Archie Comics is never shy to celebrate the seasons with a holiday special! Fans of Archie can enjoy a trio of Halloween tales starring your favorite residents of Riverdale. Plus, there's an in-depth guide on how to throw the perfect trick-or-treat bash thanks to your hosts Betty and Veronica.

Archie Halloween Spectacular

Stories by Dan Parent
Art by Bill Golliher, Jeff Shultz, Bill Galvan and Dan Parent

A couple of years ago when Archie Comics rebooted the franchise with a new series by Mark Waid and Fiona Staples, fans like myself thought it was a bad idea. Honestly, we all thought classic Archie was dead. I must say that I was wrong.

The retooling for a more adult audience was a masterful stroke at testing the future of the franchise. Along with the new Archie series, the publisher released Afterlife With Archie. This more adult oriented horror line proved that the normally family friendly line of comics could expand into more grown-up situations. With this success, Archie was ready for the next logical step- live action TV. All of a sudden, there was a hit drama TV-series on The CW based on a red-headed teen who can't decide between the blonde or the brunette.

While it looked like Archie Comics was going to stay modern, the publisher made the next smart move- it went retro. The classic look and feel that countless generations of Archie readers grew up with returned to print. While I'm not big on the new Archie stuff, except for the horror titles, I do love me some Classic Archie!

That's why I bought this book yesterday. In fact, my purchase was an impulse buy at the register. I had missed that Archie Comics was doing a Halloween special. I knew that they've got a couple of freebies coming out with this year's Halloween ComicFest. But it had not alerted me to the release of this book. But seeing a classic style Archie and the gang dressed as an array of characters such as a cave-girl and a Hersey bar, I just could not resist it's charms!

I really love Dan Parent's take on Archie. His stories are timelessly fun and yet he adds small touches that subtlety modernizes the tale. From Archie disappearing inside a creepy house to Betty and Veronica acting out a 'wicked' play, it's all classic Archie!

Whether or not the stories in this book are reprints or not is beyond me- and that's OKAY! Normally, publishers will tell you which issues a story was reprinted from. This issue doesn't but it's released under the Classic Archie line of Archie Comics.

For the cover price of $2.99, I got more joy out of this book than that of the Distinguished Competition who charged $4.99 for their 2018 Halloween reprint special. The Archie Halloween Spectacular just felt right at home. It's how a holiday special should be: bringing tricks and treats without the stress of everyday life. For example when Jughead's sister, Jellybean, finishes trick-or-treating she heads to Pop's to count her loot. She doesn't go to Riverdale Hospital to have her candy x-rayed like you'd see in a Marvel Halloween book!

If you love Halloween or holiday comics or Archie-OR ALL THREE!- this is the perfect book for you. Though this special dropped over a week ago, there's still copies for sale at your LCS! Bring home a timeless classic franchise and get to reading. Then follow the directions in the back of the book on how to have the perfect Halloween party the entire neighborhood will be talking about until the next Halloween.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.

Archie Halloween Spectacular debuted in print and digital formats on October 10, 2018.