If Archie Comics really wanted to celebrate The Best Archie Comic Ever, it would not be a standard 1-off for $4. They could've gone all out, and covered as much of the company's history, as it relates to Archie Andrews himself, with more pages, and a more marketable title.
Epic fail!
The book opens with Archie's on-again, off-again alter-ego, Pureheart the Powerful, in a short piece by ex-Marvel writer Fred Van Lente and artist Tim Seeley. It plays out the way those Pureheart shorts did in the 60's, complete with the amnesia-inducing purity fog to protect Pureheart's true identity, as he faces off with a Chameleon knockoff.
While Jughead's heroic persona of Captain Hero is featured on a variant cover, Jug instead plays a barbarian, a parody of the likes of Conan, Kull, et al. The book closes with Betty & Veronica as secret agents. All three stories are short on page length so the company can indulge on house ads. It's like they went bargain basement at the wrong time.
Rating: C-.
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Other Archie news: "Big" Ethel Muggs has been given a 21st century makeover for a webtoon series dropping weekly on Archie's website, but it seems she has issues with the gang for---bullying her. Big Ethel Energy is one of two August debuts in print.
The other sees the return of Jinx Holliday, formerly known as L'il Jinx, who was last seen in Life With Archie (2nd series). She's been moved to the otherwise dormant horror line for a 1-shot, Chilling Adventures Presents: Jinx's Grim Fairy Tales. Veteran writer Magdalene Visaggio is scripting, and Francisco Francavilla is doing one of the variant covers.
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The last Free Comic Book Day 1-shot we looked at previewed what's ahead at Valiant. The upside is that Ninjak is relaunching with better artwork, plus new stuff with Archer & Armstrong, Armorines, & Bloodshot. On the whole, a much better presentation than last year.
Rating: A.
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