ARCHIE Volume 4

Pete Wood and Jack Morelli, Illustrator

Mark Waid, Writer

The Archie Comic Publications has produced another volume of their flagship and namesake, ARCHIE. It is now time to see how the return of Veronica will turn out. Another 5 issues of RIVERDALE comes within this volume. Also stored in the back is the first issue of the Archies, Archies own band.

Veronica has now completed her round trip back to Riverdale from Switzerland. Time has not been kind to Archie’s relationship with her. They are a little bit awkward towards each other now. The happy magic is gone and things are a little closer to earth. They don’t even know how to talk to each other any more. The Blossoms, a side product of Veronica’s travels, are having some daddy and money issues. Betty is also dating around.

Then things start to heat up between age old enemies, Archie and Reggie. True to the cover, this rivalry takes to the streets. An old wreck that Betty and Archie have been working on for years is put to the test against a new supercar from Reggie’s garage. In a classic battle of who has bigger balls, a tragic accident occurs when someone tries to save the two from each other and themselves. The town has to come together to help and to hope they get better.

This is another solid trade, keeping up the drama and the good art. This issue brings back the focus to the core of what we really care about, the characters. This is an edgier and angrier Archie as well. Pete Woods joins the collection of fantastic artists to grace the rebooted Archie. It will be interesting to see if anyone is truly safe in the next volume.