The third volume of Nick Spencer’s run bringing Katy Keene to the new world of Riverdale brought me disappointment unfortunately.

First off, it’s a bit difficult to place where this is in the new timeline. Last volume Archie and Sabrina broke-up and mysterious omens were coming to Riverdale but in the recap, they have apparently patched things up and the world was saved. So apparently we are skipping over the really cool supernatural witch plotline, the Jughead/Reggie secret conspiracy history of Riverdale plotline, Betty vs Veronica over Fox Forest conflict and the summer of secrets hints. Seriously?

I only hope that is still coming out and was held back by COVID. Maybe this was just pushed ahead to coincide Katy Keene appearing with the CW.

Speaking of which, I think this is more CW-esque because while previous Jughead was still food-crazy and being his cool self investigating Riverdale with Reggie, this is much more Riverdale Jughead. Broody, philosphical monologuing, Riverdale Gazette reporter Jughead.

But that wouldn’t make sense because Riverdale Jughead is a different person and it wouldn’t fit with CW Katy Keene because that girl is in her 20s while this one is the same age as the other teens. Her parents also alive here!?

In almost all Katy Keene interactions from the 50s to the 80s to the 2007 reintroduction, her parents have been dead. That’s part of why she went into modelling so she can have money to raise her little “Sis.” Here, they are alive, they are muscians who homeschooled the girls and encouraged their creative streaks. While that’s all nice, it gave a certain pathos to Katy. She’s the model who almost gets everything on a silver platter, great looks, tons of guys fawning over her and travelling around the world modeling the best fashions. But due to that early tragedy, she was gifted with a drive, a mission and a sense of humbleness.

Taking that away, she just gets handed everything here and I can understand why Archie would find that grating. As before she was mainly a model with some acting, here she sings, sews, acts, and all that. She’s like a quadruple threat. While it’s a good message about dealing with jealousy of having someone else be so successful and the price of trying to share your talent on your terms rather than a brand, it still doesn’t lessen the feel that Katy is too good to be true. Especially as she so easily bonds with Betty, Sabrina, Jughead, and Veronica. Again, I get the point that everyone likes her but at least all of the others have some flaws, Katy is just a pedestal that they fawn over.

Additinally, there is not much plot if this was a continuation of Spencer’s other runs. The conflict is trite and most of the time is speant exploring New York. There’s no new dynamics or exploration of Katy as before.

Even the little conflict of whether the ‘rents would allow Katy and Sis go to New York with the gang is easily resolved. Which brings another weird point that Katy was so worried that they’d so no to her little trip but by the end she decides to stay there to work on her career. And apparently will stay in Riverdale all alone. The reason they moved to Riverdale together was to have the apartment together while their parents traveled. So Sis is just going to be by herself? What? Why can’t she stay in NY with Katy? It just felt like a strange creative decision.

Also Sis’ name is Sis. Is this suppose to be quirky ontop of maniac pixie cosplayer personality? I just feel bad for her that they make that her name, especially since she already has a perfectly fine real name-Mackenzie or Melissa depending which era of comics you follow.

This is all felt like a departure from the regular line with its confusing timeline, one dimensional characters and inconsistances. I hope they get back on track or even go for retcon introduction to Katy and her world. The Sabrina, and Josie runs did a good job in creating distinct tones, populating their casts. I feel it would have been nice if Katy had gotten the same treatment in having her and Sis move to NY, meeting the many paramours and some rivals and so on rather than push it all into one crossover.

At least Braga’s art is the one redeeming part of this whole crossover, it’s just very pretty and perfect for the fashion-centric plot.