The world and superheroes of Riverdale have crossed over many times before, with the Black Hood, the Crusaders, and Captain Flagg—neither Archie Andrews and friends, nor Archie as a publisher, are entirely unfamiliar with the classic foundations of the genre. But Archie Comics’ latest foray into superheroes bridges the gap between pastiche and affectionate, all-ages riff with a stepped-up tone and seriousness.
io9 has the exclusive look at Archie’s next miniseries. Archie is a righteous manis a new four-part miniseries that combines a metatextual examination of Archie Comics history and superheroes from the Golden Age of Comics with a new story in which Archie himself gains previously unknown powers and becomes the World’s Mightiest Hero. Each issue of the series is told by a different creative team and offers a different perspective from one of Archie’s friends or family. The story follows a young teenager who discovers he has superpowers, takes on the title of Mister Justice (even though the name itself is plagiarized from Archie Comics’ old publishing history, even though the new book is not a reboot of the character), saves the world, and then suddenly and mysteriously disappears.
“Mr. Justice “It’s a story that shows the absolute integrity of Archie characters filtered through the much more cynical world of superheroes,” says Tim Seeley, author of issue #1. Archie is a righteous manThe story will be told from Jughead’s perspective, he told io9 in a statement provided via email. “We’ve understandably been weary of the idea for years that people with power are good, but Archie Andrews is exactly that — but there are plenty of people in his world who care more about money and power than he does.”
“This is a more modern take on the idea of ’Archie is a superhero’ – an innocent soul in a corrupt world,” added Mike Norton, artist of the first issue. “Archie is the original ‘good guy,’ so he’s the perfect character to put in this setting. He’s fun to read and even more fun to draw!”
Seeley and Norton will be the creative team for the first issue of the miniseries, along with colorist Glenn Whitmore and letterer Jack Morelli, but the remaining issues will see a shift in the creative team, just as the perspective on Archie’s time as Mister Justice shifts, with Amanda Deibert, Blake Howard, Kenny Porter, Maria Laura Sanapo and Brent Schoenover joining the team.
“We’re honored to work with this incredibly talented team of creators to produce something entirely unique for Archie Comics – a long-form story presented from a variety of perspectives by a diverse creative team, and we’re even more honored to have the incredible team of Tim Seely and Mike Norton on board to launch this endeavor,” added Archie senior editorial director Jamie L. Rotante. “This is more than just a superhero story. This is a story about hope in a world that feels increasingly hopeless. And in this timeline, Archie is our beacon of hope.”
First Issue Archie is a righteous man Scheduled to be released on November 20th.
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