Archie Comics used to be a safe haven for readers. Not anymore.
The horror line is what keeps the company going, between 1-shots and miniseries, as they're uncertain if they'll ever relaunch their classic titles again. The horror books are aimed, in this writer's opinion, at the same audience that Marvel & DC are targeting with their young adult TPB's. However, the quality leaves something to be desired.
Take, for example, Pop's Chock'lit Shop of Horrors 2: Fresh Meat.
Terry "Pop" Tate, who was rebooted into an African-American a while back, in line with his characterization on Riverdale, makes a deal with the devil to eliminate the competition, and there are three short stories that are not worth discussing. Just like the first volume, this is inspired by the original "Little Shop of Horrors" that Roger Corman made all the way back in 1960, but that inspiration is a little hollow. Archie seems to have found an audience for this dreck, which means a 3rd volume is likely next year.
Due next month is a sequel to last year's equally inane Cult of That Wilkin Boy. Consider this dark, alternate reality the legacy of Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who still won't return to finish Afterlife With Archie.....
Rating: C-.
On a lark last month, I acquired the first two volumes of DC's Zatanna & The Ripper, part of DC's line of young adult TPB's, except that this one is spun from Webtoon's online series, seeing print for the first time.
Time travel is the theme of this one, set with Zatanna as a youth, apprenticing under her father, Zatara. The manga-inspired artwork is nice, but the flaw in the script seems to be stemming from editorial's need to include John Constantine as Zatanna's canonical sweetheart, a la Batman/Catwoman. Whatever happened to Jeff Sloane, who was Zee's manager-boyfriend back in the 70's? I think what the writer is going for here is inspired by the movie, "Time After Time". I'm not the target audience, so I'll just guess and move on.
Rating: B--.
Final analysis of Wesley Dodds: The Sandman shows us that while Robert Venditti came up with a smart, compelling script, it's undone by Riley Rossmo's attempt at emulating the artistic style of the Golden Age, and failing. Venditti's other miniseries, Superman '78: The Metal Curtain, wraps up in the next week or so, and is easier on the reader's eyes, art-wise.
Final rating: B--.
No comments:
Post a Comment