[BOOK REVIEW] Afterlife with Archie: Escape from Riverdale Volume 1 by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

Title:  Afterlife with Archie: Escape from Riverdale Volume 1  

Author:  Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa  

Artist:  Francesco Francavilla  

Genre:  Horror / Drama / Zombies / Alternative Universe / Friendship

Year Published: 2014

Year Read:  10/28/2017

Publisher:  Archie Comics

Series: Afterlife with Archie #1

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 15+ (Gory Violence and Some Language)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

Introduction:

Alright, so I will admit that I have not read many Archie Comics where the gang is put into a darker situation that is different from the “wholesale family entertainment” adventures that they are usually in (and this was BEFORE the reboot came along, although the reboot was not as dark as this comic).  So, since Halloween is around the corner, I just had to pick this graphic novel up called “Afterlife with Archie: Escape from Riverdale Volume One” which is written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa along with artwork by Francesco Francavilla, where Archie and the Gang end up in a for real zombie apocalypse!

What is this story about?

The story starts out with Hot Dog, Jughead’s beloved dog, being run over by a car and Jughead ends up going to Sabrina the Teenage Witch, to see if she can help his dog.  Unfortunately, Sabrina’s aunts tell Jughead that there is nothing they can do for Hot Dog and that he should let Hot Dog stay dead.  But then, Sabrina decided to help out Jughead anyway and she ends up resurrecting Hot Dog.  Unfortunately, it turns out that when Sabrina brought Hot Dog back to life, Hot Dog became a zombie dog and he ended up biting Jughead, which turned Jughead into a zombie! So, when Jughead went to the school dance, he ended up affecting most of the school by biting most of the students, with the exception of the main cast, which consisted of Archie, Dilton, Midge, Moose, Reggie, Betty, Veronica and many others.  The remaining students ended up going to Mr. Lodge’s mansion in order to protect themselves against the zombies, while also trying to see if there are any survivors from the zombie apocalypse.

What I loved about this story:

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s writing:  Wow!  I never would have thought that I would live to see the day where there would be a graphic novel series that has Archie and the gang getting involved in a zombie apocalypse!  Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has done a fantastic job at giving the usual sweet natured Archie Comics a darker and scarier tone in this graphic novel and it never felt so out of place to me that the Archie gang in this story are portrayed in a much more mature and cynical way, since they are stuck in a zombie apocalypse and it is appropriate for this type of story.  I also loved the way that Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa created a different spin for each of the main characters, such as Betty and Veronica being more antagonistic with each other rather than be good friends with a small rivalry with each other, Sabrina and her family being more realistic and intense versions of witches and Nancy and Chuck…well, I will let you find out for yourselves what is going on with Nancy and Chuck in this comic!  I really loved the fact that this comic is much more serious and frightening in tone since the gang are facing a zombie apocalypse and I found myself a bit creeped out by some of the moments in this comic, such as the zombified citizens of Riverdale attacking the main protagonists.

Francesco Francavilla’s artwork:  Francesco Francavilla’s artwork fits the scary and serious tone of this comic quite perfectly as the zombies in this comic are quite terrifying to look at such as the images of the zombified Hot Dog.  I loved the fact that the art style is much more realistic in this comic as it really captures the mature and serious nature of this story. I also loved the way that Francesco Francavilla did the coloring of this book as the colors are mostly in red, black, orange and grey that greatly convey the horror elements of this story.

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

Anyone who does not like language or gory violence might be a bit uncomfortable with some of the gory violence and language in this comic.  The language in this comic is not as strong as some of the more mature comics as only the “h” word is uttered in a couple of sentences and as for the gory violence, there are many images of zombies biting into people which is pretty graphic.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Afterlife with Archie: Escape from Riverdale Volume One” is a fantastic graphic novel that anyone who loves both the Archie Comics and zombies will easily enjoy!

* 2014 Harvey Awards Nominee for Best New Series

* 2015 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards Nominee for Best Lettering (for Jack Morelli), Best Cover Artist (for Francesco Francavilla)

You might also like:

• Archie Volume 1: The New Riverdale by Mark Waid

• Jughead Volume 1 by Chip Zdarsky
• American Vampire Volume 1 by Scott Snyder and Stephen King

[BOOK REVIEW] Rin-ne Volume 1 by Rumiko Takahashi

Title:  Rin-ne Volume 1


Author:  Rumiko Takahashi

Genre: Horror / Adventure / Comedy / School


Year Published: 2009


Year Read: 2015


Series: Rin-ne #1


Publisher: VIZ Media


Source:  Library


Content Rating:  Ages 8+ (Some Scary Imagery)


Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Now, I have been a huge fan of Rumiko Takahashi’s works for many years (with “Ranma ½” and “Inuyasha” being my all-time favorites).  So, when I heard that Rumiko Takahashi was making a brand new manga series called “Rin-ne,” my little fan girl heart just cried out in ecstasy since I have been dying to see more new works from Rumiko Takahashi and this volume of “Rin-ne” has definitely been worth reading!

When Sakura Mamiya was a child, she went to her Grandmother’s house and she ended up disappearing in the woods.  She was able to return home all safe and sound, but in the meantime, she ended up getting the power to be able to see ghosts.  Now Sakura is a much older high school student and she is getting used to her powers, although she wishes that the ghosts would stop pestering her.  One day however, Rinne Rokudo, a student who has been absent since the start of the school year, finally arrives in class and it turns out that only Sakura can see Rinne and it seems that Rinne is able to see ghosts himself!

Who is this mysterious boy and what kind of adventures will Sakura go on with Rinne?

Read this volume to find out!

I have always been a huge fan of Rumiko Takahashi’s works and one of the things that I really enjoyed about Rumiko Takahashi’s works is that she is able to present the same scenario in each of her works (having the two main characters arguing with each other throughout the manga and then eventually fall in love with each other); and yet each theme to her works are different from each other, such as “Ranma ½” being all about martial arts, “Urusei Yatsura” being all about aliens and “Inuyasha” being all about demons.  “Rin-ne” is no different from what I have read from Rumiko Takahashi’s works, even though the idea about this series taking place in the afterlife is new and extremely intriguing.  I loved the way that Rumiko Takahashi manages to balance between horror and humor in this volume as the idea about a teenage girl being able to talk to ghosts is a creepy concept in of itself, but there is so much humor going on between Rinne and Sakura that the story is much more engaging to read rather than being outright scary.  It seems that this series is a cross between “Ranma ½” and “Inuyasha” as it is much lighter in tone than “Inuyasha,” but it is a bit darker in tone than “Ranma ½.” However, this series was able to combine these elements by using “Ranma ½’s” boisterous humor and “Inuyasha’s” horror material to a truly intriguing extent!  I also loved the fact that Rumiko Takahashi explains about the Japanese culture in the back of this volume as it helped me understand more about the Japanese terms used in this volume such as “hime” meaning “princess” and “yoroshiku” meaning “hello” or “best regards!”  Rumiko Takahashi’s artwork is as usual gorgeous and hilarious to look at as I loved seeing the characters’ expressions on their faces whenever they are reacting to the strange events that happen around them and I always enjoyed seeing the images where the characters get involved in slapstick violence as it is truly hilarious to look at!

    

Just a bit of a warning for anyone who wants to try this series out; this volume has a bit of scary imagery, especially concerning some of the ghosts that both Rinne and Sakura meet up with and they might be creepy for some readers to handle.  However, since this volume is full of comedy, it would be difficult to really be frightened of some of these images, especially if they are seen during the story’s more hilarious moments.

Overall, “Rin-ne Volume One” is a fantastic introduction to Rumiko Takahashi’s new series “Rin-ne” and I will definitely be looking out for the rest of this series in the near future!

[BOOK REVIEW] More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz

Title:  More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Author:  Alvin Schwartz

Artist: Stephen Gammell


Genre: Horror / Short Story



Year Published: 1984



Year Read: 2012



Series: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark #2

Publisher: HarperCollins

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 8+ (Scary Situations and Frightening Imagery)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads
 

SCARY STORIES PART TWO!

After reading the first book “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” I just had to read up on the sequel, “More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” which is also written by Alvin Schwartz along with illustrations by Stephen Gammell. “More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” is a continuation of the first book and we are introduced to more spine-tingling tales from this fantastic series as you will definitely be sitting on the edge of your seats after you read this collection of scary stories!

Just like the first book, this book basically contains a collection of scary stories to tell in the dark and they include:

One Sunday Morning

A young woman named Ida decided to go to church on Sunday morning and when she made it to the church, she started to realize that the people at the church were not normal as she saw one of her friends, Josephine Kerr, attend the service, even though she died a month ago…

The Little Black Dog

Billy Mansfield was fighting a man named Silas Burton, who was an enemy of his family and when Billy knocked Silas off his horse, he ended up killing Silas along with his black dog when the dog started barking at Billy.  Unfortunately after that incident, Billy starts noticing a strange black dog following him around…

The Bride

A minister’s daughter just got married and after the wedding ceremony, she decided to play hide and seek and she hid inside a trunk in the attic.  Unfortunately, the lid of the trunk dropped on the daughter and locked her inside the trunk and everyone at the wedding ceremony did not even know that she is missing!

Once again, I was blown away by this collection of scary stories from the creative retellings of Alvin Schwartz!  Alvin Schwartz has done a brilliant job at retelling these ancient scary folktales as each story is just as creepy and intense as the last story and the twist endings are enough to make you scream!  I loved the way that Alvin Schwartz provided an eerie atmosphere to each story as it makes the audience feel scare for the characters and the supernatural activities that surround them and it really brought out the creativity of this book.  I also loved the fact that Alvin Schwartz took the time to research the various folktales dealing with horror and I loved the fact that Alvin Schwartz provided a bibliography section at the end of the book so that way you would be able to go back and check the original sources of these tales!  I enjoyed most of the stories in this collection, but my most favorite stories would have to be “The Bride,” “The Little Black Dog,” “One Sunday Morning,” “Wonderful Sausage” and “The Cat in a Shopping Bag.” Stephen Gammell’s illustrations are as usual, eerily and brilliantly done as the artwork is truly frightening to look at and the black and white colorings of the illustrations really bring out the creepy feel to the stories.  There is much creepy imagery in this book, but probably the scariest image in this book was of the skeletal bride in “The Bride.” 

Just like the first book, this book might be too scary for small children since there are stories about characters being killed and haunted by supernatural forces.  Also, what always made this series so scary for small children is the fact that the illustrations are truly scary and small children might not be able to get through this book because of the scary illustration.  As for why I took off half a point from the rating, I felt that this book was using the same structure that was used in the first book such as in stories like “Cemetery Soup” where the character always steal something from the dead and something haunts them at the end.

Overall, “More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” is just another addition to your “Horror Books for Children” shelf that you just got to check out!  I would recommend this book to children ages eight and up since the often spooky content in this book is too scary for small children.

REASON FOR BEING BANNED: Unsuited for age group, violence

[BOOK REVIEW] Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz

Title:  Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Author:  Alvin Schwartz

Artist:  Stephen Gammell


Genre: Horror / Short Stories



Year Published: 1981



Year Read: 2012



Series: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark #1

Publisher:  Scholastic, Inc.

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 8+ (Frightening Imagery and Scary Situations)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads 
 

YES…DEFINITELY YES!

I have always loved reading banned books because even though I am usually curious about the reasons why they were banned in the first place, it just makes me really want to read the books even more!  Well, I just picked up this spooky book for children called “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” by Alvin Schwartz along with illustrations by Stephen Gammell and it basically has several horror folktales collected over the years.  “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” is definitely one horror collection that you just have to read during Halloween!

Basically, this book has a collection of scary stories that you can tell in the dark and they include:

The Big Toe:

In this tale, a young boy finds a large toe in the ground and digs it up and he and his family decided to eat the toe.  But, the young boy will soon realize that you should never pull anything out of the ground as something scary starts happening during the night!

Cold as Clay:

A farmer has a daughter who fell in love with a man named Jim, but the farmer did not like having Jim be around his daughter.  So, the farmer decided to send his daughter to live with her uncle to keep her and Jim apart.  Unfortunately, Jim dies of being heartbroken and the farmer feels guilty about it.  Then, a strange thing happens to the farmer’s daughter after Jim dies…

The White Wolf:

When wolves started attacking the cattle and sheep in French Creek, the state decides to post up a reward for anyone who can kill the wolves.  One man named Bill Williams ends up killing the wolves, but he will soon realize the folly of his wolf killing ways.

Wow! After so many years of reading books that have collections of horror stories that will chill you to the bone (and I have read plenty of books like that), this was one of the few horror books that actually chilled me to the bone!  Alvin Schwartz has done an excellent job at retelling these ancient horror folktales and each story was scary and intense at the same time as the characters involved in each story are either murdered or tortured to death by the dead.  I also loved the way that Alvin Schwartz provided some helpful hints in scaring anyone if you are telling these stories to other people in the dark such as in the “Aaaaaah!” section of the book, Alvin Schwartz provides various moments where the narrator can scream at the audience to give a dramatic effect to the stories.  Some of my favorite stories in this book were “The Big Toe,” “Cold as Clay,” “The White Wolf,” “A New Horse,” and “The Ghost With the Bloody Fingers.” Stephen Gammell’s illustrations were truly haunting yet effective at the same time as the monster images were truly frightening to look at.  Probably the most frightening image in this book was the image of the horse in “A New Horse” as the horse has a misshapen head and you can see a woman’s legs attached to the horse’s back legs.

After looking over the banned books list, I have often seen this book on the list a couple of times and I wondered to myself about why this book was banned in some states?  Well, even though this book is basically retelling scary stories, this book is surprisingly too dark and violent for small children.  There were many stories in this book where characters were killed and dead beings haunt the characters and to add to that, the illustrations are often frightening as there are images of dead beings being covered in blood and having sunken eyes.  Parents might want to read this book first before they read it to their children in order to prevent children from having nightmares if they cannot handle the morbid content of this book.

Overall, “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” is a brilliant collection of scary tales that you can tell in the dark while scaring people during storytelling time! I would strongly recommend this book for children ages eight and up since the morbid content is extremely scary for smaller children.

REASON FOR BEING BANNED: Unsuited for age group, violence

* 1987 Grand Canyon Reader Award