Showing posts with label stephen oswald. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stephen oswald. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Jinx: A Cursed Life #1

Bought from cover artist Jay Kennedy, who had a table at Zombie Hideout in Springfield MA USA for Free Comic Book Day 2025.

Title: Jinx: A Cursed Life
Issue: 1
Date: July, 2023
Publisher: Archie Comics
Writer: Magdalene Visaggio
Artist: Craig Cermak
Letterer: Jack Morelli
Colorist: Ellie Wright
Cover: Jay Kennedy
Editor: Jamie Lee Rotante, Vincent Lovallo, Stephen Oswald

This is from Archie's horror line, putting the familiar Riverdale gang into horror scenarios. Jinx, rumored to be the daughter of the Devil, just wants to be a punk rock musician and for everyone to leave her alone. But when Archie shows up seeking help for a demonically possessed Jughead, Jinx and her friend Danni spring into action. After a sufficient bribe, that is.

This felt a bit more like dark comedy than horror, and it was having some trouble figuring out if it would rather lean into the comedy side of things or the dark. Demonic Jughead was presented as a serious threat, even if rotting-meat hamburgers was a big part of his gimmick, but he ended up getting defeated relatively easily once Jinx started using her not-all-that-well-defined superpowers.

The best parts of this were the characterization of Jinx and Danni, who were both great and full of snarky dialogue. Archie was fun too in his supporting role. This provided a good introduction to this version of Jinx, but didn't lay the groundwork for much ongoing story.

Rating: 5.5/10

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Archie 1: The Dawn Of Time

Title: Archie 1: The Dawn Of Time
Date: 2010
Publisher: Archie Comics
Art: Doug Crane
Production: Stephen Oswald, Carlos Antunes, Jon Gray
Editor: Victor Gorelick

Ashcan format promo book. No credit given for the writing for some reason. Archie 1 is the caveman version of the Archie series, featuring a set of "ancestors" who just happen to look and act exactly like their Riverdale counterparts. Well, they look exactly like the Archie gang except that they're all dressed in the latest caveman fashion. And here you were thinking that Betty and Veronica in 1 Million Years BC style leopard-skin bikinis was something you'd have to delve into fanfic to find. Two stories here. The first is a pretty straightforward Tarzan parody, with the girls meeting up with a rather "primitive" (by which we mean the male chauvinist type of caveman) king of the jungle complete with monkey sidekick. Betty and Veronica put their rivalry aside to present a fairly united front against the jungle buffoon. The second story is an amusing bit of nonsense about the invention of language. Apparently, yelling "Vamoose!" is effective in warding off dinosaurs. There were some laughs to be had here, but this seems a bit more limited compared to seeing the same characters in the standard Riverdale setting.

Rating: 5.5/10