Written by the Sharknado film trilogy director Anthony C. Ferrante with Dan Parent on art detail, comes the insane comic crossover one-shot ‘Archie Vs Sharknado: available now from Archie Comics. Check out my review here!
It’s that time of year in Riverdale! The end of the school year. Time for beaches, barbecues, fun in the sun and… SHARKNADOS!?! That’s right, get ready as Archie and the gang brave the storm of a tornado full a sharks that riffs off the pop culture phenomenon known as Sharknado! The story unfolds as sharknados are spotted on the “Feast” Coast! Our heroines have to figure out how to get back to Riverdale, where the storm is about to hit next. Soon Archie and the gang go, go, go as they battle the Sharknado-ravaged Riverdale! Who will live? Who will die? Will this take a BITE out of the end-of-the-year prom? Uh….probably!
Just so you get a sense of what you’re in for, as if you didn’t already know, there are 48 pages in this gloriously blood-soaked and insane romp that sees the Riverdale community struggle for survival during a massive Sharknado attack. You see – tornados hit the ocean and they suck up all the sharks, spinning them around in the air and eventually taking them onto land where the flying sharks eat people… It’s that simple people. It’s also why it takes less than five pages for the carnage to ensue as Betty and Veronica are first thrust into the chaos while vacationing on the East Coast.
We’ve seen horror hit Riverdale before in Afterlife with Archie (zombies) and most recently in Archie Vs Predator (the freaking Predator), but it just wasn’t enough was it? I’m not saying Archie Vs Sharknado has topped it’s predecessors, because it really hasn’t in terms of story and fun, but what it has done correctly, is embraced the stupid and subsequently cranked up the fun tenfold. This one-shot is meant to be fun – nothing more. What does it look like when Archie is swinging a chainsaw at a horde of flying sharks? You’ll find out and you’ll like it – or else.
Dan Parent’s signature Archie art style being applied to a horror theme, albeit a silly one, is unsettling but I like that (see all of my reviews for Archie Vs Predator HERE to get a sense of what I mean). Having the dude who directed the movies, Anthony C. Ferrante, try his hand at writing the comic doesn’t necessarily work out as well because we’ve seen these characters portrayed better in previous monster crossovers. At times it felt like a parody of a parody. I get it, Jughead eats a lot, so he bites one shark back before said shark steals his signature hat and wears it for the rest of the comic.
Archie Vs Sharknado was almost TOO goofy for its own good and that’s saying something. However, I will admit that I still had fun reading it (it didn’t even need to be 48 pages, I could have settled for a shorter story). I haven’t seen any of the Sharknado films and I never plan to, so I’ll settle for this being my one-time experience… for now. If I had issues reading a short and silly comic book with that theme, I can’t imagine sitting through an entire feature length film, let alone three of them.
Rating: [star rating=”3″]