Theres a good chance next year will see Image dominating your pull list. They might even be your favourite publisher, offering a fresh alternative to the output of the Big Two. Heres a modest proposal for you, however: in 2015, the publisher thats going to be behind some of the most daring, creative and flat-out entertaining comic books is going to be Archie. Yes, that Archie. Stop laughing. For a set of characters who are decidedly stuck in the past, with Riverdale occupying some sort of idealised fifties small-town America, those Archie lot have been pretty progressive as of late. They introduced a gay character to the main cast. The diversity in general has been improving. Oh and then theres that series where Archie, Jughead and the rest have to deal with a zombie uprising caused by Sabrina The Teenage Witch. The surprisingly gory Afterlife With Archie has since begat a Sabrina spin-off thats more Rosemarys Baby than Melissa Joan Hart, with Betty and Veronica cameoing to accidentally summon a succubus. The main line Archie title is looking to get a little more exciting, too, with DC genius Mark Waid being drafted in as writer and Sagas peerless artist Fiona Staples bringing a new look to the characters. Please note this prediction does not apply to Sonic The Hedgehog at all. It does, however, apply to a series where Sabrina gets married to Chtulhu...
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
