Riverdale #5 –
Archie Comics
Stories by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Written by Tessa Leigh Williams & Brian E. Patterson
Art by Thomas Pitilli
Colors by Andre Szymanowicz
Letters by Janice Chiang
Ok I’ll admit it…it’s been a long time since I’ve read an Archie comic from start to finish. Am I caught up on Season 1 of Riverdale? Not so much…but a man can change. This week, I decide to dive right in to both, in a manner of speaking, by reading a Riverdale comic that is based on the CW series. Let’s see what’s going on in Riverdale #5.
I’ll start by saying, this is a good jumping on point for new readers. You don’t have to be extremely familiar with the characters or plots of the show or the previous four issues of this run. There is a nice breakdown at the beginning of both Reggie and Josie, who are the focus of this issue. Reggie has his sights set on Josie, and something happens that he isn’t really used to. She says no, and a pretty emphatic no at that. So this issue very much centers around that and Reggie trying to change her mind. What I didn’t expect, was the interesting twist at the end. The story takes a bit of a turn, and for me at least, really changed my thinking. We’re not talking about a major cliffhanger here, but certainly something that will give you some pause and possibly even want to read the issue again.
Somewhere in this book, there is a reference to dominoes, and it’s quite fitting for this review. The writers were setting up dominoes for most of the pages of this story, and really knocked them down in the last couple of pages. I will not spoil what happens, but it vastly changed my opinion of one of the characters. They set it up so perfectly for you to think one way, and in a very humanizing moment, turned the tables. Another thing I enjoyed was that, this didn’t read as much like the CW series. This had more of that classic Archie feel mixed in, and that goes for the art as well. While effort was given to make the characters look like their TV counterparts, that traditional look was also mixed in as well. For someone who had a lukewarm reception to the CW series initially, this comic made me want to keep reading without even thinking about that. This felt like a really good one-shot that could turn into a limited series run for just Reggie and Josie. If that’s the idea, then mission accomplished. Whether you’re a fan of the show or not, I think you’ll really like what the creative team put together here. I was pleasantly surprised.
RATING: PULL / BUY