Life with Archie #36

[cyberghostface]

During a fundraiser for Senator Kevin Keller, a gunman who's been targeting gay people in Riverdale attempts to shoot Kevin.



Archie jumps in the way and is shot.

Comments

[shadowpsykie]

GODDAMNIT ARCHIE.... why do you have to be such big damned hero....

*whimpers....*

also clever how even here, they don't reveal which one archie loves lol

i might have to pick this series up when it comes to collection....

[obsidianwolf]

It's intentionally written that way this story is the conclusion to both universes the one where he ended up with Betty and the Universe where he ended up with Veronica.

IIRC Kevin running for and then being elected to the Senate was one of the things the two worlds had in common.

[espanolbot]

Wait, so whoever he'd have ended up with, he'd have ended up getting shot in a diner? That's kind of depressing.

[sapphite]

You could see it that way, and you would not be wrong. Or you could look at it like this: no matter which path he took, Archie was given a chance to risk everything he had to save the life of a good man. No matter what hardship he faced, what victories he achieve or failures he endure, he rose to that challenge.

Several decades ago Archie Andrews was created to be the hero of Riverdale and in the end, he proved himself to be exactly that.

[shadowpsykie]

well then... i'll just be over here weeping....

[starwolf_oakley]

When I first heard about this, I thought it was going to be a sniper. Because somehow *Archie* could see a sniper when no one else could.

[lieut_kettch]

Captain Pureheart could!

[nightauditguy]

Why does everyone have a normal nose except for Jughead?

[rainspirit]

Long-time readers would find it distracting for Jughead to not have an abnormal french fry nose.

[halloweenjack]

So... Life Without Archie, from now on?

I'll show myself out

[obsidianwolf]

I think the title is ending at the end of the next issue.

[icon_uk]

Or "Death with Archie" following his wacky adventures in the afterlife with Hot Stuff the little devil (and cameos by Kid Reaper from Quasar)

[q99]

Afterlife with Archie is another book.

[obsidianwolf]

I'm really sad this title is ending. I've always had a soft spot for alternate universe stories and I love how the issue managed to work with either future.

and I really like the call back to the Archie Maries Valerie storyline that showed there were an infinite number of possible outcomes visible on Memory lane.

[michaelhealy]

While other people seem to like it the fact that both universes have Archie dying the exact same way seems weird to me.

[cyberghostface]

Well from what I've read the events leading up to it were the same in both universes (Kevin Keller becoming a senator).

[obsidianwolf]

Yeah the common events in both universes lined up so all the folks in Riverdale were there at the same time in both worlds.

The idea is that no matter what choices he'd make in life (who he married, what jobs he'd take, etc) Archie would always be the type to put himself between the gun and a friend.

[grapeweasel]

Why does it look like Kevin is about to grab Betty and use her as a human shield?

[thatnickguy]

I can't wait for the appearance of a Black Archie, a Cyborg Archie, a hip teen Archie, and a violent vigilante Archie.

[shadowpsykie]

don't forget long haired Archie shortly there after

[freezer]

Followed by Archie Red and Archie Blue.

[lieut_kettch]

What about when Sabrina attempts to rewrite reality as a result of this and winds up killing the entire Greendale coven when they try to stop her?

[shadowpsykie]

i feel like i need to see more of this issue...

[obsidianwolf]

It is a really good issue though the scenes on memory lane where Archie flashes to possible futures where he's a father with two kids of his own are really heartbreaking in light of the ending. (Though since the multiverse is canon at least in some futures they got a happy ending)

They also did a good job of obscuring who he married so it fit both universes without it being too clunky.

[lieut_kettch]

Can't Sabrina just cast Cure Serious Wounds or something?

[mistervader]

Could have used a Phoenix Down, if you ask me.

[sir_razorback]

After her past 'raise dead' efforts in the Zombie books not too long ago, it's probably better this way.

[skjam]

I seem to recall that we've never seen Sabrina in either of these futures--apparently she completely moved out of the neighborhood.

[obsidianwolf]

Plus it is possible that Sabrina's future if she married a human took the path that was shown in the future where she married Archie*. Where by marrying a human she eventually got stripped of her magic.

*it was one of the futures Valerie saw when she walked up Memory Lane.

[alicemacher]

Which is, in fact, how being a witch works in the very first Sabrina story (Archie's Madhouse #22, Oct. 1962). Sabrina (who's more of an evil, or at least mischievous, witch, in her debut) tells the reader at the end of the story that she can't ever fall in love or she'll lose her powers and become mortal. "And that would be bad! ...I think!"

[obsidianwolf]

I absolutely love that Archie comics has just embraced the whole multiverse concept to explain how the gang stays Timelessly young. Heck they even managed to do a crisis crossover with the survival of at least two worlds on the line without turning it into an angst fest.

IN the world Valerie saw it was Hilda and Della who stripped her of her powers because Sabrina was living like a human. It was implied to be a world where HIlda was still the one that dressed as a stereotypical witch and was the more evil of the Aunts.

[alicemacher]

And in the Afterlife with Archie 'verse, Hilda and Zelda are benevolent towards humans (attempting healing spells when asked, and such) but ruthlessly punitive toward their own kind when the rules of witchraft are broken. Another interesting spin.

[dustbunny105]

Kinda weird that they've got Archie's parents hanging out in the background.

[obsidianwolf]

Yeah you'd think they'd be trying to push forward but they are probably just in shock.

Personally I'm curious how Jughead is going to take things since the guy who did the shooting works for him.

[dustbunny105]

Shock is a good explanation for it in-universe, it just strikes me as an odd creative decision. I understand wanting Archie's friends in the foreground with him, since they're the main characters, and having it be Jughead holding him makes sense since the shooter is an employee of his. But even the Lodges are further forward than the Andrews. It does at least look like they've got Moose holding Mr. Andrews back, for whatever reason, but I didn't even notice Mrs. Andrews at first glance.