Life With Archie – Volume 01 Issue 147

1 week ago 18

“The Runaway”

Little Jeb Murphy has gone missing! But why? Was it his parents and their overparenting? Jughead thinks it’s food related. Yeah, right. Archie thinks it’s over a girl. Come on, he’s not old enough to have two girls fighting over him. Wait! What is it, Hot Dog?!

“Night Fright!”

It can be so frightening outside in the dark. But Jinx feels so safe when a boy is around to protect her. Boys are never afraid of the dark. Sure they are.

“Frankendstew”

Betty and Veronica have embraced their womanly liberation with a total rewrite of Mary Shelley‘s classic horror story. Say hello to Doctor Frankendstew’s creation, Ethelstew. Or is it Frankendethel? No matter. Nothing can be more terrifying than Betty, aka Igora. Nooo! Watch out, Jughead! Run for the hills!

“Spellbound”

Betty is determined to bring unity between Archie and Reggie if it kills her. That’s u-n-i-t-y. The only problem is, Reggie thrives on rivalry. That’s r-i-v-a-l-r-y. Archie, well Archie hates a bad speller. How can he make peace with a guy that has done him a disservice? That’s d-i-s-s-e-r-v-i-c-e…

Review

Betty and Veronica were heavily involved in the feminist movement during its height in the 1970s. However, they used it more as a tool to get their way in situations when the boys were being stubborn and pigheaded. In this issue of Life With Archie, the ladies release their inner Virginia Woolf with a female-friendly retelling of Frankenstein. There is no need to mansplain here, Archie; the guys take a back seat in this hilarious reboot.

Although this isn’t a true horror or Halloween special, I feel the editors should have held the Frankenstein story for an October edition of the comic book. The other two stories seem disjointed when placed together with Frankendstew. In any case, this was a fun book with some excellent art by Stan Goldberg and Joe Edwards. I give this book a strong four out of five stars.