From writer Alex de Campi and artist Fernando Ruiz comes the insane mash-up mini series from Darkhorse comics – Archie vs Predator. Check out my review of issue #3.
The Predator has tallied his first kills from the ranks of the Riverdale gang! Can they turn the tables without Riverdale becoming a smoking ruin—and without getting detention?
After the crazy kill-fest from last issue, we slow the pace a little as our few remaining survivors hold up in the highschool. Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica and Dilton spend much of this chapter trying to figure out their next move after realizing that the Predator halted their first effort – hard. This series is so bizarre because as horrific as it can be, it’s still vintage Archie humor. There’s a great moment when the kids are walking down the hall and hear a rumbling sound. If you look up it’s the Predator hiding in one of those large vents and peeking down on them. How the hell is that giant monster in that vent? Oh you rascal you.
The biggest moment of the issue comes when a major character is slain in gruesome fashion but what follows is even more disturbing – the jokes! Oh the jokes – these teens literally just discovered the mutilated corpse of one of their best friends and the one-liners are still flowing. Campi and Ruiz have managed to inject all of that classic humor into a series that is loaded with heads being torn off, people being stabbed and their corpses skinned – then hung from trees.
I’m not a huge Archie fan so I forgot who the hell Dilton was, but the way he works into this issue was quite great. I loved the use of an Archie Mech Suit to battle the Predator. If you wanted realism, you won’t find any of it here as Archie Vs Predator has opted to embrace the insanity full-force whereas the franchises’ other monster mash-up sticks with the gloom and doom in Afterlife with Archie.
Issue #3 wasn’t as exciting as the previous chapter, but it looks like the next one is going to be bonkers. I don’t know who is still alive at this point but by the end of this thing we may be looking at a Riverdale with a population of 1.
Rating: [star rating=”3.5″]