Comics Review: Sabrina the Teen-Age Witch: 60 Magical Stories Part 1

 

This was the main get from my Halloween order.  (And this is the final post concerning this order.)  It’s a 500-page color volume of Sabrina and it was at a huge discount.  (And the regular price wasn’t bad to begin with.)  I had some reservations.  I already had a huge black and white Sabrina chronological volume.  I assumed there’d be some reprints from that.  I also looked up this book on Amazon and the reviews weren’t kind.  They said there were several repeated stories in the book.  My volume didn’t have any repetition, so it must have been a later printing that was fixed.

 

There is the usual disclaimer in the opening credits for the classic material and apologizing for it.  There’s literally nothing objectionable with this material.  The disclaimer also says that the stories are reprinted without alteration.  This is a lie.  There are some small edits.   

 

Of the older material, which I already had, it only comprised 1/5 of this book.  (That’s 100 pages.)  It was nice to see it in color.  You can get a look at this material in my previous review.  (I found out there is a second chronological volume.  I’m guessing Archie didn’t continue past that.)

 

We’ll start off with a couple of Little Sabrina stories.  Reggie is her natural foil here.  Again, wouldn’t these two be a great couple in high school (for comedy that is)?  

 

Sabrina isn’t terribly frightened by vampires.  (She should have made at least an appearance in that “Twilite” story.  Sabrina would have been a natural fit.)

 

This seems like a little world-building for Sabrina’s setting, but nothing comes from it that I know of.

 

Head Witch Della knows how to make an entrance.  

 

It’s about 20 years too late, but here’s Sabrina basically acting like a secret agent.  It’d be interesting to add her to Archie’s The Man from RIVERDALE setting.  That’s a concept that really needs an update.  It’s too good to waste.

 

Jughead artist, Samm Schwartz, took a turn with Sabrina.  In the story, she gets sent to evil Hogwart’s and decides she’d rather be back in mortal high school.

 

OMG!  Avert your eyes!  This wouldn’t be the last time Sabrina’s aunts updated their looks, but it would be their worst attempt. 

 

I just thought this story with the overly intrusive TV was fun.  I’m skipping over a section of Gravestone Heights stories.  I sort of covered these stories in the Halloween digests and they are the same stories.  I’m wondering how many of these there are.  I’ve only ever seen three.

 

There is a section of comics from the Sabrina TV show era.  I never see these reprinted.  I was wondering if Archie somehow didn’t have the rights to them.  Dan DeCarlo came back to redesign his original character for this series.

 

Here’s a somewhat better makeover for the aunts.  This story had a bit a retelling of Sabrina’s origin for the new series.

 

Sabrina ends up in a magic fight with Cleopatra in this multi-part story.  Unfortunately, Part 1 isn’t reprinted here.

 

I do see plenty of reprints of the animated Sabrina show.  They’re kind of fun, especially this one featuring Salem.  You can thank the TV show and Nick Bakay’s great performance there for Salem getting some time in the spotlight.  Salem’s role in the various incarnations of Sabrina kind of ebbs and flows.  The 70’s cartoon featured Salem, though the cat was a girl then.

 

Holly G then took over the art and writing and I love her style.  This was a bit of another reboot after the two TV shows.  This version was a bit less jokey and had more drama in her life.     

A lot of that drama was her love life.  The wizard character, Shinji, was introduced as a romantic interest and a rival for Harvey for her affection. 

 

 

Sabrina fights a mermaid for Harvey here.

 

Continued in Part 2.

Comics Review: Holiday Archie Part 4

Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics #309

We’re almost through my two Archie orders.  At this point, I don’t remember what comics went with which order.  I saved the Christmas and winter comics for last.  This digest is okay.  You get some Christmas and it’s certainly less heavy-handed than issue #299.  There’s some winter stories and other random stories.  It’s not bad, but nothing really stands out.  Buy this if you really need more Christmas comics.    

One thing that helps this digest is the inclusion of Archies’ Christmas spirits Jingles, Sugar Plum, and Noelle.  Somehow, I don’t get tired of Christmas stories with these characters.  (Also, I love the stories where the kids somehow end up at the North Pole helping Santa.) 

 

Sugar Plum is also featured in a longer story.  It’s like a Christmas romance movie.  Actually, I could see this ending up being lifted for the plot of one of those movies.  We’ll call it, A Sugar Plum Romance.    

 

 

A new story features Fly Girl.  Archie Comics has been doing these random superhero stories since last year.  I think it’s to keep up the copyright on the characters.  This one features sort of manga-inspired art.  It’s cute, but it’s too bad it’s only five pages.

 

Betty and Veronica get an “A” for creative problem solving here.  (I’m trying to be positive.  I think they’ve been hanging around Archie too long if they’re coming up with these kind of schemes.)

 

Here’s a story featuring an outsider’s view on Betty and Veronica’s competitive natures.  It would seem bizarre that they’re best friends.

 

I love this.  Dan Parent does a really great job on pinups.

 

Veronica daydreams about her future success, which revolves around Archie.  Somehow, she’s just got a thing for Archie and wants to keep him away from Betty.  It’s that competition thing again.

This story was maybe a little too real.  Chuck Clayton gets a swelled head from being a football star.  His dad, the coach, decides to teach him a lesson.  Having Chuck act like this all the time would be interesting, but make him incompatible with the other characters.    

Speaking of swelled heads, down-to-earth Betty gets a date with a super vain movie star.  Strangely, if the date had been with Veronica, it probably would have ended the same.

 

This compares the girls getting ready for their day.  (Why does Betty have a Jughead doll?)

 

It’s finally come to this.  Veronica canes everyone like she’s from Singapore.  Physical comedy doesn’t age.

 

Archie Milestones #26: Jughead Winter Wonderland

Isn’t this Bill Galvan cover awesome?  It’s pure fun.  I’d planned on looking for it on the newsstand, just based on the cover.  Instead, I added it to the order so it would qualify for free shipping.  (It was also cheaper getting it from Archie than getting it at Barnes & Noble.) 

 

The Milestone title is the Jughead comic and is all reprints and generally themed.  I enjoyed three previous issues of this title last year (2-23-23, 7-4-23 Superheroes, 11-24-23 Christmas).  Jughead has been gifted with some really talented artists over the years.  From Samm Schwartz’s spare, but amazingly animated style to Rex Lindsey’s highly detailed work to Fernando Ruiz’s appealing cartoonish figures, the character has been pretty fortunate.

 

This winter-theme issue, however, doesn’t hit well.  There’s some good stuff, but mostly it kind of falls flat.  Even though the Lindsey’s art looks great, the stories aren’t worthy.  I will say, especially for these winter stories, you kind of wish you could live in Lindsey’s Riverdale.  It’s so detailed and pleasant-looking.  I don’t think I’d recommend this issue overall, except for the cover.

 

Here’s Schwartz doing what he does best: great physical comedy.  

 

Mr. Lodge doesn’t do well here.

 

Al Hartley adds some whimsy with Hot Dog.  

 

Hartley also draws this story with Archie declaring his love for Veronica in snow sculptures.  (Don’t worry.  She’s able to warm him up.)

 

 

This is probably the funniest story in the digest just conceptually.  The UGAJ is a girls’ organization dedicated to capturing Jughead’s affections to keep him from becoming a bad influence on the other boys.  (Jughead doesn’t take girls out on dates and just lies around and eats.)  I’ve seen a couple of these stories.  This organization needs to be needs to brought back into modern stories.  It might be more relevant now than ever. 

 

This poor dog.  In another story, the family treats him badly and he hides until they go searching for him.  I can’t understand this.  How awesome would be it be to have this smart of a dog?  The only thing better would be a talking dog, like Scooby Doo or Astro from the Jetsons. 

 

Oh, my God!  Don’t look!  It’s the Christmas Story flagpole bit all over again.  Obviously, the boys didn’t see the movie.

 

Here’s a couple of action pages by Lindsey.

 

And a great pinup.

 

This Little Jughead story probably has the best gag in the digest.

 

We finish with some kisses.  It’s like one of those Christmas romance movies (again).  Actually, a spoof of one of those movies starring Jughead would be great.