I review "History Repeating" from Archie Jumbo Comics Digest #328.

Not sure if this should go here or in Other Media, since it's not a comic but rather a novelization of a comic. Anyway, I just finished reading it this morning and just posted a long, mostly spoiler-free review on Goodreads, and I thought I'd share it here as well:

This feels like a novel-length episode of the old Archie's Weird Mysteries cartoon series. In that series (which ran from 1999 to 2000), there was a 3-part Halloween episode in which Veronica seemed to be some kind of chosen one called the Ender, who was destined to end the eternal night of the vampires (once it was brought about). She was turned into a vampire twice during that trilogy and went by the name "Vampronica". The line-up of Archie's Weird Mysteries was, generally, Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, Reggie, and Dilton.

In 2012, the classic Betty and Veronica comics title did a 2-issue story called "Betty the Vampire Slayer vs. Vampironica", during which Veronica was turned into a vampire. Note the slight change to her vampire name compared to Archie's Weird Mysteries. This story can be found in Betty and Veronica #261-262. The story was played mostly for laughs.

Fast forward to 2018. Archie Comics had (ahem) revamped its main line of comics 3 years earlier, and it had also been experimenting with AU horror titles, such as Afterlife With Archie, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and Jughead: The Hunger (in which Jughead became a werewolf). So it was only natural to do a Vampironica title, which ran for 5 issues. This was followed by a 5-issue interdimensional crossover with Jughead: The Hunger in 2019. Finally, there was a second miniseries, Vampironica: New Blood, which ran for 4 issues from 2019 to 2020.

This novel, Interview with the Vixen, is, at its most basic, a novelization of the first Vampironica miniseries. But calling it that wouldn't be doing it justice. Author Rebecca Barrow has greatly expanded the story, especially in its second half, giving the characters much more to do and giving them amazing depths of characterization. These feel more like real people, not cartoon characters.

The novel borrows a lot from Riverdale without being set in that continuity. Josie's mom is the mayor, and Kevin's dad is the sheriff, though neither Josie nor Kevin appear or are even mentioned in this story. Veronica is said to have brown skin, which is a nod to her Riverdale actor (she's white in the Vampironica comic). Cheryl is said to have brown eyes (she has green or blue eyes in the comics), which is a nod to her Riverdale actor. She's also openly gay and trained in the use of a crossbow.

So the basic plot is Veronica gets turned into a vampire, but she's not under the master vampire's mind control (unlike the other vampires), and she must find a way to kill the master vampire, so she (and everyone else that was turned) can be turned back to normal.

To this end, she's helped by Dilton, Betty, Archie, and...Cheryl! Can we talk about the amazing chemistry between Veronica and Cheryl in this book? Veronica/Cheryl wasn't something that I thought I needed in my life (my preferred ship is Betty/Cheryl), but their scenes together are so good! Spoiler: they don't get together; they're just friends. But Veronica worries a LOT for Cheryl's safety in this book (much more than she does about Betty, her supposed "best friend"), and Cheryl is concerned about Veronica being disappointed in her. You would totally expect them to share a passionate kiss. Alas, it doesn't happen. But the final scene of the novel is a private, tender scene between Veronica and Cheryl, and you can tell they truly care for each other.

The story gets into some heavy subject matter with Veronica having to kill two major characters (and the others being prepared to, if necessary) and then having to wrestle with her guilt, debating whether she's a murderer or not. Cheryl counsels Veronica in the final scene, saying they're in this together: "So we make a pact. That's what friends do, right? If you go down, then I go down. But we won't. Because we're going to stick together on this. You have nothing to feel guilty about. Promise me. You won't torture yourself thinking about what happened. We're moving on. Promise?"

I'm not sure if a sequel was ever planned, although I'd be surprised if one comes out at this point. One major issue was left unresolved, and there are questions of what the future will hold. But Veronica Lodge is forever changed by her experience. She has known horror and triumph, known what it's like to live up to people's expectations of her and what it's like to truly live, and she doesn't want to go back to her old life. Not ever.

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on December 15, 2021, 10:16:54 AMThe 5-page Classic Archie story plots just don't get very involved for the most part, so there's not much to say about them, except some are better than others.

Yeah, I've been noticing that. For the most part, these new classic-style stories are forgettable. Nothing really happens, not even character growth. For example, Sabrina was the featured character in yesterday's new story. She was babysitting a little girl and got the "witchups" (hiccups that make her magic go wonky, ripping off a plot from the Filmation series). The girl was zapped into the Alice in Wonderland book that Sabrina was reading to her. Sabrina then got herself zapped into the book. They met a bunch of characters from the book. Then Della showed up (having detected the "witchups") and got Sabrina and the girl out of the book. The end. Nothing happened. No adventure. Just "here are some characters that kids today may or may not recognize".

Apparently, next month, we get to look forward to a story in which the gang tries to find an alternate hiking trail and another one in which Veronica misplaces her purse, which has a million dollars in it, so Crickett is enlisted to sniff it out. Oh, those wacky teens these days, what with their carrying around all of that physical money. So relatable.

I review "Undercover Blossom!" from Cheryl Blossom #11.

Welcome back!

I like this theme. Will it still be available once the orange one comes back?

I review "Who's That Girl?" from Cheryl Blossom #10.

I review "Deck Those Halls!" from Cheryl Blossom #9.

I review "Babysitter Blossom!" from Cheryl Blossom #8.

I've read only the first chapter so far, so I haven't formed much of an opinion yet.

I keep up with the new classic-style comics by downloading the free samples of the digests on Amazon, because the new stories are always in front (unlike back in the 2000s, when there was a new one in the front and a new one in the back). I've bought some digital back issues from recent years - but only once the price drops. I rarely buy a new issue at full price. Jamie Rotante's B&V stories were an exception.

There's an archiecomics subreddit, but I'm not sure how many of the old posters from this forum are on there, and it doesn't seem particularly active - but definitely moreso than this forum.

It ended over 5 years ago. As far as I know, there are no plans to resume it. I have no idea what happened to Jonathan. He was one of the old forum members that probably never rejoined after the forum reset in 2016.

I review "Masquerade Madness" from Cheryl Blossom #8.

Hey, welcome to the forum! We've been around since 2006, but there was an error in 2016, and the forum was reset. All old posts were lost, and a lot of the older members never bothered signing up again. It'd be great to get some discussions going.

I review "What a Doll!" and "Wedded Blitz!" from Cheryl Blossom #7.