Scholastic, $9.99, ISBN 978-1-338-56912-4
Horror, 2020
A Werewolf in Riverdale by Caleb Roehrig is the first in a planned and now aborted series called Archie Horror, because the show Riverdale isn’t horrifying enough. This one also tied to the comic series Jughead the Hunger, and I guess it’s the prequel to that series or something, because this one ends on a dangling note.
Don’t look at me. I don’t read those Archie comics, as they never appeal to me. I just wanted to find out how well the whole thing works as horror. As it turns out, the whole thing is meh.
Oh, and parents, don’t worry. There are no sexy stuff here, just things safe for kids of all ages like people getting stalked and murdered by a werewolf.
That’s right, the Riverdale Ripper is killing nerds, teachers, and old people around town, but fortunately, Betty Cooper comes from a long line of werewolf hunters and she’s convinced plus prepared to take down the hairy beast.
Unfortunately, Jughead has a sinking feeling that he’s the werewolf, as he has dim recollections after his blackout episodes of stalking and killing the victims, yum yum. Of course, there is no suspense whatsoever as to whether he is the howler, as the back cover synopsis mentions that and even points out that Jughead already has a comic series in which he is the werewolf.
This one plays out like a standard horror story for kids—think Goosebumps, et cetera—only with characters from the Archie comics. In this case, they are Archie, Jughead, and Betty, with Veronica reduced to cameo appearances and Reggie to just having his name brought up.
Well, all that is fine and dandy, but the story would have been so much better had this been focused solely on Betty and Jughead. They already have a friendship going on, so there should be enough pathos and what not to have her anguish over having to kill Jughead.
No, Archie has to hog the limelight, and I don’t know why Mr Roehrig reduces the poor dude’s role here as first class whiner. That’s right, Archie’s appearances suck all oxygen out of the room with his whining about what a loser he is, his blind refusal to admit that Jughead may be werewolf right to nearly the very end of the story, and him bleating about how he needs to get better to protect Betty and goes for a year of training only to still end up being a useless twat anyway.
What’s the point of showcasing Archie this way? That guy has way too many scenes just to show me what a waste of space he is, when the author could have given this character something, anything else to do that would make Archie come off better, surely.
Worse, Archie drags Betty down to his level, because his refusal to entertain the possibility of Jughead being the hairy beast means that nothing really gets done and people just keep dying because Betty isn’t going to give Archie a hard kick in the rear end that he deserves.
So yes, once again Archie freaking Andrews ruins everything. This and the story ending on an unsatisfying open note means that the whole thing is a vaguely annoying read that doesn’t offer much in terms of payoff or entertainment value.
