Archie #30 Review

Story by: Mark Waid & Ian Flynn

Art by: Audrey Mok

Colors by: Kelly Fitzpatrick

Lettering by: Jack Morelli

Published by: Archie Comics

The spring dance is finally here at Riverdale High and now the question becomes: how will Archie screw this one up?

It might be a tiresome refrain, but one thing this series has reestablished from old Archie lore is the fact that Archie Andrews is the ultimate klutz and writers Waid and Flynn heavily lean into this trope from issue to issue. Sometimes it comes off as a little desperate, but sometimes it is pulled off with aplomb like in this issue.

You see, Archie has landed the gig to play the dance and as the day approached, everything seemed to be going his way (once he found his guitar). However, now that the day has finally arrived, even though he is full of confidence, things will obviously not go his way. This whole sequence could only be done well through the visual medium like comics and Audrey Mok does a marvellous job at it. I’m always intrigued when it comes to visual gags if it’s the writer that comes of with them or the artist, or a combination of both. Either way, Mok does a superb job of showcasing just how not-ready Archie is while Waid and Flynn write the dialogue in the opposite direction.

The rest of the issue has a quick showcase on Betty and Veronica arriving at the dance together in a pretty sweet scene. We also get the continuation of “Reggie is a jerk, but a jerk with a secret” as he makes his way to the dance. Finally, we get to see Moose finally get the courage to ask out Midge which to be frank, I had just assumed they were together throughout this whole series as they were in the old comics. So colour me surprised when that wasn’t actually the case.

As I mentioned above, Mok continues to be great on art and I really hope she is in for the long haul; Fitzpatrick continues to be one of my favourite colourists out there as everything she does bring life to the pencils. The one thing that I can say never dragged down this series is the art.