RIVERDALE #2

Script: Greg Murray, Daniel King

Art: Joe Eisma, Thomas Pitilli

Colors: Andre Szymanowicz

Publisher: Archie Comics

I’m still just as obsessed with The CW’s Riverdale show as I was this time last month, but the book that’s telling stories from its universe is absolutely taking a place next to it as something just as amazing. I adore that this book is using the titles of movies and TV shows for individual issues, just as the show is doing for its episodes. This issue is “The Breakfast Club”, and the writers don’t skimp on the references pulled right from that 1985 classic teen flick. The first bit of meta that made me laugh out loud, in fact, was Archie using Claire’s dialogue about not belonging in detention. (For the uninitiated, Claire was played by Molly Ringwald, who also has the part of Archie’s mom in the CW show.) 

There may not have been any soul-baring sharing circles in the library, or thousand-word essays, but Murray and King absolutely capture what it would look like if John Hughes had written this movie in 2017 and set it in Riverdale instead of Shermer, Illinois. I may also have laughed harder than I should have at the literary and pop culture references these writers keep sneaking in, just the way do in the show itself. Betty’s choice of lunchtime reading makes me think we may see some Gilmore Girls stuff soon; after all, she and good-girl Rory Gilmore would bond over their mutual desire to be left alone to read, and to defend books like “The Story of O” from would-be censors. Also, I’m pretty sure I’m going straight to Hell for giggling at Kevin’s description of the chubby gay football player as Lenny. (That’d be “I had a little friend once, but he don’t move no more” Lenny, from  “Of Mice and Men”, who pets and squeezes the objects of his affection just a bit too much...)

Overall, the tone of this issue is a good bit lighter than the show, what with the reveal of Jason Blossom’s killer coming this week. But that’s perfectly fine with me. Even the weirdness of Twin Peaks, which Riverdale leans heavily on as a starting point, had plenty of humorous bits. It’s not all death and gloom - sometimes it’s a slice of pie and a damn fine cup of coffee in the diner. 

The art here isn’t appreciably changed much since last issue. I still find myself wishing that the characters’ faces were less angular and a bit more conventionally pretty. (To be expected from a Dan Parent fan, I guess...) That being said, I really enjoyed the way Andre Szymanowicz used pastel backgrounds to evoke the look and feel of the original Breakfast Club film. The purple washes in the first few pages are particularly on-point. I’m not sure quite how the writers are going to handle this book meeting up/crossing over with the show’s timeline, but I do know I’m absolutely along for the ride.