Just some light dinner conversation.
Creative Staff:
Story: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Art and Colors: Robert Hack
Letters: Jack Morelli
What They Say:
THE HORROR ADVENTURES OF SABRINA RETURN! Learn the haunting back story of Sabrina’s father, Edward Spellman.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
When she was just a girl, Sabrina’s father, Edward Spellman, vanished without a reason or a trace. His sisters, Hilda and Zelda, took the girl in and raised her in the ways of The Church of Night. And while the sting of the loss never truly left (how could it?), it faded into the background of daily life. Recently Sabrina suffered another loss—her boyfriend Harvey, who was tricked into witnessing Sabrina’s Communion on her sixteenth birthday, and who was killed by the coven for his transgression. Desperate and grief-stricken, Sabrina turned to a woman she thought was her friend. This woman gave her a resurrection spell, and now Sabrina waits, pining to see the love of her life again.
Only things don’t go as planned. Harvey’s body returns, but the soul inhabiting it belongs to Edward Spellman. Both he and Sabrina unknowingly find themselves deep in the machinations of Madam Satan, cogs in machine whose purpose remains unknown.
Edward-Harvey doesn’t run straight to his daughter, though. Instead, he visits Harvey’s house where he compels the boy’s mother to murder her husband. Feeling peckish, Edward feasts on the fresh body and regales Harvey’s mother with the tale of his life.
And boy what a tale it is! Demon conjuring, power struggles within the Church of the Night, family squabbles that end in otherworldly consequences, Edward Spellman’s life was one long struggle for power, and he employed any means, any tactic necessary to win. Although he does become the High Wizard of the church, his ambitions go far beyond that, and to achieve his desire, he’ll need a human woman, and an heir who will be “more than witch and less.”
This issue sets up the context for the next big story arc, “Witch War,” and it’s to this creative team’s credit that this doesn’t feel like filler or stalling. Edward entrances the reader from the second he begins speaking out of his gore-smeared mouth, and the story of his rise and fall (and rise again) is exciting—like a blood-soaked Horatio Alger parody. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Robert Hack do their normal superlative job in balancing exposition, world building, and plot while peppering in wonderful literary and demonological allusions in such a way that they serve as a treat for attentive readers, but are in no way necessary for enjoying or understanding the plot. Seriously, I hope one day Archie publishes a huge annotated edition with all the references explained. I won’t spoil them for you, because they’re way too much fun, but I will say that this is the only comic (hell, only story) that I’ve seen that mixes references to The Munsters with real-life alchemists and Rosemary’s Baby.
Moving on, the artwork—as always—fascinates me. There’s a rough quality to it that might turn off some readers, but I think fits the story and its tone perfectly. For lack of a better term, there’s a 70s feel to this that’s difficult to quantify. The 1970s produced some truly disturbing and frightening horror movies, and they always possessed an indefinable quality that movies today can’t replicate unless they’re specifically trying to (the movie House of the Devil comes to mind, and even It Follows has some of that quality, although it’s more replicating the 80s and John Carpenter than the 70s). Part of it has to do with the equipment, I’m sure, but also with the willingness to be ugly. Sometimes the colors are drab and washed out, the sets poorly made, and the actors often looked like real people and not the overly idealized Greek Gods and Goddesses we see on the screen today. All of that creates a sense of time and history and incorporates the rough and the ugly in a way that added verisimilitude to the movies that, in turn, added greater weight to the horror. Robert Hack—consciously or unconsciously—brings that element into his art, and it’s great. As much as I love the genre, I don’t get scared very much by horror. I suppose that’s the price of immersing oneself in it, but I have to say that Sabrina has real moments of fright and disquiet, and that has so much to do with the art.
Hopefully, issue eight won’t take a year to hit the stands. I’m dying to see what happens when Sabrina and “Harvey” reunite. Of course, I’ll put up with a long wait if that means the comic remains this level of quality.
In Summary:
As always, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina delivers the goods. If you’re a fan of horror then you need to check this out. This comic is an embarrassment of riches. Dr. Josh gives this an….
Grade: A+
Age Rating: N/A
Released By: Archie Comics
Release Date: 5 July 2017
MSRP: $4.99