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Archie Vs. Predator #3

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    Ian Jane
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  • Archie Vs. Predator #3



    Archie Vs. Predator #3
    Released by: Dark Horse Comics
    Released on: June 17th, 2105.
    Written: Alex de Campi
    Art by: Fernando Ruiz
    Purchase From Amazon

    Riverdale's got a whole new sort of problem to deal with these days. A Predator has followed Archie and company back to their home town and, one by one, picking them off for sport, as a Predator is wont to do, being a Predator and all. When the last issue left off, they'd come up with a plan - get Jughead to dress up and impersonate Veronica to lure the Predator out and then POW, kill the beast before it can kill the rest of them.

    And so Jughead, decked out in a dress and everything, heads through the bombed out streets of his hometown toward the high school setting off the trap that the kids had set not for him but for the Predator. He narrowly escapes with his life. He tells them everyone else is dead… but the Predator might have escaped. Of course the Predator escaped. “My friends…Moose…Kevin…Check…even Midge… I'm wearing what's left of them!”

    Archie insists they stay put and wait for the cops, but no dice, the cops are no more. They disappeared while helping out at the Dillman House - the only thing left are a few goats, and goats probably can't kill a Predator. The rest of the group take off, leaving Archie and Jughead and Betty and Veronica alone to deal with the problem. And Dilton. He's there too, insisting they accompany him to the AV Room but when Jughead falls behind the group to get himself a snack out a vending machine they soon realize that the Predator is following them. It doesn't end well and Archie decides he's going to kill the Predator himself.

    They head to the AV Room but when both Betty and Veronica take solace in Archie's arms, Dilton expresses his disdain for the fact that he's a loser in a school where only dating matters even though he's a good guy and a millionaire. A fair point to be sure, but his 'obsession' with Archie and his success with the ladies has had a positive outcome in the form of a battle suit he's made, using Archie as inspiration! Will it be enough to take out a Predator? Maybe, if they can get the weapons engaged and it doesn't malfunction.

    Some great jokes in here ('It's Audio Video, Dilton, not Audio Video Power - though A.V.P. is a pretty cool acronym!”) and those gory gross out jokes that were so amusing an genuinely unexpected in the first two issues are a big part of this third chapter too. This one ends on a fantastic cliffhanger, the kind that makes you shiver in antici…. pation for the next chapter. The horror quotient has been upped considerably this time around and with most of the action taking pace inside the high school there's a lot more claustrophobia going on here too. It works and it works well, and De Campi hits the right balance of Archie style comedy and Predator style action/horror. This is one of those crossovers that shouldn't have worked. Logic would dictate that his would be goofy, cheesy garbage, that it would fall on its four color face and be quickly forgotten but that's not been the case. This is a really fun read.

    Fernando Ruiz, with inks from Rich Koslowski and colors by Jason Millet, continues to illustrate the series in a 'traditional' Archie style meaning this book looks like it could have come of the rack at any given point since the series began. It makes for an interesting contrast with the gory story but it works and it works well. Nice line work, great, bold coloring and a nice cartoony style keep this looking lively and enhance the story being told in a big, big way. The next issue is the last - it's fair, at this point in the game, to expect big things. No one is safe. Let's see how it all plays out…






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