Even though comics’ most famous character – Archie – is dead, the publishers have launched a special series post that, such as Afterlife with Archie in 2013 and a companion series The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina in 2014.
Afterlife with Archie, which features the Riverdale characters with zombies saw its last issue in February while Sabrina, an occult horror story set in the 60s only came out with one issue. Now, the publishers have decided to return with a bang by releasing the next issue of both under a dedicated Archie Horror imprint and they will be joined by a third series as well.
Archie chief creative officer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa said that while they were eager to launch Sabrina at New York Comic Con last year since it was close to Halloween, they should have waited till they had a few editions in the can before proceeding with a launch. “There’s no excuse and there will never be a delay like there was between Sabrina #1 and #2. We are very lucky that we have an incredibly passionate and understanding fan base that is eager for the book,” he said.
The third series that will be launched in the horror portfolio will reportedly be centred on a major Archie character. “She has appeared in one of our books before and will be in a genre we have not explored or even hinted at in Sabrina. In Afterlife, we’ve only hinted at it a tiny bit and it will be set in the present,” he told the Entertainment Weekly.
As far as the first two books are concerned, Roberto is already halfway through the third issue of Sabrina which he says is the darkest and weirdest comic book they’ve ever written. The #8 issue of Afterlife with Archie will pay homage to The Shining and will release on 6 May 2015 while Sabrina #2 will release on 15 April 2015.
“The Archie Horror books have prompted the best work of our careers,” said Roberto. “To take these iconic characters and re-imagine them and place them in situations they’ve never been in before- it’s a blast, and I’m glad people are responding to it.”