Archie Andrews and Sabrina Spellman still haven’t come face-to-face on the live-action TV shows Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, but comics are another matter. When writer Nick Spencer and artist Marguerite Sauvage took the reins of Archie with issue #700 back in November, they dropped the bomb that Archie and Sabrina had started dating over summer vacation! In the months since, the two have been trying to keep their secret under wraps from the rest of Riverdale, but now things have reached a breaking point. This week’s issue kicks off a story detailing how Archie and Sabrina got together, and things get dramatic — as you can see in the exclusive preview below.
“Archie’s been around for almost 80 years so it’s hard to find a dynamic or idea that hasn’t been explored, even in a tangential, what-if way. But when Nick came to us with the Archie and Sabrina romance angle, we were all floored,” Archie Comics co-president Alex Segura said in a statement. “It just made perfect sense, and it worked to start this story after they’re already an established couple. But we always knew we were going to go back and tell the tale of how that pairing got started. So, to emphasize the importance of this story, we’ve rebranded the main ARCHIE series to ARCHIE & SABRINA for this arc, which will not only conclude Nick’s opening story but also welcomes new collaborators to the mix.”
Those “new collaborators” include writer Mariko Tamaki and artist Jenn St. Onge, who will write the second and third issues of the Archie & Sabrina arc. Their contributions, as well as the spotlight on these two popular characters, should make Archie & Sabrina a good jumping-on point for fans of the shows looking to check out Archie Comics (while long-time Archie readers can just refer to this week’s issue as Archie #705 if they prefer).
As if Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina weren’t enough TV references for you, this storyline has recently been riffing on The Bachelor as well. Desperate to uncover the identity of Archie’s secret girlfriend, Betty and Veronica work with their frenemy Cheryl Blossom to stage Riverdale’s very own version of The Bachelor, with Archie as the man to win (and petunias instead of roses). But in last month’s issue, Sabrina (much smarter than her new klutzy boyfriend) saw through Betty and Veronica’s machinations and decided that she and Archie would set their own trap. In this week’s issue, the trap appears to be sprung.
Check out an exclusive preview of Archie & Sabrina #1 below, written by Spencer and illustrated by artist Sandy Jarrell, colorist Matt Herms, and letterer Jack Morelli. Also included are variant covers for the issue by Tyler Boss and Elsa Charretier (the primary cover by Veronica Fish is above). The full issue goes on sale Wednesday; pre-order it here.
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- Get a sneak peek at upcoming Archie anniversary issues
- Archie shocker: What’s next for Betty, ‘the heart of Riverdale’?
