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A review by aoutrance
Archie (2015-) #17 by Joe Eisma, Mark Waid, Andre Syzmanowicz, Jack Morelli
5.0
I am a life-long Archie fan and I was pretty excited to hear of a reboot with Mark Waid at the helm and even more so when Fiona Staples was added as the artist to start the series off. Archie may hold a lot of nostalgic value, but seeing them move forward into the modern world is like having my cake and eating it too.
Outside the vibrancy of the updated designs, the character complexity Waid has created is exactly what this franchise needed. Riverdale has been reborn into the 21st century, but Waid has managed to keep with the roots of the main cast- Jughead's deadpan snark is overwhelmingly present, Betty is everyone's sweetheart and Reggie is still kind of a fuckboy. The best thing to come out of this is that Archie is no longer just the indecisive dick who is leading Betty on; in this issue it's clear their relationship was ended mutually with the mysterious Lipstick Incident.
While we're being reintroduced to the cast, we also see that there's some scheming going on in the background. A handful of classmates who are (perhaps unhealthily) invested in Betty and Archie as a couple want to "help" get them back together and Jughead plays all sides in order to do what he thinks is best for his BFF. It all ends just as he planned. (Is it obvious yet who my favorite character is?)
Overall, a really promising start for the reboot.
Outside the vibrancy of the updated designs, the character complexity Waid has created is exactly what this franchise needed. Riverdale has been reborn into the 21st century, but Waid has managed to keep with the roots of the main cast- Jughead's deadpan snark is overwhelmingly present, Betty is everyone's sweetheart and Reggie is still kind of a fuckboy. The best thing to come out of this is that Archie is no longer just the indecisive dick who is leading Betty on; in this issue it's clear their relationship was ended mutually with the mysterious Lipstick Incident.
While we're being reintroduced to the cast, we also see that there's some scheming going on in the background. A handful of classmates who are (perhaps unhealthily) invested in Betty and Archie as a couple want to "help" get them back together and Jughead plays all sides in order to do what he thinks is best for his BFF. It all ends just as he planned. (Is it obvious yet who my favorite character is?)
Overall, a really promising start for the reboot.