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ARCHIE #7
Archie comics
Story by: Mark Waid
Art by: Veronica Fish
Colors by: Andre Szymanowicz & Jen Vaughn
Lettering by: Jack Morelli
It can’t be easy to pull off storylines that don’t focus on the title character when dealing with primarily point-of-view driven narratives the way Archie does, but that’s what’s going on with the Reggie subplot – and, to a more minor extent so far, the Betty subplot being teased in the background – that’s continuing to unfold in Archie #7. It’s a great time to be a Reggie and Veronica fan, that’s for sure, but Archie still manages to guide us through the story with a compassionate and uniquely clumsy charm that’s easy to appreciate.
One thing I do hope we can look forward to in future issues is how ultimately Reggie will end up folded into the group of friends, since I feel like to avoid the “frenemies” aspect of his relationship with the others – not unlike Veronica’s relationship with Betty – entirely in favor of keeping him in a strict antagonist role loses something significant; it’s a core dynamic that would be great to see handled under a single, consistent writer like Waid who definitely has the skills to balance it well, and could easily pull off transitioning Reggie from “the villain” to “the jerk that gets tolerated but only barely, sometimes.” I say “hope” mostly because given the nature of the pacing and personalities in play, Reggie clearly has a long way to go before any real positive relationships may be a reality for him, but that’s fine; like with Veronica I have no major concerns regarding Waid’s ability to integrate the characters with the greater cast in a way that remains true to them, the story he’s telling, and what we know and love about these stories from the get-go all at the same time – that, and I think before Reggie can become part of the group in anything resembling a “friendly” way, I’d like to see some of the other characters – such as Sheila, Maria, Raj, Sayid, and Kevin – further spotlighted first. Rather than orbit the background as friends, catty commentators, or plot-movers, I look forward to seeing them come into their own as actual developed characters with their own depths to be explored, even if we still have some time before this storyline wraps up and they get some of their own.
Now it’s time to shift gears from talking Reggie to finally, as I always do, talk about the art. Veronica Fish’s expressive style only seems to get better and more dynamic with every issue, and this time around I found myself definitely caught up in noticing her incredible attention to details. The pages are full of little things to look at, from Veronica’s family photos, to the design of the “Blue Plate Special” advertisement in Pop Tate’s store window (and everything in his shop, actually), the cactus and family photo in Ricky Mantle’s office, and the assorted storefronts we see characters passing in front of, but it doesn’t stop there. Fish has already got a great lock on the characters and their individual ranges of expressions and body language, but her overall usage of body language in general is just so smoothly and comfortably executed that the pages flow without a moment of hesitation, every panel communicating itself perfectly. This is further assisted through the vibrant colors of Andre Szymanowicz and Jen Vaughn, who really bring a richness to environments like Veronica’s mansion, Mr. Mantle’s office (I love his pink computer), Pop’s shop, and outside/around Riverdale. The sunset skies that frame Archie and Veronica’s conversation are gorgeous, and the use of dramatic lighting throughout the issue is subtle, striking, and fabulous.
Now that we’ve left the #LipstickIncident behind us, Archie presents us with our next mystery hashtag, #WhatDidReggieDo. We can assume that, probably, his record is unrelated to his penchant for extremely reckless driving or using fake IDs to get into 18+ clubs with older women, since he still does both those things without any evident shame, but like with the #LipstickIncident it seems silly to dwell too hard on the speculation since it’s no doubt meant to be something surprising. What I feel like the question that #WhatDidReggieDo really leaves us with is, will the reveal serve to make him more narratively sympathetic, or more narratively repulsive? Based on the way this arc is going my guess would be either the former, or the latter as a lead in to the former, but whatever it is does have Reggie upset enough to sabotage his situation himself rather than wait for the axe of blackmail to fall. Ominous!