Bite Sized Archie: Going Viral

I was such a fan of the first volume that I eagerly anticipated a follow up. While that first year of Bite Sized Archie was a groundbreaking romp that paid tribute to over 75 years of Archie lore and the entire Archie Comics library, there was something not quite right with the second year of strips. It was almost like Ron Cacace and Vincent Lovallo tried to get too experimental with a concept that in of itself was an experiment. The genius of Bite Sized Archie is how an entire story is told in just 4 square panels. Here, the creators tried to do a drawn out story over several strips and the way they did it just didn't work.

First of all, the concept was too wacky. An anthropomorphic cheeseburger takes revenge on Jughead with the help of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and a leprechaun. Then the story is told sporadically instead of several weeks in a row. That's hard enough to keep up with but the creators end up jumping ahead into the storyline with events that happened off page, like Veronica and Reggie getting kidnapped by the reindeer. Add in Sabrina the Teenage Witch and a Kaiju version of Jughead fighting the Cheeseburger and wrap it all up with a stupid punchline for an ending and I was begging for this volume to be over!

Thankfully, Cacace and Lovallo continue to add their director's cut commentary to their strips. Without it, I would've been lost, thinking that some pages of that continuous story were missing. I appreciate the creators wanting to try something new by having a lengthy story. However, I think they were too indulgent with their efforts. 

As Bite Sized Archie continues on over at Archiecomics.com, there's a good chance for a third volume. I just hope Cacace and Lovallo learn from their sophomore year mistakes and can recapture some of that magic from the inaugural year.

Rating: 6 out of 10 years.