 Spooktober. Thank you, zombie Geo. Your contributions are greatly appreciated. Welcome everybody to another exciting episode, another edition of A We Can Geek Them here on YouTube. My name is Johanna Menendez, and today we're gonna be talking about After Live with Archie concluding my mini Spooktober. I kind of wanted to do something different because usually when October comes around or a famous holiday, I'd like to do just one or two videos doing like a best of. I think well last year I reviewed some Junji Ito, and then the year before I did like a top Halloween reads or something like that, but this time I wanted to do something different. So yeah, After Live with Archie, I have been wanting to do a freaking video on this thing since I first got this book in 2014. Now if you saw my Chilling Adventures of Sabrina video, you will know that Archie publications take their sweet ass time publishing these books. And since 2014, Volume 2 just keeps getting put on hiatus and it continues to do so. I think it's currently scheduled for the end of 2019, Volume 2. I think out of 12 issues they've written or they've put out 11 total. So we need one more issue so they can put out a second trade of After Live with Archie. Now the title comes as a parody of Life with Archie, the long running comic strip comic book of Archie and the Riverdale Gang and all that stuff. I gotta admit, I know from back in the day I know who the characters are, but it's not something I thoroughly enjoy. It's not something I read. I don't really care much for the characters of Riverdale. I'm sorry, it's not something that appeals to me. It did appeal to my folks as that was one of the few comic books they read and other family members as well from back in the day. That is completely understandable and it's pretty awesome. Now for me, it does nothing for me. I don't really care. I don't really care about the ongoings in that town. But I'm not going to insult these characters because I actually like the concept and idea. After Live with Archie is the first in the horror Archie line, if you will, taking place in an alternate reality where zombies are invading Riverdale and they're eating up everybody they can find. Now the story begins with the character of Jughead. Unfortunately, Hot Dog, his puppy dog, gets into an accident, hit and run with a car and he is desperate. So he gets his dog and runs to the first place that he can think of which is the Spellman's House with the very famous witch, Sabrina, the teenage witch and is asking Sabrina to please help and do something about it to help Hot Dog because if you are an animal lover and if you have a pet, they mean the world to you and you want their safety. Unfortunately, they are a little bit too late. I'm not spoiling anything. This happens in the first four pages and they're unable to save Hot Dog. But Sabrina seeing the desperate look on Jughead goes against her aunt and does necromancy and brings Hot Dog to life with the help of Jughead. And this is a very taboo thing to do in witchcraft, society and whatnot. You're basically raising the dead and creating a zombie dog. And that is sort of how the contagion or the plague and stuff starts when Hot Dog bites Jughead in the arm and effectively becomes patient zero for the zombie virus and Jughead then proceeds to turn himself into a zombie and he goes on his path of fleshy destruction by eating everything inside. The book is pretty freaking fun, man. I love the idea of taking an established universe and creating an alternate take and alternate dimension, I should say. There's something really fun about seeing beloved characters in a completely different new and scary situation that they're not used to. There's an appeal to have there and the character of Archie, he's always so brave and determined and this stereotype boy lead of the era, now you're forcing him to literally fight for his right to survive and to save the people that he loves whether it be Betty or Veronica, his family, whatever. Saving the town of Riverdale from a force that he really has no control over. Practically in every zombie story there is no way to stop the waves of the dead, you either kill them but eventually more take their place it's not something that you can stop or if you do stop it, it takes a while and there are heavy casualties involved. And that happens in this book as well. You get a bunch of beloved characters trying to survive the zombie apocalypse and along the way you get some fantastic beautiful imagery from Francisco Francavia doing the art. I should mention that Roberto Aguirre Sacasa writes the book and he does a good job now in my case since I haven't read a lot of modern interpretations of Archie and gang or I haven't read a lot of the old stuff but I can't really give you a definitive answer on the character takes but it shouldn't be too different because Roberto's a fan of Riverdale and you see it with the way he writes the characters and the way they express their love of each other and the town and it's a very wholesome community that suddenly thrust into this chaotic apocalyptic environment but I think I do have a suspicion that he does a great job of reimagining all these characters now this is greatly complimented and let's be honest the book wouldn't be as eye-catching if it weren't for Francisco's art it is moody, it is beautiful, it is terrifying and it really gives you the sense of dread, horror, gore and just all hell breaking loose from a simple panel of a building on fire or a moody cemetery or the auditorium where the high school kids are having a Halloween dance or whatever it's all so beautifully crafted and that to me is the biggest appeal of the story and I don't think it would have been as successful with another artist but Francisco's able to say a lot with his images especially whether it's a zombie walking across the panel or the face of fear on characters as they look upon what's happening and the horror of seeing a freaking jug head and all these other characters turning into zombies and eating people and causing mayhem left and right I am showing a couple images but literally it is stuff like this that when you read it it transports you into the universe and you feel what these characters are feeling, their expressions of dread like I've mentioned already it's pretty awesome, I think it is a stellar job that you will thoroughly enjoy my favorite panels by the way, I won't say who dies or any of that if you've never read this but I do want to show you my favorite panel of the whole comic book oh by the way this is a great example, look at those colors man, this is a thing of beauty Francisco does a wonderful job with this particular image right there a character that was dressed as Snow White gets eaten by a zombie and you see her hand drenched in blood letting go of that bitten apple a lot of symbolism and a lot of fantastic wicked energy that only a guy like Francavia can pull off and by the way this aspect I have two favorite scenes in this one involves a certain dog, I won't spoil it but I actually choked up and I felt really emotional reading it with the dialogue that was chosen if you've read it you know what I mean and actually this scene with the apple I won't spoil it but I just want to read this little caption dialogue that says those terrible 30 seconds right in front of us where somebody ate somebody and no one did anything but stare and we live in a society where we have to record anything and everything I should say and we live in the moment through a suspension of disbelief whether it be via media, via movies, music and all that stuff the culture gets so numb when it comes to gore and violence that if something like this were to happen in real life I believe it and it's pretty spooky because it speaks to the reality of teenagers living in today's society that I think not a lot of people are realizing that they've become so numb like I mentioned I don't know I thought it was pretty brilliant stuff in my opinion one of the things that might be a little bit heavy but Roberto does this along with the help of Francisco with his art is that he switches back and forth between something that happened previously with the character and then forward which I thought was pretty interesting I mean you do see that often with comic books and books and TV and all that stuff but in the context of a horror story it provides sort of a look back before the mayhem and after the apocalyptic event began and by the way the style that Francisco uses to draw zombies is spectacular they're grungy, they're disgusting, they're rotting and with the mood lighting and everything it's easily one of my favorite zombie drawings in a comic book in my opinion now the book ends in cliffhanger and like I mentioned it's gonna take ages to get another second volume it's been solicited like four times and it keeps getting pushed back and back and to the point where I really just I don't care anymore eventually it'll be released but you know if you want to read it as sort of a typical zombie story where the story ends on a cliffhanger it's perfectly acceptable and I think you'll enjoy it regardless anyways it's a fun reinterpretation of Riverdale in a horror setting with wonderful spectacular artwork that cannot be missed I hope you get a chance to read it because it is simply breathtaking in my honest opinion what did you guys think of afterlife with Archie? are you excited for the eventual release of volume 2? let me know down below and what's your favorite zombie story? I'd be interested in knowing as well guys thank you for liking commenting and subscribing to it we can keep them thank you so much it really means the world to me also if you can I don't want to ask too much of you but if you can you can follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and we can keep the conversation going you know so yeah I have got to go I've got more stuff to read and play and watch for you guys so I will catch all of you on our next episode