I look forward to this annual offering of Halloween frights and delights from Archie Comics. For the most part, this year's release didn't disappoint.
As with previous years, there is only 1 new story. Readers are introduced to Trick and Treat, two spirits that embody All Hallows. Treat is all about the costumes, candy and fun of the holiday. Trick is about the horror, mischief and mayhem of the fall event. In their debut, Trick and Treat have a bet to see who can have the better Halloween evening: poor Archie who spent all his costume money on a date with Veronica the week prior or Reggie, whose costume hasn't really scared anybody.
I was hesitant about these new characters. But they really were charming. (Though, is that a noose around Treat's neck???) I had such an enjoyable time with these Halloween sprites that I wonder if there might ever be a crossover with them and Christmas time fan fav, Jingles the Elf?
There were 4 reprinted stories included with the Trick and Treat original debut. The first trio of stories were part of a trilogy. Betty and Veronica become owners of a pair of cursed pieces of costume jewelry. After a number of mishaps, they finally are able to get rid of the baubles only for Archie to claim them. That ended part one. In part two, Archie and Jughead wear the accessories for their costumes. While at a costume party, everything goes wrong to the point that Archie tosses his necklace away. Juggie however, decides to give his bracelet to his baby sister, Jellybean. This ends part two. Part 3 sees Jellybean, now wearing the trinket, being babysat by Betty and Veronica. Realizing that the tot has one of the cursed items, the girls summon Sabrina, the Teenage Witch to help dispose of it!
I didn't know that the previous story had 3 parts! I had read the first two segments before and liked them. So the third chapter was all new to me. That volume was written and illustrated by in my opinion, the quintessential modern Archie creator, Dan Parent. For 95% of that section, I was in love. But then a huge gaff occurred in the plot and it ruined the whole story.
Before Sabrina casts the bracelet into limbo, she comments that she'll make Betty, Veronica and Jellybean forget that she can do magic. Yet, when the regalia disappears, not only does everybody know Sabrina is a witch, Sabrina herself mentions not being able to descern where the cursed necklace went.
I read that section of the story 3 times trying to make sense of things. Did I miss something? Did the spell not work? Maybe I read it wrong. Maybe someone else was supposed to forget. The only thing I can think of is that the amnesia spell takes affect after everybody falls asleep. Only, I'm not really sure. Though a very funny Bite-Sized Archie one-pager was included in this issue and it might explain why nobody forgets at story's end.
Our last reprint story has Archie and Jughead having to ride out a storm in a mansion with a creepy inventor and his even creepier butler. It was a fun story that involves mishearing things for comedic effect with a plausible ending that has a great twist to things. A really great misdirect to bring about closure. Too bad I've read this one before, too.
One thing I got to say about the 2022 spectacular is that the editors should have chosen 3 stories that didn't appear in one of last year's Halloween-themed digests. I know that I've read enough Archie that I'm going to stumble across a story here and there that I have read previously. But come on Archie Comics, spread things out a little bit! There's tons of other Halloween themed stories out there that weren't printed in other Archie publications just last year that you could have used instead,... weren't there?
The all-new story was great. The thrill of learning that a two-parter I really enjoyed had a third entry was really cool. Too bad that finale had a confusing ending. And the other story was good. But really, lets get a little bit of variety here, folks!
Worth Consuming!
Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.
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