When Reggie & Me was announced back in September, fans of Archie Comics’s New Riverdale lineup were thrilled. Reggie Mantle has been an entertaining jerk thus far, but hasn’t really taken up a ton of real estate as Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica, and Josie & the Pussycats have been working to re-establish themselves for the new continuity.
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In case you’re not too familiar with Reggie — he doesn’t have quite the same profile with the general public that the other New Riverdale titles like Archie or Josie and the Pussycats do — you can check out this months-long Twitter exchange, which might just be the best thing on the internet.
“The town of Riverdale has been part of my life as long as I can remember, and there couldn’t be a more exciting time to visit,” said series artist Sandy Jarrell. “Reg is more than a little salty he had to wait this long for his solo relaunch, so we’ve to make this count. I, for one, have no intention of getting on Mantle’s list.”
The first issue of the series hits the stands tomorrow from writer Tom DeFalco and artists Jarrell, Kelly Fitzpatrick, and Jack Morelli, and the story views Reggie through what would seem like a unique narrative device: the voice of his dog, Vader.
“Vader was the obvious choice for narrator,” DeFalco told ComicBook.com. “He may see all Reggie’s faults, but still loves him unconditionally. Vader may be the only one in the series who can see the real Reggie.”
Why is that we said the narrative device “would seem” unique? Well…this is the second of Archie’s five New Riverrdale titles to be narrated by a dog — the other being Betty & Veronica, narrated by Jughead’s beloved pooch Hot Dog. The decisions to use dogs as narrators in the two titles are, as far as we can tell, unconnected and just one of thsoe crazy things that happens sometimes.
“Every story will be done-in-one, but each one will build on the others to tell an even bigger 5-issue story,” DeFalco explained. “Our 5-issue arc focuses on Reggie, Vader, Big Moose and Midge—although many of the regular Archie (including Archie himself) cast do appear!”
For his part, DeFalco isn’t on Twitter, so he’s never seen the above-referenced exchange and likely wouldn’t get a lot of the social media jargon in it — but he knows what makes Reggie a compelling character: “He is smart, stylish, handsome and an evil mastermind—much like myself!”
You can check out a preview gallery of art from this week’s issue attached. Reggie & Me #1 is available in comic shops tomorrow, or you can pre-order a digital copy now.
