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The series is an oversized magazine set to hit newsstands and comic shops, featuring reprints of the Afterlife With Archie series by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla, a preview of the new Chilling Adventures of Sabrina by Aguirre-Sacasa with artist Robert Hack, and two classic horror stories from the Archie Comics vault.
Archie is arguably the most aggressive North American publisher at pursuing newsstand and non-direct market sales; they remain omnipresent in toy stores, drug stores and grocery stores even as larger comics publishers like DC and Marvel have scaled back their presence in those markets to near zero.
And Archie’s horror books, of course, are opening a whole new market for the publisher. Along with their revamped Black Circle line of superhero books, Afterlife and Sabrina have allowed Archie to make a play for more traditional comics audiences in a way that their monthly, all-ages-friendly books haven’t done in years.
You can check out the preview pages and solicitation text below. Afterlife With Archie Magazine #1 shambles into stores Wednesday.
“Escape From Riverdale”—This is how the end of the world begins… Harvey Award-winning writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Stephen King’s The Stand, Archie meets Glee) and Eisner-winning artist Francesco Francavilla (The Black Beetle, Guardians of the Galaxy) take Archie and the gang where they’ve never been before—to the grave and back! A horrific accident sets off a series of grim events and Sabrina the Teenage Witch must try to repair the unspeakable evil her spell has unleashed. Gasp in horror as Riverdale faces an impending zombie Arch-pocalypse in the first issue of the magazine-size edition of the hugely successful, award-winning AFTERLIFE WITH ARCHIE series, featuring all new special features. For TEEN+ readers.