Welcome to the Archie Comics Pubwatch for the month of September! I’m Lisa, reporting from a corner booth at Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe, and here’s this month’s news! In September’s Pubwatch there’s a new Sabrina holiday issue ahead, some exclusive covers, and more!
It’s a very magical Christmas in Sabrina the Teenage Witch Holiday Special #1
As officially announced on Looper, Sabrina Spellman is about to land a whole new ball of holly, jolly troublemaking fun.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch: Holiday Special #1 will feature two brand-new stories, each of them telling tales about Sabrina or her aunts Hilda and Zelda. A Very Spellman Solstice gives us a glimpse at Hilda and Zelda’s teenage life, and has them battle ghosts from the past. The Longest Night features Sabrina in an action-packed battle with an entity filled with fearsome strength. She and her friends spend a long winter’s night trying to drive it back from their dimension while they have the chance to kill it.
“Think Practical Magic with a Solstice spin,” Archie Senior Director of Editorial Jamie L. Rotante about A Very Spellman Solstice. “Tis the season for bewitching.”
“Sabrina is one of my favorite Archie Comics characters, and the idea of working on a cover with a magical, winter setting was truly inspiring. It was fun working on it, studying the expressiveness of Sabrina and Salem as characters but also being able to play with a cold color palette and light effects. I’m grateful to Archie Comics for this opportunity,” said cover artist Laura Braga.
Danielle Paige and Kelly Thompson handle the writing, duties here, with Veronica and Andy Fish and Veronica Johnson on the art team. Jack Morelli provides letters, and Matt Herms the color work. Covers are provided by Veronica Fish and Braga.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch: Holiday Special #1 streets on December 13.
Archie Comics Partners with Up with HorrorHound and Matt Talbot for exclusive Halloween x Archie Prints
For the first time ever, Archie Comics is partnering with HorrorHound Weekend for their upcoming Halloween: 45 Years of Terror convention to sell several mashup prints featuring Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge and Sabrina Spellman encountering Michael Myers.
The art was drawn and colored by Matt Talbot, who told Bloody Disgusting — who had the first look debut for the art, “Every so often, if you’re really fortunate, a dream project comes along—and this was one of those times. The Archie gang… meeting up with Michael Myers? When I was asked if I was up for drawing what that might look like, I couldn’t say ‘yes’ fast enough.
“Working on this with the team at Archie was so much fun. We pushed ideas back and forth, I worked up a few sketches, and we chose two of them to bring to life. I love that we ended up with one piece paying homage to an iconic scene from Halloween, and another paying homage to an equally iconic Archie comic cover.
“Archie Horror and Halloween are two of my very favorite spooky things—and the chance to not only see them together, but draw them together? It doesn’t get any better than that!”
“When we launched the Archie Horror line of comics ten years ago, we knew there was a strong bond between Archie fans and horror fans — both are such integral parts of American pop culture, with beloved tropes and iconic characters. And it’s hard to think of a more iconic character in horror than The Shape himself, Michael Myers. Working with our partners at Trancas International Films and Compass International Pictures to have Michael menace our own final girls — Betty, Veronica, and Sabrina — is a dream come true for all of us at Archie Comics,” Archie CEO Jon Goldwater told Bloody Disgusting ahead of the prints’ release.
The print will be exclusively available at the convention, which is located in Pasadena, California, from September 29th to October 1st at the Pasadena Convention Center.
New Variant Covers from Great Wall of Comics, Arsenal Comics and Games, Infinity Flux Comics, Stadium Comics, The 616 Comics, VA Comic-Con, TerrorCon Rhode Island, and Mellow Fellow Trading
It’s new variant cover time!
Great Wall of Comics has three exclusive variants available. They all cover Archie Halloween Spectacular#1. The first cover features Veronica as The Bride of Frankenstein, and was drawn by Sam Payne. It’s limited to an edition of 200, comes with a COA, and costs $24.99 here.
The second set of covers — a three-part triptych featuring Sabrina, Betty, Veronica, Josie and the Pussycats, Amber Nightstone and Alexandra Cabot posing in a pumpkin patch in bikinis — was drawn by Dan Parent. It’s limited to 200 sets with a COA. Each set goes for $59.99 here. You can also buy the Great Wall of Comics exclusive orange blank variant cover for the issue here; it’s $14.99 apiece.
Sam Payne also drew these two Archie Halloween Spectacular#1 covers limited to 200 issues each with a COA. Featuring Betty dressed as an angel and Sabrina dressed like a black cat, they retail for $24.99 apiece. You can look at the comic in living color here.
Arsenal Games and Comics has three new covers for sale. The first is Ryan Carr’s variant for Madam Satan: Hell on Earth #1, which is limited to 250 copies. You can get a plain virgin variant for $19.99, have it signed by Carr for $24.99 or get it remarked by Carr with an Archie character for $39.99. Pick your poison here.
The next one is by Vincent Lovallo and Ron Cacace, artist and writer of Bite-Sized Archie, and covers Fear the Funhouse: Toybox of Terror. Limited to 250 copies, standard prints go for $14.99, as do issues signed by contributor Timmy Heague. One signed by Cacace and Lovallo goes for $24.99. One signed by Heague, Lovallo, Cacace, and Ryan Caskey (Artist), Elle Wright (Colorist), Michael Northrop, and Danielle Paige (writers) goes for $34.99. All variants are available here!
The final Arsenal Games and Comics exclusive cover is by Mike Allred, creator of the comic Madman, and features the titular character being attacked by doll-sized versions of the Archie gang. Limited to 250 copies, standard prints go for $19.99, as do issues signed by contributor Timmy Heague. One signed by Mike and Laura Allred goes for $29.99, as does one with Heague’s signature attached. One remarked by Heague with any character of you choice retails for $29.99. All variants are available here!
Next up is this exclusive Barbie parody from Andy Duggan and Infinity Flux. This too covers Fear the Funhouse: Toybox of Terror. It’s limited to 250 copies, and you can get it in standard format at $8, signed by Duggan for $12, and remarqued by him as well for $20 here.
Back to Parent, he’s offering this Archie’s Halloween Spectacular #1 variant at VA ComicCon in November. We’ll put up a link when it goes live for ordering.
616 Comics has these two Sabrina Spellman variants for Sabrina the Teenage Witch Annual Spectacular#1. Drawn by Josh Burns, they’re limited to two sets of 250 apiece. They cost $45 and are available here.
Next is a Jay Kennedy variant for that was exclusive to Rhode Island TerrorCon. There doesn’t seem to be any back stock available currently.
Stadium Comics is back with a slew of Pop Art and parody cover exclusives. From the Pop Art collection, we have Betty as Harley Quinn by Nuno Pereira, which covers Chilling Adventures Present: Welcome to Riverdale #1. Only 250 copies exist of the variant, with 50 copies of the metal version extent. The metal version sold out as part of a two-issue pack at $59.99, but you can buy the regular variant for $14.99 here!
Stadium also has this Transformers parody for Fear the Funhouse: Toybox of Terror. This Alex Milne cover is limited to 250 copies, costs $14.99, and is available here; a 25 copy run metal variant has already sold out.
The Bill Walko Elvira’s House of Mystery #1 tribute which covers Archie’s Halloween Spectacular #1, has already sold out at Stadium, but you can buy a copy directly from Walko while supplies last at his official shop. Its virgin metal variant was limited to 25 copies and it can be viewed here.
Laura Braga’s tribute to Dan DeCarlo’s Betty and Veronica #118 cover, however, continues to be available. There are 250 copies available and a sold-out virgin metal variant version at $14.99 here!
Our final issues comes from Mellow Fellow Trading. The first cover is a Zatanna Zatara tribute by Sajad Shah that covers Sabrina the Teenage Witch Annual Spectacular#1. It’s limited to 150 issues for the regular virgin variant at $14 with a COA, 35 foil variants at $25 each, 15 metal variants at $39.94, 10 metal alt covers at $49.94, 3 wood variants at $99.94 each, 3 red marble variants at the same price, 3 gold metal variants at $99.94 and one red marbled metal at $99.94. The covers for the first variant were auctioned on WhatNot but are now available here. Mellow Fellow are also offering covers by Zapata for Jinx: A Cursed Life and McFarland Berube for Archie Halloween Spectacular #1, at $12 and $15, respectively. Both are available at the same link above.
Archie Comics Tweet of the Month
No lies detected. pic.twitter.com/XPvHR53lV4
— Archie Comics (@ArchieComics) September 14, 2023
To be clear: Archie IS NOT dating Taylor Swift. We don't know how these rumors start. pic.twitter.com/Z5alN7CCCG
— Archie Comics (@ArchieComics) September 20, 2023
No lies detected and some prime confusion.
Sugar Sugar of the Month
Sabrina the Teenage Witch Annual Spectacular #1
Jim Amash (Inks); Holly G! (Art); Vincent Lovallo (Cover); Jack Morelli (Letters); Dan Parent (Cover); Jamie L. Rotante (Writing); Glenn Whitmore (Colors)
September 6, 2023
I’m a simple woman, and I love a good Sabrina story. Sabrina the Teenage Witch Annual Spectacular gives us that, introducing lackeys for Amber Nightstone and giving Sabrina an arduous task to complete before reaching safety. Paramount is Sabrina’s love of her aunts, her determination to deliver justice and vanquish the wicked, and get back to where she belongs.
This is a lot of fun when you compare this new story to the very first one ever written about Sabrina — also published in this volume. The more hedonistic, trouble-stirring Sabrina we meet there can’t fall in love or cry and causes deliberate mischief – facets of the character’s story that have been changed over time. This is an issue that’s worth buying just for the sheer value of the historical comparison, but it’s also a lot of fun.
Hotdogs and Hotshots
Chilling Adventures Present…Madam Satan: Hell on Earth #1
Vincenzo Federici (Art and Cover); Soo Lee (Cover); Jack Morelli (Letters); Eliot Rahal (Writing); Ellie Wright (Colors);
September 20, 2023
This isn’t my absolute favorite Madam Satan outing, but it’s still properly horrific and well-plotted and a good opener to spooky season. The adventures of Madam Satan continue in the latest portion of her now-annual series. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina spin-off sees Madam Satan dealing with the ramifications of her actions in last year’s Chilling Adventures in Sorcery. During the apocalypse, she finds a friend, but can she turn back time?
World of Archie Jumbo Comics Digest #133
Jim Amash (Inks); Steven Butler (Art); Tom DeFalco (Writing); Jack Morelli (Letters); Dan Parent (Writing and Art and Cover); Bob Smith (Inks); Glenn Whitmore (Colors)
September 13, 2023
You know you’ve got to treat yourself to this one; it’s properly fun. Archie Andrews falls into the Upside D – I mean the Topsy Turvy while exploring a haunted house with Jake Chang! It’s an Archie Comics Stranger Things parody, but can Sugar Sugar bring Archie back to the real world or will Jake have to plunge in to rescue his friend? Bonus: more SuperTeen adventures featuring She-Fox!
Archie Showcase Digest Presents: Archie: Freshman Year (Archie Library #15)
Bill Galvan (Color Art); Bob Smith (Cover Inks); Various (Writing/Art/Inks/Letters/Colors)
September 20, 2023
Collecting the famous ’90s series which explored the titular freshman year of high school for our favorite gang. Lots of nostalgic, enjoyable fun, and a well-sculpted piece of missing lore.
Big Ethel Energy Volume 3
Keryl Brown Ahmed (Writing); Siobhan Keenan (Art and Cover)
September 27, 2023
A handsomely arranged softback collection of the ongoing WebToons comic sees Ethel trying to figure herself out romantically while giving Ms. Grundy her flowers.
Picks From the Timecops
Chilling Adventures Presents…Welcome to Riverdale #1
Amy Chase (Writing); Liana Kangas (Art and Cover); Jack Morelli (Letters); Marguerite Sauvage (Variant Cover); Ellie Wright (Colors)
October 11, 2023
This is a very Ginger Snapp heavy month, to my delight, and things continue apace with Ginger’s entrée into the Chilling Adventures universe. The teen finally gets to spend time in the legendary town of old-fashioned midwestern wholesomeness – but might something creepy be lurking under Riverdale’s wholesome surface?
Fear the Funhouse: Toybox of Terror #1
Sweeney Boo (Cover); Ryan Caskey (Art and Cover); Timmy Heague (Writing); Ryan Jampole (Art); Jack Morelli (Letters); Michael Northrop (Writing); Danielle Paige (Writing); Tango (Art); Ellie Wright (Colors)
October 18, 2023
Archie Comics’ Month of Mayhem continues with this more kid-friendly set of scares, all of them involving deadly dolls. The story’s headed up by longtime (and long-ignored) Archie heroine Evelyn Evernever, and will likely please teens looking for a good scare.
Archie Halloween Spectacular #1
Jim Amash (Inks); Steven Butler (Art); Tom DeFalco (Writing); Vincent Lovallo (Cover); Jack Morelli (Letters); Dan Parent (Cover); Glenn Whitmore (Colors)
October 4, 2023
It’s Halloween in Riverdale, and in a brand-new story Trick and Treat are back! Can Archie and the gang defeat them on a spectacularly spooky Halloween night?
Archie Giant Comics Shimmer
Dan Parent (Cover); Rosario “Tito” Peña (Cover); Various (Writing/Art/Inks/Letters/Colors)
October 25, 2023
It’s another giant Archie collection! This one’s got almost 500 pages of classic hits.
Archie Showcase Digest Presents: Jughead Christmas Special (Archie Library #22)
Bill Galvan (Cover Art); Rosario “Tito” Peña (Cover Inks); Various (Writing/Art/Inks/Letters/Colors)
October 25, 2023
A big collection of Jughead’s best holiday-related tales!
Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest #318
Ian Flynn (Writing); Ben Galvan (Inks); Bill Galvan (Art); Bill Golliher (Cover); Jack Morelli (Letters); Dan Parent (Writing, Art and Cover); Bob Smith (Inks); Glenn Whitmore (Colors)
October 11, 2023
Some more Ginger Snapp! She’s just a little on edge after watching the latest “Melanie” horror movie – and does not calm down when Jellybean Jones shows up dressed as Melanie on her doorstep for some Trick or Treating action. Then Betty and Veronica team up with The Web to fight crime on Halloween!
Archie Jumbo Comics Digest #344
Francis Bonnet (Art); Bill Golliher (Cover); Rex Lindsey (Inks); Jack Morelli (Letters); Dan Parent (Art and Writing and Cover); Bob Smith (Inks); Glenn Whitmore (Colors)
October 4, 2023
I am super here for this absolutely adorable Dan Parent and Bill Golliher cover, which is one of the reason this issue’s made it into Time Cops. Between said covers, the Superteens and Crusaders team up against some evil shapeshifters, but deal with trust issues. Elsewhere, The Web appears to be in attendance at the Lodge’s Halloween party – but is it the real Web or just someone in costume?
World of Archie Jumbo Comics Digest #134
Jim Amash (Inks); Goldie Chan (Writing); Holly G! (Art); Bill Golliher (Writing, Cover and Art); Jack Morelli (Inks); Dan Parent (Cover); Bob Smith (Inks); Glenn Whitmore (Colors)
October 18, 2023
More Ginger Snapp! When she shows up at Pop’s to help Betty and Veronica pick out their Halloween costumes, a stroll down memory lane ensues. Elsewhere, Penny Parker leaps to the defense of her boxing teacher. He stands accused when the owner of the gym disappears. Penny enlists Archie and Veronica to help her track down the missing owner before it’s too late.
