Month: January 2021

Archie: Volume One

Archie: Volume One

I’ve never read an Archie comic, nor have I seen Riverdale, but I get the premise. Archie goes to high school. His best friend likes hamburgers. Archie is torn between two girls. The end. But, like I said, I’ve never read one, so maybe there’s more to it. I mean, a non-superhero comic character who has been published continuously since 1942 has to have something interesting.

Cut to, an Archie reboot by famed superhero writer Mark Waid (Kingdom Come, Fantastic Four, Daredevil, et al). This is a reboot that doesn’t deviate front the source material too much (I think). The art is wonderful with big, colorful panels and cartoony characters with a modern style. Jughead loves cheeseburgers (but he’s rich). Archie has just broken up with Betty because of “the lipstick incident” and Veronica, a rich snob, moves to town and steals his attention. Archie is a loveable clutz. Moose is a dumb football player.  Nothing revolutionary, but familiar for new and old readers.

Archie: Volume One contains light, suitable-for-all-ages stories with a modern twist for a 78-year-old character.   

Collects issues 1-6 by Mark Waid and Fiona Staples

Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars

Amazon.com: Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars (9780785198673): Lolli, Matteo, Camagni, Jacopo, Bunn, Cullen: Books

Wade Wilson takes us back to 1984, before his own origin story in 1991, all the way to the Beyonder’s Battle World where he inserts himself into the original Secret Wars story. I feel like the story would be less impactful if you haven’t read the original Secret Wars, so definitely do that. 

Is it canon? Like, did it really happen? (As much as a comic book can really happen.) There are some clues that it did, but there are also elements that point to wacky Deadpool having fun and breaking the fourth wall. One piece of evidence that took me out of the story was Absorbing Man. His power (at the time of Secret Wars) is the ability to touch a substance and gain the properties of that substance, For example; if he touched steel, he would turn to steel but also gain the resistance and strength of steel. But Crusher Creel (Absorbing Man) touches DP and gains his physical attributes and power, much like Rogue’s power absorption. Was this a clue that the story didn’t really happen, creative liberty, or just a writing/continuity error?

Deadpool’s Secret, Secret Wars is full of nostalgia while at the same time adding DP to the original story in a fun, and sometimes, touching way.

Good touching, not bad touching.

Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars #1-4 written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Matteo Lolli.