It was new comic book day yesterday! What’d you all get? What’d you like? Dislike? Sound off in the comments! While you think about that, here’s some comic reviews from around the web to start the day.
CBR – Batman: The Adventures Continue Season Three #2
Comic Crusaders – Betty: The Final Girl #1
CBR – Icon vs. Hardware #1
Comic Crusaders – Torrent #1
CBR – Torrent #1
Comic Crusaders – Vampire Slayer #11
Chilling Adventures Presents… Betty: The Final Girl
Script: Micol Ostow, Casey Gilly, Sam Maggs
Art: Laura Braga, Natalie Nardozza, Carola Borelli
Colors: Matt Herms
Letters: Jack Morelli
Cover: Laura Braga
Variant Cover: Megan Hutchison
On Sale Date: 2/15
32-page, full color comic
$3.99
Veronica has invited Betty to her luxurious mountaintop chalet for a cozy weekend of skiing. But their girls weekend is interrupted when Archie shows up and whisks Veronica off on their own snowy romantic adventure. What could go wrong at a fancy remote cabin in the mountains all by herself? Betty’s mind races and she can’t tell fact from fiction as she suddenly realizes she might not be so alone. Is Betty believing too much in the horror movies she’s watched, or is someone (or something) really out to get her? Find out in this BRAND NEW horror anthology one-shot that‘s equal parts Scream and When a Stranger Calls.
It feels like forever ago, but Archie Comics really shook things up by willing to lean into taking their characters in new, more adult, directions. One of their successes was the Archie Horror line which has released some fantastic comics that do the horror genre justice. Betty: The Final Girl #1 is part of that line, and maybe because it is, it feels like it falls short of that imprints high bar.
Featuring a series of short stories, Betty: The Final Girl #1 plays off more as humor than real solid horror. The story has Betty falling asleep and dreaming up some horror stories while Veronica gets food. While the stories entertain, they also don’t scare, taking on a more of a silly tone. Micol Ostow, Casey Gilly, and Sam Maggs each take turns with shorts that sort of play on a well known franchise but never quite leans into them. The result is more spoof than love letter never quite committing to real scares. Part of the problem is the stories are themselves so short it’s hard to build up the tension that horror relies so much on.
The art by Laura Braga, Carola Borelli, and Natalie Mardozza is pretty good and teases at what could have been. There’s some blood and teases of guts but it never quite fully commits to it all. Like the stories themselves, it’s all a little rushed and the details are never the focus. The trio of artists are joined by Ellie Wright and Matt Herms on color and lettering by Jack Morelli. Overall, the art emphasizes the more lighthearted nature of the stories which are much more on the laughs than the scares.
Having Betty at the center of a classic slasher story has a lot of potential. And, I thought we might get that, but the shorts are her dreaming of others as opposed to a story where we wonder what’s real and what’s not. Betty: The Final Girl #1 misses the mark a bit never fully committing to its horror roots and delivering stories that are far too short for the genre. There’s attempts to build up tension before the cathartic confrontation but things never get to the level where it really works. Horror often feels like a carnival ride with ups and downs but Betty: The Final Girl #1 feels more like the kids ride. There’s something there but you realize there’s far better things out there.
Story: Micol Ostow, Casey Gilly, Sam Maggs Art: Laura Braga, Carola Borelli, Natalie Mardozza
Color: Ellie Wright, Matt Herms Letterer: Jack Morelli
Story: 6.75 Art: 7.5 Overall: 6.75 Recommendation: Pass
Archie Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: Zeus Comics – comiXology/Kindle
Wednesdays (and Tuesdays) are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in
Each week our contributors choose what they can’t wait to read this week or just sounds interesting. In other words, this is what we’re looking forward to and think you should be taking a look at!
Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this week.
Betty: The Final Girl (Archie Comics/Archie Horror) – Archie Horror has been on point and entertaining, so we’re excited for this riff on the slasher genre.
Icon vs. Hardware #1 (DC Comics/Milestone) – The first “event” for the Milestone universe as “Worlds Collide”!
Investigators: Agents of SUIT Vol. 1 (First Second) – The main series this spins out of is a lot of fun. We’re hoping for more of the same with this graphic novel for younger readers.
Killchella #2 (Scout Comics) – The first issue nailed the start to a new slasher concept, one that takes place at a music festival. Will the kills live up to expectations?
The Last Barbarians #1 (Image Comics) – Sylv has a lot of skills…and she’ll need them all to survive this hero’s journey! It’s a new fantasy series that sounds like a quest to make some bank. We’re intrigued to see this as that cover is beautiful.
Masters of the Universe: Masterverse #1 (Dark Horse Comics) – To save the life of her champion, the Sorceress must take the Cosmic Enforcer on a tour of the multiverse! This sounds awesome!
Nemesis: Reloaded #2 (Image Comics) – The first issue surprised us in how on point it was with current societal topics. We want to see where it goes and what it might have to see underneath the over-the-top violence.
Nightcrawlers #1 (Marvel) – The next chapter of “Sins of Sinister” focuses on the hybrid Nightcrawlers.
Parker Girls #5 (Abstract Studios) – The series has been a lot of fun with a mix of action and laughs.
Spa (Fantagraphics) – It sounds like The Menu but in the selfcare space and we’re totally down for that!
Torrent #1 (Image Comics) – It’s a brand new superhero universe from Marc Guggenheim and Rico Renzi. Michelle Metcalf is the world’s most happy-go-lucky hero, Crackerjack, until tragedy forces her to cross the line from hero to vigilante.
WildC.A.T.s #4 (DC Comics) – Just a hell of a lot of fun with laughs, action, and drama. Such a great return of the characters and series!
Chilling Adventures Presents… Betty: The Final Girl
Script: Micol Ostow, Casey Gilly, Sam Maggs
Art: Laura Braga, Natalie Nardozza, Carola Borelli
Colors: Matt Herms
Letters: Jack Morelli
Cover: Laura Braga
Variant Cover: Megan Hutchison
On Sale Date: 2/15
32-page, full color comic
$3.99
Veronica has invited Betty to her luxurious mountaintop chalet for a cozy weekend of skiing. But their girls weekend is interrupted when Archie shows up and whisks Veronica off on their own snowy romantic adventure. What could go wrong at a fancy remote cabin in the mountains all by herself? Betty’s mind races and she can’t tell fact from fiction as she suddenly realizes she might not be so alone. Is Betty believing too much in the horror movies she’s watched, or is someone (or something) really out to get her? Find out in this BRAND NEW horror anthology one-shot that‘s equal parts Scream and When a Stranger Calls.
Archie Comics icon Betty Cooper — known for 80 years as the girl next door with a ready solution for every problem, might have finally found her match in Chilling Adventures Presents… Betty: The Final Girl, a one-shot anthology from the renowned Archie Horror imprint, on-sale in February 15, 2023!
The slasher sub-genre’s most widely loved trope, the “final girl” is the clever survivor who carries a relentless plot across the finish line, taking it to the bad guy in the last scene. Writer Micol Ostow immediately turned to Betty when she thought of marrying the genre with Archie’s core cast of characters.
Micol’s framing story, “Rosemary’s Babysitter,” with art by Laura Braga, takes Betty and Veronica to a secluded mountaintop chalet for a weekend of skiing. When Betty is left alone, her mind begins to race and dangers appear around every darkened hallway and every creaky door. Each new fright introduces a new story starring a different girl from the Archie Comics roster: “Be Mine or Die” by Casey Gilley and Natalie Nardozza, and “Melody’s Next” by Sam Maggs and Carola Borelli.
Veronica has invited Betty to her luxurious mountaintop chalet for a cozy weekend of skiing. But their girls weekend is interrupted when Archie shows up and whisks Veronica off on their own snowy romantic adventure. What could go wrong at a fancy remote cabin in the mountains all by herself? Betty’s mind races and she can’t tell fact from fiction as she suddenly realizes she might not be so alone. Is Betty believing too much in the horror movies she’s watched, or is someone (or something) really out to get her? Find out in this BRAND NEW horror anthology one-shot that‘s equal parts Scream and When a Stranger Calls.
A love letter to slasher movies and horror in general, the comic features two open-to-order covers by Laura Braga and Megan Hutchison celebrating the heroic final girl archetype. Betty: The Final Girl features colors by Matt Herms and lettering by Jack Morelli.
