Ranking Every 2017 Comic Book TV Show Worst To Best

9. Riverdale

Riverdale CW
CW

A TV series based on Archie Comics most famous characters, the second season of Riverdale started as strongly as the previous one ended, conjuring a sleepy dystopia decidedly more sinister than the one Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica had to deal with in the Riverdale of old.

It works though, and while the series does have its awkward moments, the CW can mark Riverdale down as being their crowning achievement of the year, blowing their own superhero shows firmly out of contention for a top spot and proving that, while most comic book adaptations tend to follow that genre, there's plenty of room for smart and creative uses of non-costumed licenses.

Besides, Cole Sprouse's Jughead really is everything, and by everything, I mean he's fantastic. The writing is sharp, the show looks great, and its use of the Archie license is too good not to love.

Riverdale has fast become the comic book TV event of the year, and while there are certainly better shows out there, this is one you definitely don't want to miss.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.