It’s a real shame that the writing is so subpar, since the art by Darick Robertson is actually quite good. It took me longer than it should have to place where I knew his work from, but I caught myself thinking that Ruby could have been called “filthy assistant”. Robertson was artist and co-creator of “Transmetropolitan”, one of most excellent and essential comics it’s ever been my pleasure to read. “Dante” isn’t worth two tugs of dead dog’s cock in comparison.

I'm here to tell you that for a number 1 issue of a property that's been pretty intensely done to death, it's not half bad. It's actually pretty good, to be perfectly honest. The art and the story work well together, and if you've seen any episodes of the show, the visual aesthetic will be immediately comfortable and familiar.

I enjoyed the sort of meta way that the story ended, with all conflicts resolved and tidy lesson tacked on for good measure. The only thing missing was the Animaniacs' handy "Wheel of Morality" to drive the point home. I'll be interested to see if this continues to be a pure anthology, or if there starts to be a narrative through-line to what's going on in present-day Equestria. And that's a good an excuse as any to keep reading a nifty little piece of escapist fluff.

One thing that has continued to be great and good in this book is Sandy Jarrell’s artwork. His people may not be as “tasty” and well-rounded as some of the classic Archie artists’ were, but I love his animals. Vader and Hot Dog both felt like real pups that you could reach through the page and give belly skritches. I also really dig what he does with Reggie’s expressions in particular. The sharpness of his features and the way Jarrell draws him still reminds me of a very young Negan, and that seems appropriate for his personality too. It seems pretty clear that the creative team here is intending to revisit this version of Reggie; I hope it’s sooner rather than later, and I hope they make him more sympathetic next time around.

I will say that for my particular tastes, the art is the best part of the book. The opening and closing pages were my favorites, particularly the image of Action Man in a space suit marooned on a frozen world with nothing but the ruins of a Cobra landing site. Anyone who’s seen “The Martian” will have an added appreciation for his terror, and Ossio conveyed it brilliantly on the poor guy’s face. I also dug the sheer reflectivity of the face shield on his space helmet - Ossio and Cheng used pen and ink to make it *shine*. All in all, this is a better-than-average read for fans of G.I. Joe, Transformers, or Halo-style space marine video games.

What I'm hoping for is an eventual showdown of sorts between Kegelface and her minions and Jon and Suzie. In the meantime, it looks like we're going to have to settle for the invasion of the creepy little sex trolls. I just hope they don't stick around for too long.

Like I said, I’m wondering how long it’s going to be be before things fracture between Archie and Veronica, and I really can’t wait to see what the knock-on effects will be amongst their circle of friends. I have every confidence that Waid will make it funny and endearing, even if he does have to break our hearts for a little bit.

As this is a one-shot, I can't say that I hope for more stories like this (even if I do), but I can say that the humor is top-notch (pay special attention to Jughead's awful puns) and I only have one lingering question - what happened to the blue and yellow kitties that Salem sneezed out?! Inquiring minds want to know...

I'll say again that Reggie Mantle has been a world-class jerk in the new Archie books, but anybody who inspires this much love from a little dog can't be all bad. Even if the great Mantle doesn't get to keep his own title after this miniseries, I hope at the very least that he gets to play a larger part in the main "Archie" book, and that Vader gets to come along for the ride.

That complaint aside, I’m really looking forward to more issues of this book, particularly as way to tide myself over until the second season after the first one ends. I’m hoping that there will be more focus on different characters as the book continues, because I found the lack of Kevin Keller in this issue to be particularly annoying.

While I really wish the writers had been able to follow up a bit more on the visual gag of Archie and Jug both making heart-eyes at Toni Topaz singing, I understand that this book was all about how The Archies got started. That necessarily meant putting and Archie and Jughead together with Betty and Veronica and Reggie on a stage. That obligation fulfilled, I hope that Waid decides to run with it a bit more in his regular Archie books. Music is too universal a language to ignore, especially where teenagers are concerned.

While I really wish the writers had been able to follow up a bit more on the visual gag of Archie and Jug both making heart-eyes at Toni Topaz singing, I understand that this book was all about how The Archies got started. That necessarily meant putting and Archie and Jughead together with Betty and Veronica and Reggie on a stage. That obligation fulfilled, I hope that Waid decides to run with it a bit more in his regular Archie books. Music is too universal a language to ignore, especially where teenagers are concerned.

The only thing that's tempered my enjoyment of this lighthearted tale is the knowledge of what's coming. It's been all over the Internet lately that the next three issues of this book may very well kill off a major character. We don't know for sure, and folks rarely stay dead for long in comics, but Waid has at the very least made me care enough about all the folks in this cast that I would hate to see any of them go.

I'm really enjoying Pete Woods' art here, but I still find his people to be a little bit uneven. That said, his backgrounds and objects (especially the cars!) are really outstanding. I was also a bit unnerved at the decision on the final page to show one of the kids taking smartphone images/video of an accident scene, but it absolutely shows this book is taking place in 2017. That stands in contrast to the idea of two teenagers "racing for pinks", like it's 1978 and Danny Zuko is singing Broadway songs when he's not greasing his hair back. No spoilers about the rest of the book, just read it and then curse the calendar that it's not next month yet.

And as good as Waid's writing is here, he's matched by Woods' artwork. Certainly it's no Dan Parent or Harry Lucey, but these people look believable flesh-and-blood (albeit sort of cartoon-y) human beings. That's hugely important for an emotional story arc like this - the art doesn't overshadow the writing or make it seem ridiculous. (He even manages to soften old man Lodge!) And I adore his scenery. My very favorite panel of the whole book is the one of Moose lurching towards the cute, fuzzy bunny in the foreground. That bunny is charming without looking like a refugee from a little kids' book. The fade to black at the end wasn't too shabby either. I'm anxiously awaiting next month, to see whether I need to send my used Kleenexes and hate mail to Archie Comics!

The art and color by Hahn and Kesel and Madpencil were just as bright and vivid and sharp as I remember the show being. Also clever was the visual way Batman’s and Robin’s voiceovers of the flashback were represented in print (little Bat symbol and a grey box, yellow letter “R” and yellow box). The final, cliffhanger panel of the book made me gasp out loud at the size of the blade being waved at Bruce, and because the art and writing worked together to make me willingly suspend my disbelief and be entertained. I will indeed be tuning in next month, same Bat-time and same Bat-channel, to see what’s next for our intrepid heroes.

Besides Hughes’ writing, the thing that really sells this story is the art. All throughout, it has a bit of a gloomy feel, like the colors are covered by a haze of grey. If it were just a wee bit more orange, it’d almost pass for a Francisco Francavilla horror book. There’s even a gorgeous page that looks like it could have been lifted straight out of “Carrie”. But my favorite use of color may just be the whole “red vs blue” thing. Through the entire book, Betty and Veronica are each dressed in variations of blue or red, respectively. It’s so subtle, but hugely effective. I’ll be very curious to see if he keeps this up past this arc. I can’t wait for next month!

Visually, this is a gorgeous book and completely worth the price of admission on the strength of the art alone. As beautiful as Grummet and Hanna's line work is, Bucellato's colors really make it pop. My favorite panel may well have been one of my other favorite Bugs Bunny classic moves - dressing up in drag to get the better of an opponent. I'm sure it's no coincidence that the creative team chose Wonder Woman's Amazonian suit to stuff Bugs into, but what makes it even better is that the dialogue Humphries gives him comes straight (slightly edited) from RuPaul herself! I haven't enjoyed a DC book this much in ages. I'll really be looking forward to seeing what the publisher does with my personal hero, Wile E. Coyote.

The ending was actually really satisfying, emotionally speaking. I like that I can actually not hate Alexandra Cabot. She's still a rich girl and still prickly and snarky, but not the mean-girl Chryl Blossom knockoff she was in the classic Josie stories. I'm really looking forward to seeing where this story arc is heading next month.

It's too bad that this issue is likely to be North's last writing credit on the book, as Mark Waid is set to take an expanded role at Archie Comics later this year and will start writing Jughead himself. That being said, I enjoy what he's been doing with Archie's book, I just hope he continues to keep the gang together in this book. It's been a small, steady complaint of mine that the kids seem to run in such different circles in the main Archie storyline; it doesn't really feel like "the gang's all here". That's been rectified a great deal in Jughead, and I really hope it stays that way.

I've always been a fan of Jughead as the "weird kid" in Riverdale, and I extra-super enjoy him as the focal point of any horrific exposure of Archie Comics' soft, creepy underbelly. It would certainly not break my heart to see more of Jughead on the run, with a Buffy-esque Betty Cooper hot on his heels.

The over-the-top humor, rapid-fire puns, and exclamatory references to famous historical ladies have all been toned down a bit in this issue, but that doesn’t come as a surprise. The girls all seem to be trying to be on their best behavior for the benefit of their parents, but I expect that to all go by the wayside pretty quickly, given the cliffhanger ending we got in this issue. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next issue, if for no other reason than to see if the squirrels and bunnies really are just cute woodland creatures with wicked senses of humor, or something more sinister.

I won't spoil the best of Fraction's writing in this issue, but suffice to say that many misunderstandings actually get worked out, and no Cheap Trick songs are actually quoted with any accuracy. We still don't know what the deal is with the creepy little sex dolls, but I suspect we'll find out more about that next month. I'm just glad to see that love seems to be conquering a lot of things, and I hope it keeps it up.

The one curveball I got in this issue that I'm surprised I hadn't seen coming (given the subject matter) was the 8-panel page buried at the end of the letters column. I won't spoil anything, but heads up kids - this last page of every Sex Criminals is rapidly becoming the printed comic equivalent of the Marvel movie post-credit scene. And this bit could very well be hinting at where the book intends to go after all the junk with Kegelface gets resolved. I'll be interested to see what Fraction and Zdarsky have to say about the issues it raises.

And speaking of involuntary noises, I absolutely howled with laughter at the "Miranda" warning that the vanquished vote-cheating EDM band got from security guards as Josie and her girls were driving away; I never expected a legit Scientology joke to make its way into an Archie Comics title, but there it was! (I really do hope it doesn't cause them any trouble.) I also adored the throwaway "Game of Thrones" reference that got snuck in, in the form of Lord Cute-ington's full name. It was also really sweet to see poor, long-suffering Alan M. get to be onstage, articulating for the awards show audience just what we all love about Josie and the Pussycats. The only trick that Archie Comics has missed with this book is to snatch up the Twitter accounts shown in the closeup panel on Alan M.'s phone, and make them and the associated hashtags clickable/followable for folks who are reading digitally. Still, I'm really digging this book and looking v

I’m really looking forward to this next issue, if for no other reason than to see if the creative team follow up on what I think could be some really funny/meta zombie humor regarding the hordes of girls now hot on poor Jughead’s heels.

I won’t spoil anything for my readers, but I’m really looking forward to next month, to see how poor Jughead solves his “hunger” problem. I’m not sure whether to hope (for his sake) that Sabrina helps him or not! Can’t wait!

The art here isn’t appreciably changed much since last issue. I still find myself wishing that the characters’ faces were less angular and a bit more conventionally pretty. (To be expected from a Dan Parent fan, I guess...) That being said, I really enjoyed the way Andre Szymanowicz used pastel backgrounds to evoke the look and feel of the original Breakfast Club film. The purple washes in the first few pages are particularly on-point. I’m not sure quite how the writers are going to handle this book meeting up/crossing over with the show’s timeline, but I do know I’m absolutely along for the ride.