Archie #27

Story by: Mark Waid

Art by: Audrey Mok

Colors by: Kelly Fitzpatrick

Published by: Archie Comics

Confession time. In the age-old question that has been tearing this world apart for the past 75 years: Betty or Veronica? I have always been Team Betty! She has always been a character that I enjoyed reading about back in my childhood because she was very relatable - as relatable as a comic character can be I guess. Saying this, I was really happy that Mark Waid and company finally decided to dedicate the last two story arcs to one of my favorite characters in the Archie universe - even if it meant what happened to her happened.

In this, the conclusion of “The Heart of Riverdale”, we finally get to see Betty shine and grow as a character. Too often, and here lies one of my only complaints about the comic character of Betty, has always been her dependance on Archie’s love. However, this is no longer the same world that birthed these characters and I am glad to say that Waid is moving these characters away from those awful tropes.

The issue sees both Archie and Betty faced with a decision to make. In the case of Archie, he is faced with Veronica asking him to make the same age-old decision discussed above: her or Betty. On the other side of town, Betty is asked by Dilton Doiley - who has had a fantastic B-side story these last few issues - whether she will go out with or not.

Each decision isn’t made right away in the book, a nice faint by Waid. Instead, we get to see a continued exploration of Dilton and Archie musing over how to go about the answer/question that they each made. In Dilton’s case, he receives extra prodding from Toni, whereas Archie gets help in the most unexpected way from Jughead.

Mok on art, with colors by Fitzpatrick, continues to kill it on this series. Mok, I believe I’ve mentioned this previously, is fast becoming one of my favorite artists and she almost seems to have been born to draw Archie comics. I’m unsure if she has free-reign to do some of the sight gags within the comic (or if these are penned by Waid), but they all hit it out of the park. Jughead leading Archie by the arm away from near-catastrophes (yes, with an “s”) as well as something simple as Moose’s unspoken reaction to some of Dilton’s musings helps to elevate an already stellar comic.

If you aren’t reading this new Archie comic series by Waid and company, I don’t know what you are waiting for. From the first issue onwards, this has consistently been one of the best comics on the newstands in the past two years and you do yourself a disservice not reading it.