Sometimes you just want to fix everything.
Creative Staff:
Story: Kelly Thompson
Art: Veronica Fish, Andy Fish
Letterer: Jack Morelli
What They Say:
Because you demanded it: Volume Two of the critically acclaimed Sabrina the Teenage Witch series by Kelly Thompson and Veronica & Andy Fish! Sabrina saved the day—saved her friends, her family—the whole town of Greendale really, and she should be riding high. But things are never quite that simple. She’s trapped in a love triangle, she’s having trouble balancing the mortal and witch parts of herself, oh yeah, and she’s being blackmailed. As if all that wasn’t enough, while trying to help Radka and Ren with their…supernatural problem, her aunts suddenly starting to look like people she can’t trust. What’s a teen witch to do?!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I missed out on the previous Sabrina series and I’m a bad reader as I fell out of the main Archie series some time ago, so I didn’t get to see Sabrina’s arrival in that work. But with this new miniseries going under the name Something Wicked it felt like the right time to jump in. Kelly Thompson has long been a solid writer that knows how to make an opening issue, filling us in organically on what came before and the events that shape our characters lives without it feel like recap. And working with Veronica and Andy Fish means we get a great looking book from top to bottom. I really enjoy their take on the characters, the details, and the way it feels like a modern version of a classic Archie book without doing the same thing that the main book relaunched with a few years ago. It’s forged its own path with a good blend of old and new.
And that’s the position that Sabrina finds herself in here in Greendale where she’s trying to help her new friend Radka deal with the wendingo problem that she has. Turning into that beast at times isn’t great for a social life and the opening series had Sabrina breaking down those walls. But she’s also promised to help Radka and the two are burning the candle at both ends to figure out how to deal with it. It’s a spell that has a real history to it and is proving to be a challenge to her, which is good to see, and watching the two spend time together and deal with the frustration helps to really present them well. Of course, Sabrina finds a trick that’ll help her on the research side at least and that opens up possibilities of finding someone related to the origin of the spell. That it’s her aunties is delicious.
In between all of this we get a few other dynamics set up that’ll play out across the run. Sabrina’s struggling at school a bit with all she’s doing so Ms. Bell is giving her a lot of grief. You’ve got Ren making his play for Sabrina to some degree as she asked to be friends but he’s still thinking that Harvey is the worst thing for her, so he’s playing the situation to her frustration. Even worse, because of all she’s doing she’s not spending enough time with Harvey and still lying to him about what she’s doing in order to help Radka. And then there’s her best friend in Jessa who has a lot of high school gossip to share about herself and is trying to find time for Sabrina and her to hang out and just be the friends that they are. And when you get to add in Sabrina still learning more about what it means to be a witch when she visits another and sees a very fun game to try out, it provides a new bridge for her to understand her aunts. She’s simply pulled in so many different directions that it’s wearing her down.
In Summary:
Everything about this book has the right amount of polish to it and the experience that comes from the team working on it in a previous book, which is expected. The end result is something that’s very accessible to new readers but also provides more than enough for existing readers to sink their teeth into. It’s a good looking book with some great designs across the board in the Fish style that I enjoy quite a lot while Thompson’s script keeps it moving and flowing with a lot of things covered. This one really is just setting up for the run but it imbues you with a great sense of everyone that’s a part of Sabrina’s life and to want to see more of where it’s all going to go.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: Archie Comics
Release Date: April 1st, 2020
MSRP: $3.99