At first blush, a series that mixes the zombie apocalypse with everybodys favorite fictitious teenagers from Riverdale might sound like a joke or a disaster. But in all seriousness Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla have managed to create one of the most humanistic stories in comics with their Afterlife with Archie the first Archie Comics series that has been published for more mature audiences. Afterlife with Archie has all of the pathos and misery of The Walking Dead, but by using its cast of recognizable teenage characters like Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica to advance the story, the whole zombie apocalypse comes across as being more tragic and despairing. Scenes like Archies dog Vegas saving him from another zombie, or Archie needing to beat his zombie-fied father with a baseball bat in order to save himself and his mother are absolutely heartbreaking. They also carry more emotional weight because these characters are so relateable and identifiable. Beyond the zombie elements, Afterlife with Archie also deals with teenage drama better than most comics, taking on old-time tropes like the Archie/Betty/Veronica love triangle with more elegance and maturity. As such, a proper television adaptation of this series could potentially be an even bigger hit than The Walking Dead, because what it lacks in gruesome beheadings and heinously evil characters, it makes up for with its humanity and its cast of likeable characters.
Mark is a professional writer living in Brooklyn and is the founder of the Chasing Amazing Blog, which documents his quest to collect every issue of Amazing Spider-Man, and the Superior Spider-Talk podcast. He also pens the "Gimmick or Good?" column at Comics Should Be Good blog.
