We sit down with the author, Aubrey Sitterson, and illustrator, Megan Hutchinson, of Archie’s recent horror cavalcade, Judgment Day.
Archie Comics: Judgement Day takes Riverdale right to the mouth of hell and lets the violence fly. We sat down with the architects of that nightmare — writer Aubrey Sitterson and illustrator Megan Hutchinson — to pick their brains about the series and where things might head from here.
Women Write About Comics: When I finished reading the final issue of JUDGMENT DAY, I sat there in silence for a good five minutes. Archie’s fate – which I won’t reveal here – is both apropos and sad. Was charting his journey an emotional roller coaster for y’all or a fun carnival ride?
Megan Hutchinson: For me, it was a bit of both. Since I’ve known Archie all my life, it was wild to be able to take this classic character and really put him through it. So, yes it was a fun carnival ride really pushing him to see how far we could go with it, but it was also emotional because he’s been a wholesome staple of American culture for decades.
Aubrey Sitterson: I’m thrilled to hear that was your reaction; we really wanted, above all else, to create something that sticks with people and rewards rumination and rereading. It’s supposed to stick with and gnaw at you. As for the process of making it though, how could it be anything but fun when you’re working with talents like Megan, [colorist] Matt Herms, [letterer] Jack Morelli, [editor] Jamie Rotante, and the entire Archie team?
WWAC: This book has resurrected a lot of obscure characters; did you have a hit list, so to speak, of who you wanted Archie to confront in the book?
Megan: I’ll let Aubrey speak to that, but on my end, I had a lot of fun designing and updating some of these obscure characters. I also really loved taking them and either ripping them apart or turning them into demonic creatures.
Aubrey: Outside of the core cast, the characters that are necessary requirements for a comic to feel like a real Archie story, we really tried to let the narrative determine who else should show up. This is one of the great things about working within an established universe; with more than 80 years of established continuity, if I ever got stuck, I could go to Jamie and say: “What are some characters that could fit in this spot?” Personally, I was particularly thrilled that we fit in Scam Likely, from Ron Cacace and Vincent Lovallo’s amazing BITE SIZED ARCHIE.
WWAC: Alistair, Archie’s cousin, is our main antagonist here – or so it seems. The series has a lot of fun with duality. What made you select Alistair to be Archie’s counterpoint here?
Aubrey: Alistair’s presence and role grew out of the earliest project calls with the Archie team. We started by throwing everything in a pile and, in response to my discussion of infernal corruption and demonic counterparts, someone – possibly [Archie Comics Editor-in-Chief] Mike Pellerito – mentioned that Archie already had an established adversarial double. From there, the way everything just fell into place so perfectly – including his name’s similarity to famed occultist Aleister Crowley – was one of those things that makes it hard to believe in coincidences.
WWAC: Jughead has an interesting position in the narrative as the only human Archie has to rely on. What helped you divine his ultimate fate in the series?
Aubrey: Throughout, Jughead serves an extremely important role as Archie’s conscience; a point of view to continually contextualize Megan’s brutally awesome action as something horrible and difficult to watch. Given the dictates of the story we were telling, there was only one way it could ever end.
Also, the divination method that is, much as it might pain us to admit it, the only reliable one: Haruspicy.
WWAC: Madam Satan carries a heavy amount of the plot here, and she’s front and center throughout much of the action. Why did you select her over any other Archie villainess?
Aubrey: Like Alistair, Madam Satan was an element that fell into place perfectly, especially given her prominence across the recent horror line. Also, I can’t lie: knowing that we would get to give the character our own spin, and with such supreme confidence in Megan’s ability to create something new, distinct, wicked and painfully sexy, it was an easy decision to make.
[SPOILERS from here on out]
WWAC: Was there any character you collectively had qualms about killing off?
Megan: I actually got upset with what we did to Jughead. He’s always been my favorite character, and he gets punished for being a loyal and good friend. It broke my heart to draw him crying.
Aubrey: Not a one. Archie said they wanted something different, something meaner and nastier and bleaker than anything they’d ever done, and I took that as a challenge.
WWAC: The book provides a unique hero’s quest for Archie – only for a big twist to set in. The complexity here is fascinating and pacing is a huge factor. Did you have to resist lacing even bigger hints as to what’s happening throughout the issues?
Megan: I visually dropped small hints here and there as to where Archie’s journey was going. Actually, it was really fun drawing all of this knowing what was coming and just setting it up.
Aubrey: This makes me so happy to hear. I mentioned it earlier, but the hope is very much that people revisit the story with the ending in mind to appreciate it in a different, more profound way. A huge component of that is a richness and density of visual information, much of which probably goes unnoticed on a first read. I was fortunate to have a co-creator like Megan, who was not just game for all my ideas, but brought an enormous amount to the table in terms of set design and character costuming, layering in all those visual hints you noticed.
WWAC: Which of the book’s formerly-human creatures gave you the willies?
Megan: My favorite creature to draw was Scam Likely — I designed him after the God Emperor from the Dune books (Aubrey and I are huge Dune-heads). I also think creatures with a lot of arms and skin folds are super creepy, so they’re my favorite to draw.
Aubrey: Hands down, Betty and Veronica. Those elongated limbs and pointed feet and worst of all, their necks intertwining with one another . . . absolutely horrid, especially given the contrast with their normal selves.
WWAC: If you could be any creature or character in this hellscape, who would you be?
Megan: My favorite character in the series is Madam Satan. She’s super sexy and violent, and I love her design. Also, her boyfriend is the devil which is every goth-girl’s dream. I would like to do more work with her in the future.
Aubrey: I would prefer not to.
WWAC: The series leaves us at an interesting place, to say the least. Can you envision a world-erasing sequel, or will Archie be left in the demi-hell of his own making?
Megan: I have a few ideas that I would love to play with dealing with the aftermath of this series . . . if Archie will let me! That being said, if Aubrey wants to continue with this story, I’m along for the ride!
Aubrey: After everything we put America’s Favorite Teenagers through, I wouldn’t blame Archie if they said three issues was enough. That said, it’s exceedingly rare that I finish a comic and am not immediately hit with a million ideas for the next one and JUDGMENT DAY is no different in that regard.
