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But this churning requiem for youth wouldn’t read so beautifully if not for artist Francesco Francavilla, channeling the dark side of Riverdale in reams of inky shadow.
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Though releases are few and far between, Afterlife hits a note of drama-heavy dread that’s not afraid to veer and twist among an electric ensemble, each character hiding a cemetery of skeletons in their closet. Archie Chief Creative Director and current Riverdale showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa matured Archie, Veronica, Jughead, Betty and the other varsity-jacket icons with a teen rating and a buffet of human organs in this excellent series. In 2013, the Archie editorial crew took the definition of on-brand and fed it to a ravenous horde of flesh-eating shamblers.
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