Sabrina 1

Following the success of the Afterlife With Archie title (still a cracking read six issues in, with the only flaw being the creative team’s seeming unwillingness to get their fingers, and the issues, out), Archie Comics generates another stylish noir revamp of one of their classic franchises with this reinvention of Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch. Created by Dan DeCarlo and George Gladir, Sabrina made her debut in issue 22 of Madhouse, a parody anthology, in 1962, as a supernatural comedy very much in the Thorne Smith vein, actually predating Bewitched (often misattributed as her inspiration) by more than a year.

Meet Sabrina’s Mum, Diana. Don’t get too attached…

In the ensuing decades, she’s been the star of numerous stories across the Archie line, as well as three series of her own comic book, three animated TV series, more than 50 paperback novels, and a live-action TV series starring Melissa Joan Hart, which ran seven series from 1996 to 2003. Almost all of them offered variations on the same light comedic theme; a half-human, half-witch teenager gains unexpected powers on her sixteenth birthday, and struggles to reconcile the dueling halves of her heritage while juggling boyfriends, rivals and homework. It’s served one of the world’s oldest teenagers well for fifty years – but now, it’s time to forget all of that! The darkening of Sabrina actually began in the first issue of Afterlife With Archie, as she served as the unwitting catalyst for the grisly events in Riverdale, but this relaunch, while very much in the same mood, isn’t a direct crossover.

Sock puppet no more! The reintroduction of Salem.

Set in the 1950s and early 1960s, this is the tale of a woman in love, betrayed and driven to madness by her husband and his family, and her infant daughter Sabrina’s upbringing in a strange and supernatural tradition. As the plans for Sabrina’s destiny progress, we see vignettes from her childhood, as she grows into a tradition she doesn’t understand, and, like most adolescents, finds herself chafing against the cultural expectations of her family. The traditional elements of the Sabrina mythos – Aunts Hilda and Zelda, boyfriend Harvey, familiar Salem, Cousin Ambrose – are reintroduced, with a more malevolent edge than before, and set against a Hitchcockian background of suspense and sinister agendas.

“We should’ve just cut him in half.” Should have thought of that earlier, Ronnie…

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who elicited unaccustomed high praise from me for Afterlife With Archie, continues his winning streak. The old cast are seen through a darkened mirror, twisted but recognizable, full of looming menace. In this endeavour, he’s more than ably assisted by artist Robert Hack, whose illustrations evoke a claustrophobic yesteryear, as threatening as it is nostalgic. There are knowing nods along the way to Rosemary’s Baby, Psycho, Flowers In The Attic, an unexpected poke at the Betty/Veronica rivalry, and a raid of the back catalogue of Archie Comics’ previously-published supernatural characters, but all of this is decoration; the tension of the bubbling plots is so strong, it’s virtually a character in its own right. And a character definitely not to be ignored.