Archie vs Predator: 09/28/17

Sometimes reading is a purely nostalgic thing. Usually around the holidays as the year is winding down I get in the mood for familiar stuff: either a new book with favorite characters, or re-reading an old favorite.

I especially look for easy reads for Thanksgiving. We typically travel to spend the holiday with Ian's parents. In the past there would be a football game on. More recently some sort of marathon — the Twilight Zone or something else. I'm sort of expected to be present but I like to turn off the marathons with books or my computer (if it's charged up and if the internet connection is good).

Two years ago I saw some sample panels from Archie vs Predator by Alex de Campi, a standalone four issue comic involving Predator taking out Riverdale, and I knew it would be my Thanksgiving read. I've been an on again, off again fan of Archie comics since I was a kid. They're on the saccharine side and Predator isn't. It was just so ridiculous a concept that I had to read it. Then plans changed. For work reasons we ended up staying home for Thanksgiving and I put away the book.

The Riverdale gang wins a trip to a remote island. It happens to be the same one that Preditor is on. It sees them and gets infatuated with Betty and Veronica and follows them home to Riverdale. How better to express your feelings than killing off an entire town?

Predators thoughts, if they can be considered such, are rendered as emojis. Combined that with the visceral way he slaughters most of the main characters, it's a jarring juxtaposition.

The whole thing can be read with a television blaring in about thirty minutes. It's goofy, bloody, violent, and has the weirdest ending. If you think Predator is the horror element of this tale, you're wrong. He just lays it bare through his destruction.

Four stars

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