Jughead: The Hunger vs. Vampironica #1 Review

Writer: Frank Tieri
Artists: Pat & Tim Kennedy and Joe Eisma
Inkers: Bob Smith and Ryan Jampole
Colorist: Matt Herms
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Publisher: Archie Comics

During Vampironica’s initial run, I wrote negative reviews for most of the issues and a positive review of one and I have pretty much reviewed every issue of Jughead: The Hunger positively since its beginning. Needless to say, not being a fan of Vampironica and being a big fan of Jughead: The Hunger made me pretty nervous about how much I was going to enjoy this new Jughead: The Hunger vs. Vampironica series.

This first issue of the series mash-up focuses on the Vampironica side of the story. It sets up the crossover that is to come by providing us with basically just another issue of Vampironica. Like I said, I didn’t enjoy Vampironica’s original run, and I always thought that it may have been the writing. But I find Frank Tieri’s writing to be very enjoyable and yet I still didn’t enjoy this issue, which makes me think that it may just be the character and story behind Vampironica that I don’t like.

This is especially disappointing because the idea of an entire Archie Horror series about Veronica as a vampire and vampire-hunter should be incredible. But I really feel like Greg and Megan Smallwood, the writers and artists for Vampironica, did the character and the concept a disservice by establishing the story as a mediocre one. This first issue of the crossover seems like Tieri could have had the opportunity to play around with another interesting story to merge it with the amazing one he’s already been a part of. Instead, this issue is Tieri writing a character, story, and tone that I didn’t originally enjoy and he can only rectify so much of that for me. My thoughts about Jughead: The Hunger vs. Vampironica #1 also admittedly suffers from my expectations that I have for Archie Horror series and Jughead: The Hunger in particular.

But like I said above, Jughead: The Hunger vs. Vampironica #1 is basically just another issue of Vampironica, and it essentially exists to reveal to us that all the vampires are not dead as we previously thought. This means that Veronica has the chance to play vampire-hunter again along with her partner Dilton.

While I may not appreciate the Vampironica universe, there is no denying that this all-star team of artists have excelled in their work on this first issue. The action is clear and exciting and the violence is especially satisfying. The vampires in the issue also have a classic and tropey vampire look that I find very entertaining.

Jughead: The Hunger vs. Vampironica #1 isn’t the powerhouse that I desired, but there is promise for something great in the future.