Vampironica #1

Promising, but a little … anaemic

Vampironica #1, by Greg Smallwood and Meg Smallwood (Archie Comics)

Archie Comics, having successfully reinvented itself and attracted huge amounts of critical acclaim and publicity, is apparently now collapsing under the inability or unwillingness of its management and staff to maintain its hard-won success.

Several bold moves – the horror-revamp Afterlife With Archie and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, the cancellation of their traditional bigfoot comics to reboot the main line as a teenage soap ‘dramedy’, and the hit TV show Riverdale, succinctly described as a ‘Junior Twin Peaks’ – have scored the company the largest slice of fan and public attention it’s enjoyed in decades, possibly ever.

But Afterlife and Sabrina have now vanished into limbo as the writer whose skill was the key to their success, Roberto Aguirre Sacasa, has become the force behind the Riverdale show, leaving him unable to write the comics. Several of the Archie ‘revamps’ – Jughead, Josie and the Pussycats – have already crashed and burned, there’s currently no real Betty and Veronica title, (the execrable biker-chick Vixens does not count) and the firm seems unwilling to pay for artists who can actually draw. The characters in the comic-book Riverdale tie-in not only bear no resemblance to either the actors or the characters, but they also bear shockingly little similarity to humanoid bipeds. (Guys, this is the title most likely to be picked up by people watching the TV show! GET A COMPETENT ARTIST!)

In an act of desperation, Archie have launched other ‘reinterpretation’ horror titles, without Aguirre Sacasa, but hoping to catch some of Afterlife and Sabrina’s success; Jughead – The Hunger (Riverdale’s favourite omnivore as a lycanthrope) started off promisingly, but is now floundering, with the writer introducing lots of characters but failing to do anything with any of them. And now… Vampironica.

The title tells you the premise. Veronica Lodge, the spoiled rich girl, as a creature of the night. We open in media res, with a pool party at Cheryl Blossom’s being interrupted by vampiric gate-crashers. Veronica steps up and twats the invaders with Buffyesque banter and combat moves – but as she emerges from the fight, it becomes clear that she herself is now playing for vampire stakes.

Cue the flashback, and we’re given the first chapter of How It All Began; Veronica walks in on the bloody aftermath of her tycoon parents’ meeting with a ‘client’ at home, and when the client starts to drain her, Ronnie – always surprisingly resourceful – breaks away… but not quickly enough to prevent certain life-altering changes. Oh, and Reggie, as usual, gets to be the butt-monkey in this continuity, too. Sigh.

What we get, in fairness, is enjoyable, even if it doesn’t feel like enough. Brother & sister writing team the Smallwoods do a nice line in banter and have the traditional Archieverse dynamic down. Greg Smallwood’s artwork is lovely; stylish, open, with a freshness and innocence that is pleasingly at odds with the tone of the narrative.

But you get to the end of the book feeling, “Is that it?” After the densely-packed, intense tone of Archie Horror’s prominent successes, Afterlife and Sabrina, this, lovely though it is, feels a little flimsy, a little thin. Leaving the audience wanting more is one thing, but leaving them unsatisfied, while sadly all too commonplace these days, is quite another.

Still, one to watch – assuming, of course, that whoever owns the copyright on VampirELLA these days doesn’t abruptly say ‘Oi!’ and hit the company with a heartfelt cease & desist notice. Given that the Vampironica tag was coined for a parody, complete with Vampi’s costume, back in the comedy era, reusing it here is more than slightly cheeky, guys…