As I intimated in our preview of this issue, Betty & Veronica are very old hat at going to prom. The full-length story in this issue pokes a bit of fun about that, when the duo try to remember who took Archie last time and who’s turn it is this go around. If that was it to the story, it’d be pretty standard Archie fare, but writer Dan Parent takes a different tack, and it was quite refreshing. Some time ago, a school district in Riverdale’s vicinity closed and the orphaned students were welcomed to Riverdale High with open arms. With all the new blood, B&V decide maybe it’s time to play the field a bit.
Opportunity knocks when Veronica goes prom shopping!
Veronica has a scheme in mind, and the purpose it serves is twofold and a stroke of storytelling genius as well. To find out who to take to the prom, Veronica sets up a speed date session with all of the new guys, which turns out to be a good plan and introduces the reader to all of the new characters without having a roll call, which is all too often the case in other comics. The speed date ends with our two heroines with some new arm candy, but the lads of Riverdale also get to meet some new people on their dates, even Jughead!
Forsythe P. Jones, master of sarcasm.
The prom dates themselves have some interesting quirks that drive the rest of the story, and makes for a very atypical prom night (except for maybe Jughead, surprisingly). As the story wraps up, things come full circle in way that leaves the reader with a smile on their face. This is why I read Archie books, I can forget about the insanity of other companies’ rigamarole and just sit down and genuinely enjoy a story.
Can I say I love that an Archie book has an asterisk box?
Moving onto the technical aspects of the book, I mentioned above how much I admire Dan Parent’s writing on the book, but I’ll be honest, I was more familiar with his artwork, so it was even more of a pleasant surprise that he can hold his own in both fields. The art in this tale is by Jeff Shultz, and while some will says the ‘Archie Style’ makes it difficult to gauge an artist’s talent, I have to disagree. The clean lines and masterful facial expressions (aided by the inks of Bob Smith) are second to none and places Shultz in my top 3 of current Archie artists.
This book won’t be in stores until next Wednesday, but I implore you to tell your comic shop owner to save you a copy. You won’t regret it and it comes with my highest recommendation.