By Dustin Cabeal
The most surprising thing about Harley & Ivy Meet Betty & Veronica is that it’s a six-issue series. I will admit that I was excited about this crossover at first, mostly because Paul Dini was writing it. If anyone were going to write this and make it good, you’d think it would be Dini. Unfortunately, it’s an incredibly boring issue and I can’t imagine reading five more of them.
The plot is pretty simple; the Lodge’s are going to wipe out a swampland to build a free college. Ivy obviously has some qualms with this, and so she and Harley quietly head to Riverdale to shut it down. There is an endless amount of biased towards Veronica via Betty’s perspective which I was fine with, because hey it just means that Dini and I both side with Betty and not Veronica. Does, however, get old to read the same biases over and over without much in the way of character development or payoff to the plot.
I wish there were more to say about the issue, but that’s it. The cliffhanger is predictable and really just cosplay which I’ve become less and less of a fan of when it’s included in comic books. In this instance it makes it seem as if Archie is the real world and DC comics is the fake comic world.
Dini’s writing isn’t bad, but it never grabs you. The characterizations seem pretty accurate, even if Betty is a little over the top. Ivy does most of the talking for their duo, and Harley comes across as being there because it’s Ivy & Harley… and Harley sells. Currently, Harley and Veronica are just part of the story and nothing more. Also, the self-aware jokes about stereotypes seemed to play up the very stereotypes they were poking fun at but trying to get one buy on the audience. As if to say, it’s okay that we’re doing it because we’re making fun of us doing it. It’s a little tone deaf if you ask me.
The artwork is done more in the new Archie comics style. It’s not great, but I’m sure most people won’t be offended or even phased by it. For my tastes, everyone ended up looking waxy and thanks to the coloring as if they either just came in from the cold or have a cocaine problem. Seriously, everyone has a Santa’s nose, but it’s clearly not winter… you do the math. The coloring plays into the waxiness a lot, and overall doesn’t match either comic’s universe.
I don’t know if there’s much more to say about this crossover. It was pretty boring to read, and that’s probably the worst thing it has going for it. It should be goofy, funny or at least just so ridiculous that I can stop reading and instead I was just like, wow… dull. I’m not joking when I was surprised that this is a six-issue series instead of two and done. I don’t know if I’m curious enough to see what they do for five more issues, but hey someone else reading let me know.
Score: 3/5
Harley & Ivy Meet Betty & Veronica #1
DC Comics/Archie Comics