JESSE PARRINO 25-JULY-2014
REVIEW: LIFE WITH ARCHIE COMICS #37

So I read the second issue of the Death of Archie arc. I enjoyed it a lot more then the first issue (when he actually died to save Kevin Keller). My initial complaints are still valid.  For the few lines, the book gets very overbearing with politics. “Archie died so I could follow up on these laws” was a theme the book played out for Kevin Keller’s motivation. Which makes the political statement here just feel heavy. 

The art style felt more fitting here then it did in the first issue. This issue takes place a year later and it’s pretty much about Kevin Keller talking to most of the main cast looking for memories of Archie for a commencement taking place at the school. It shows most of the cast and while managing to play up the comedy of the normal Archie titles it feels like a bittersweet look back. 

In exploring what the character’s death meant for the characters in his world it added depth to it, where in the first issue, it felt solely political. All-in-all I’d say the book was an…interesting read. I’m not going to say it redeemed the storyline. But it was tolerable. I think it was an interesting way to end the Life with Archie series but it fell short of greatness. For me it never got past the publicity stunt of “Let’s Kill Archie.”

I feel like this should have been at least three issues. The fact that we jumped a year ahead and didn’t see the characters initial reactions and how broken or not broken up they were, felt like we missed out on the opportunity on some real character growth. Instead it’s “They’ve all come to terms with it after a year”…..and that’s not how dealing with the death of a loved one works.

Jesse Parrino is a contributor that loves to discuss cosplay, conventions, comics and games. Fandoms include Doctor Who, Steven Universe, and anime.