Riverdale #11 Review

Writer: Greg Murray

Artist: Thomas Pitilli

Colors: Andre Szymanowicz

Published by: Archie Comics

Probably the best thing that this TV tie-in series brings to the table, and something I’ve mentioned before, is the ability to see into the lives of other, secondary characters from the show. In this issue, we circle back to Reggie Mantle and his knack for taking a prank way too far.

The issue begins innocently enough with Archie bringing Reggie his homework as the latter has been sick at home for the past week. However, this is all a part of our resident prankster’s ploy,  while his parents are out of town, to get a date with Josie McCoy to prom. We’ve seen his affection for Josie in previous issues, so this is nothing new here.

What Reggie does best though is take a prank to its extreme and usually loses control of it. This time around, taking a queue from John Green’s The Fault in our Stars (referenced by name, multiple times in this issue), Reggie plans to use it as a basis for his plan, being a sick teenager, but, since this is Reggie we’re talking about, bastardized the actual message of the book/movie for his own benefit.

In typical Archie fashion, the plan works fine for a time, but eventually completely blows up in his face (this might constitute a spoiler if this wasn’t what happens to Reggie every single time).

What this tie-in comic really proves to me on a monthly basis is that the TV show proper is missing out on exploring a lot of their secondary characters that are pretty big in the Archie universe proper. The fact that characters like Reggie, Moose, Midge and Dilton are only ever seen from time to time on the show is a real shame. Luckily we have the comic to follow their adventures.