Archie Vol. 2

Although this is volume 2 - collecting issues #7-12, as well as Betty & Veronica #1 - this is my first “Archie” comic (though I did buy the superhero comics from the same publisher back in the 1960s). The 5 stars will probably tell you that this won’t be my last (though that does depend on my local libraries’ budgets).Now, I have seen Archie comics before, and know roughly who is who, but not actually what it is that they do or why they are doing it.Also, this is a relaunch/revamp of the style and content for the 21st century (and to cash in on the TV series - Riverdale - that is loosely based on the comic book).However, this book is written by Mark Waid, a veteran comic book scripter, who apparently can make anything “new” again, and by the end of the first issue collected here, I knew practically all I needed to in order to know who was (still) who and what they did - in Archie’s case, act as a magnet for incredibly bad luck; if this were Marvel, he’d be the mutant opposite of the Black Cat (or probably her twin brother).Despite me being a superhero comic reader for more than 50 years, this was a superb read, with excellent characterisation, artwork that was cartoony enough to carry the humour, but still realistic enough for this to be a fairly serious comic when it comes to inter-personal relationships. There is humour in the dialogue, in the characters, and in the situations, and in the interplay between all these elements.This really is a ‘perfect’ comic book, even if it doesn’t have any superheroes in it; though it does have a squirrel (and I remember that Archie did have a superhero career sometime in the past…).