Afterlife With Archie: Afterlife With Archie #9

AVOID THE "the STORY SO FAR" PAGE—the editors have carelessly placed a SPOILER inside one of the paragraphs, revealing what happens towards the end of AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE #9. This should been have left as a surprise for readers—and the spoiler was enough to ruin a lot of the fun for me! And why was there a need for this poorly-written synopsis? Reading back issues is not a hard task. </p> As for the issue proper, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa remains master of poetics, giving new insights into the beloved folk of Riverdale without really changing anything at all, so far. Unless it's Reggie? Or maybe Aguirre-Sacasa has changed the witches of Greendale—but it's always hard to tell what is going on with these witches, they seem to be on the threshold of all borders. </p> Francesco Francavilla is a keen artist, and one of his panels may cause great controversy with its suggestiveness. Francavilla certainly makes a clever use of motion lines in this panel! But, of course, he does far more than provide an occasional suggestion of the rude, bringing out the human in all characters, even the zombies, and always engaging our sympathies. </p> I didn't mind the long wait of…eleven months? A year? Part of the big fun of ABC's LOST was having to wait several months between seasons, allowing viewers to develop theories before finally learning if ideas panned out precisely or if a new wrench thrown into the plot would blow up all previously-held notions. A.W.ARCHIE is the new LOST. And love him or hate him, are you sure you know Reggie inside and out? </p> Only time will tell if A.W.ARCHIE proves worthy of inclusion with the greatest plots in the history of literature; but for now let's acknowledge A.W.ARCHIE # 9 is a masterpiece, a five-star issue that certainly proves it was worthy of our patience…but I'm deducting one star for the SPOILER in the synopsis. That should not have been done, and I should have deducted two stars, I'm that ticked. ARCHIE COMICS, DON'T DO THIS AGAIN!

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