Hipsters invade Riverdale in Betty & Veronica and a backstory is created for the break-up of the Shield in WWE (two years too late…) all in today’s edition!
Betty and Veronica 2
Written by Adam Hughes
Art by Adam Hughes
The new war between Riverdale’s two most popular ladies continues to escalate, as Betty Cooper tries to raise money to save Pop’s diner and Veronica counters her every move to ensure her father’s new coffee place takes over instead. Betty really doesn’t seem to be very good at this, or at least, she doesn’t realize that Veronica is just evil enough to screw over her supposed best friend at every turn.
Betty is motivated by her own sentimentality for what Pop’s represents – a “living history” that everyone in town can appreciate and take part in, passing it down from one generation to the next. But while Betty manages to wrangle her friends into trying to help save Pop’s she seems to be the only one who really cares about saving the diner. Even Pop seems to be resigned to his new station in life, but Betty won’t let him give in. All to continue her ongoing feud with her best friend.
At least Betty has some semblance of depth, as Veronica just comes off as a one-note villain for the piece. She even tells Betty, she does all this because she can, and Betty can’t beat her. Her father says, “Hey, help me do something your friends will all hate,” and she falls over herself to take care of it. Betty, for her part, starts to crack a little bit…
I won’t lie, I’ve said this to my cat…
While Adam Hughes’ story feels like it might as well have come from any other era – minus the hipsters up above – his art is what sets the story apart from anything that’s ever been done with an Archie comic. Although, his art is also why I imagine this comic only comes out every couple of months… Still, his Betty & Veronica book holds up with Archie and Jughead as a great take on the classic characters, and anyone who wants more fun in comics should be picking it up.
WWE: Then. Now. Forever. 1
Written by Dennis Hopeless
Art by Daniel Bayliss and Dan Mora
Wrestling and comics very rarely works as well as it should, considering that wrestlers in the 1980s were considered “real life” superheroes, with larger-than-life figures like Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant popping up on television. Previous comics just never seemed to capture the right feel or set the right tone. But Boom! Studios is looking to change all that with their new partnership with World Wrestling Entertainment, and are launching a new WWE comic book in January. So, what’s this? It’s a preview of what’s to come, I suppose…
The main story deals with the break-up of The Shield – the supergroup comprised of Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose – back in 2014. Instead of focusing on mysticism or science fiction or stories more outlandish than what WWE pushes on its TV shows, the new comic book seems to be focusing on filling in the plot holes that WWE writers seem to love leaving out there. They also ask the hard questions.
That’s a really good question. Also, why is Seth Rollins wearing a SWAT outfit at a soiree?
But for anyone doubting that this comic is any good, it comes out with flying colors, producing a great main story – and the members of The Shield and the Wyatt Family actually read like the members of The Shield and the Wyatt Family – with a number of backup features and one-page profiles of various WWE superstars.
So, the opening match for Boom! Studios definitely got the crowd excited, now they have to follow up. I think the series has a lot of potential if they stick to telling backstage stories to fill in the gaps from what appeared on TV. It could be a really great companion piece to Raw, SmackDown! and NXT.