Comic Review: Betty & Veronica (2018-) #2

Betty & Veronica (2018-) #2

Archie Comics

Writer: Jamie Lee Rotante

Artist: Sandra Lanz

I’m a recent-ish Archie comics fan. I didn’t not like them, I just never really gave them a chance. Then I found myself reading Mark Waid’s Archie reboot and that blew the doors wide open on the Archie-verse for me. And, to my surprise, a lot of it’s pretty fun.

Betty & Veronica (2018) #2 picks up a few months after the first issue. We’re a couple of months into the senior year of school, and Betty and Veronica are slowly drifting apart. But it’s nearly Halloween and the two make an effort to get together more, until boy trouble and other problems get in the way once again.

I’ve never been a teenage girl, but I remember my high school years and the problems in this comic are relatable. I think mostly everyone’s felt the pressure of applying to schools and friendships and relationships. The dial is being pushed to eleven, but you get what i’m saying. This is high school kids and high school problems, and that’s what it feels like. The story towards the end falls into a really cliche moment to move the plot forward. Someone sees two people and it looks like they’re kissing, but they’re not. Then without waiting for an explanation, or asking questions, the person runs off. I see why it gets frequent use in stories of any medium, but it’s still really overused and kind of lazy.

The art in this issue… I don’t think it’s the best art i’ve seen in an Archie book, but I don’t think it’s bad. It’s a more flat, still kind of style. By that, I mean it’s kind of like a photograph. You can see what’s happening, but there’s no sense of movement to it. Which, I think for this comic, is fine. If Betty and Veronica had to fight off ninjas or an alien invasion, I’d want more dynamic art. But since we’re dealing with high school problems, I don’t mind it so much. Besides that, there’s enough details in the backgrounds to make the scenes not feel empty. Except for the one or two pages of the classroom, but Riverdale only has 10 – 15 kids with names, so an empty classroom isn’t too out of place.

This is a fun comic book. The story is kind of simple and fun, but still relatable. It sort of falls into some old tropes but this comic is about teenagers in high school, so I can see the logic of the tropes and cliches working. The art is maybe the weakest part of this issue, but I still enjoy it. Fans of Archie comics should be reading this, and people who want a break from world ending events and superhero shenanigans should check it out.