By Robert Ramos

Great. Just what the world needs.. yet another Archie comic series. Isn’t it time this beloved series just goes away? I mean, who actually still reads Archie comics? If you do, please tell me and single me out. Regardless, we’re given another installment in the Archie universe, and this time, your favorite comic book ginger and his posse are superheroes. And you know what? It wasn’t half bad.

Doctor Zarbox, substitute teacher extraordinaire, has had enough of everyone’s shit. He’s tired of being ridiculed by the Eliminators; he’s tired of shitbag teenagers; but most of all, he’s tired of being ignored by the Crusaders. You hear that, Crusaders? Take him seriously and come at your boy and fight him like the respectable villain that he is. Oh, wait? You can’t? Well, shit, you know what that means. Yup. Superteens to the rescue.

While extremely lame in premise, the writing was decent. I’m familiar with Iann Flynn’s work because of his stint on Mega Man and never had any issues with it then. The same applies here. Flynn and team’s writing is simple and to the point, but not ridiculous or a drag. It panders to its audience, and for that, I applaud it. But that’s the extent of it: nothing more, nothing less.

I’m not going to lie, though. Jugs one-liners made me laugh. It’s been known that he’s the comic relief and the writing team did a good job of keeping that in place. Being completely oblivious to other Archie characters, I can’t really voice about their portrayals and if they remained true. I can, however, tell you that just by reading this, they were written well and I got a sense of character out of them, even if the characters themselves are whatever at best.

The art is something that should be noted and the real selling point. It’s not cartoony like most typical Archie shit. In fact, it’s quite modern and extremely pleasant on the eyes. I wish I could praise someone in particular, but there’s a team of 3 behind it, so I’ll just go ahead and thank them for all the work they did. Honestly, I can’t think of a damned thing wrong with the art. It got the job done and did it well. And if we’re still on the subject of honesty, it was the beautiful cover that grabbed my attention and lead me to even give this book a chance.

This is apparently a two-issue run, which is somewhat of a bummer. This was a quick read, gimmicky, and garnered a bit of chuckles. It’s far from being mind-blowing, or revolutionary, but it was fun and I enjoyed it quite more than I anticipated. Sometimes it's nice to step away from all the seriousness and bloated superhero comics out there and take a break with something like this. I will be back for the next issue, for sure.

For the record, after seeing her in a superhero suit, you bet your ass I’m still Team Veronica. Hubba hubba.

Score: 3/5

Archie Superteens vs. Crusaders #1
Archie Comics