The Archies One-Shot
Writer(s): Alex Segura and Matthew Rosenberg
Artist: Joe Eisma
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Colorist: Matt Herms
A review by Insha Fitzpatrick
In The Archies we follow the ups and downs of Archie in his humble beginnings to form his very own band. When Archie and Jughead maintain a spot at The Jackpot with Jughead’s cousin Bingo, he might be a little in over his head. Without a band to call his own, Archie is basically screwed out of any real possibilities of making this live performance a thing. With Jughead’s help, Archie hands out flyers, lines up auditions and ultimately recruits Betty and Veronica to form The Archies. However, things can’t always go right for Archie when he not only has to deal with the dating drama, but also his behaviour isolates his friends. Will The Archies get back together for their first ever performance? Or will this be a solo act?
The Archies have always been an important part of Archie Comics because our main character is dabbling in something that is near and dear to him and he wants to make it known to the world. As much as I personally dislike Archie’s career in music, I can’t deny that Alex Segura and Matthew Rosenberg make me care a little bit more about the formation of the band, even though I do wish it was a bit longer.
Segura and Rosenberg give heart to The Archies formation. They write an introductory character study of Archie’s love for music and how it can make or break him. However, I was left wanting to find out more. Why was music so important to Archie? What kind of music was important to him? I know this is a lot to ask of a one-shot, but I would love to know the reason behind Archie’s love of music before I get into why he wanted to form a band. I would love to see how Archie got his passion for music and then follow the creation of the band. Or, if mix those things together, see where you land.
(Seriously, got a lot of ideas Archie Comics. Call me.)
The one thing I seriously enjoy about this comic is that it doesn’t shy away from Archie being a diva and acknowledging that behavior. Archie can be so big of a diva when things don’t go his way, so putting that on display was brilliant. Something I loved about The Archies as well are the interactions between Jughead and Archie. Especially Jughead correcting him as the breaks the wall to the reader to inform him that The Violent Femmes aren’t a two piece band.
Joe Eisma already does a phenomenal job with the regular Archie comics, so pulling him in to do the art for The Archies was an amazing idea. Joe puts a lot of details into his work which pairs so nicely with Matt Herms colors. They’re an absolute dream team and I hope to see more of what they do together. The first page completely blew me away with the composition and I needed to keep reading after that. I love the small details inside of the panels that give us a clue into Archie’s music world. On the second page where Archie’s love for music really shines as we see the equipment, band posters, guitar, and vinyls across his floor and walls is some brilliant showing and not telling. And even though I’d still love to hear how Archie’s love for music grew, that panel made me feel at peace with Archie’s budding career.
The Verdict
Buy It! This short glimpse into the formation of a band is a good and interesting start for something that can hopefully expand into the Archie universe. The Archies will never be as big as Josie and the Pussycats, but this humble band is here to show you what they’re about and I dig that.
