Riverdale is a town in the Midwestern United States. It's a carefree end of summer for many high school students but a murder will turn each of their lives upside down… The Riverdale chronicles were published in France by Glénat in his new Log-in collection in 2018.
9 chapters for characters
Chronicle is a well-chosen title because rather than a single story, this story presents nine chapters around the main characters of the series. For each chapter, there is a different writer and penciller but the whole thing is coordinated by the art director of Archie comics and showrunner of Riverdale, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa.
Some episodes are a bit agreed and therefore mostly aimed at fans of the series – life in the Pussycats rock band. Everywhere else, the scenarios avoid silliness and instead seek to make people feel varied according to the stories. In the first chapter, Brian E. Paterson manages to make us feel the emotions of a teenager who is waiting for a change, who is looking for his destiny.
From comics to series and back to comics
Each episode begins with a photo of the actors near the list of creators of the episode but it is not just a mercantile adaptation. Archie, the series active in the United States among the oldest but with modernized issues – homosexuality, harassment… The drawings have a very similar style despite changes with each episode. The cartoonists do not seek the greatest mimicry with the actors but tells a story through comics which is much more interesting.
The first episodes are like a prequel to the series and then the episodes take place during the series and illuminate the shadows of the series. Betty, Archie's best friend, is the focus of the second chapter. Britta Lundin uses the narrative through a diary. We follow his internship as a journalist at L.Has. Betty is a country girl who discovers the big city and therefore freedom. Archie's entry into the football team is the subject of a deeper episode than expected – Should you follow the others and join the winning group or stay yourself?
A reading guide
We can also find in this comic an explicit desire of the authors to share their favorite works. Thechapter The Breakfast Club is an allusion to John Hughes' great movie. The first boxes even take up the starting pattern of this mythical film: a group of very different teenagers find themselves glued together.
Glénat includes a whole bonus book at the end. In addition to all the alternative covers, we find the graphic evolution of the 4 main characters, a short history of the Archie series.
This very dense book for an attractive price is a good launch for Glénat's new Log-In collection. JustFocus will follow with interest the next releases: Archie by Mark Waid and Fiona Staples (Saga) in July, Betty & Veronica in September and Jughead in October.