/Matthew Bellamy frontman/guitar hero though, especially when he records the whole band’s parts. Rosenberg and Segura write him as a music virtuoso, but as a total clueless goof when it comes to interacting with other people romantically or platonically. (Except for Jughead, who he has an easy rapport with.) This goes along with the extremely earnest facial expressions that Eisma makes him wear throughout the issue.
Joe Eisma’s wavier inking sells the comedic moments like Jughead’s constant drum stick face palming, and the utter look of defeat when he sees his friends playing in a band with “lead bassist” Reggie. (I see him as more of a Chainsmokers type though as he struts around like a douchebag and lets more talented vocalists do the heavy lifting.) Even if Archie is more erudite when it comes to music, the silly slapstick that have been a part of these comics is still intact from the moment, our favorite ginger runs into a tree on the third page or so. But the music 
scenes are played a little more straight with some nice red and blacks from Herms to give the gig atmosphere and show beauty coming out of the squabbling that is most of this comic.
On a plot level, The Archies #1 is a dysfunctional, coming of age band story. It’s kind of like Empire Records if the characters made music and didn’t just sling it. Rosenberg and Segura don’t bog the story down in exposition except for some occasionally humorous fourth wall breaking from Archie. (Kind of like what he does in the main Archie book written by Mark Waid.) There is a lot of unspoken subtext to the characters’ interactions especially when two of Archie’s bandmates are his ex and current girlfriend. Yeah, it’s a marvel that this comic ends in a splash page of a concert and not some kind of mock superhero/supervillain battle. Having Jughead around helps keep Archie humble, and he both keeps time as a drummer and the peace as his chill, burger loving self.
The Archies #1 is another worthy addition to the “new Riverdale” books and will make you wish that Matthew Rosenberg, Alex Segura, Joe Eisma, and Matt Herms teamed up to show the band go on tour, bicker even more, and still make solid pop rock music. (The tambourine is the hidden ingredient to their musical success.) Also, Archie Andrews, goofball popular music savant is my second favorite incarnation of him after Archie Andrews, decapitated Predator victim… (That last sentence was written with nothing but love.)
Story: Matthew Rosenberg and Alex Segura Art: Joe Eisma Colors: Matt Herms
Story: 8.0 Art: 9.5 Overall: 8.7 Recommendation: Buy
Archie Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
THE ARCHIES ONE SHOT
Script: Alex Segura and Matt Rosenberg
Art: Joe Eisma, Matt Herms, Jack Morelli
Cover: Jaime Hernandez
Variant Covers: David Mack, Audrey Mok
Boom Comics Retailer Variant Cover: Greg Smallwood
On Sale Date: 5/24
48-page, full color comic
$4.99 U.S.
BRAND NEW ONE-SHOT SPECIAL! Follow Archie’s quest to make his songwriting dreams a reality, and see what happens when the rock ‘n’ roll dream starts affecting his relationships with his closest friends. Join co-writers Alex Segura and Matthew Rosenberg (Archie Meets Ramones) and artist Joe Eisma (Archie) for a power-pop one-shot that goes loud on the music, fun and friendship.
