I won’t go to into my feelings on Riverdale (that’s a whole different five page essay I’ve written) but my basic feelings is that after the first season it misuses the characters and in their zeal to show edgy things like sex, drugs and death, they believe it will cover up their flaws in plot, character development, consistency, or logic.

However, Archie #700 is what Riverdale should have been in my opinion.

This is the first arc written by Nick Spencer, and takes off right after the first five volumes of the New Archie comics by Mark Waid. But don’t worry you don’t have to read them to understand this (I hadn’t), it just simply assumes you know the basics, the love triangle, Archie’s the everyman, Reggie’s a jerk and Jughead’s the foodie slacker.

Which is why it’s surprising to everyone when Jughead got a job as a food writer over the summer. Betty went out to Las Vegas to help campaign and volunteer at a political HQ, Veronica partied under the guise of social media intern and Reggie went to football camp. Archie stayed home, and more mysteriously hasn’t contacted anyone in months. The girls are especially intrigued since they both plan to step things up, make things official, and have Archie choose between them once and for all.

A choice that he is being extremely cagey about for one special reason. . . or person. I think most people know the twist, especially with it on the cover but this is a no spoilers review so I’ll just leave it at that.

But in how it relates to being a better Riverdale in not only keeping the core traits and dynamics of these characters that we enjoy, but it has several Riverdale staples like Jughead narrating in a somehwhat noir-like style hinting at the seedy underbelly of the happy town that is Riverdale. He also leaves off the story with a huge cliffhanger where Reggie’s dad is murdered! Not to mention the implied crimes of Jason Blossom that Cheryl is desperately trying to ignore and act her usual Cheryl self, as well a mysterious secret held by Josie and the Pussycats that has left them cancelling their tour, accepting Cheryl’s bribes and playing teen dances again much to their charign.

So as you can see multiple mystery threads that makes one, or at least me, eager to read on and find out more about what the heck is happening in Riverdale. Yet there is also lightness to it because they characters are still their wholesome selves even admist the murder and implied drinking. Plus there’s the more light-hearted and timeless Betty-Archie-Veronica-4th girl rectangle as the girls try to figure out who it is and Archie attempts to keep his love life under wraps.

Its an earnest pairing of mystery and humor that keeps it fresh yet familiar, it’s an addition to Archie canon, not a ridiculous distortion that Riverdale the show is. It adds depths to the characters from Archie’s mature new outlook to what his mystery girl brings him in their relationship that he can’t find with Betty and Veronica to Reggie’s implied neglectful Dad who openly tells Jughead that he wishes he was his son instead of Reggie and Jughead putting his eating bib down and his thinking cap on as he uses his special way of viewing life to figure out the mystery.

This coupled with Marguerite Sauvage’s excellent artwork makes it a real magical treat to read.