I always enjoy it when Archie comics brings the spotlight to one of the lesser-known reoccuring characters. In this case, it was Trula Twyst, my favorite adversary for Jughead with her mental mindgames. I can see why Robbins thought she was prime material for a psychological thriller in liu of Saw and Escape Room.

He has a great set-up too with his new backstory of Trula being a foster kid who’s been emotionally and physically abused to the point of being a cold, calculating maniac trying in her own twisted way to get attention.

Yes, the attention of Jughead Jones. By eliminating all his friends and classmates so they can be the ultimate power couple by forcing them to turn on one another.

Unfortunately, all this great set-up is carefully plotted only to be wrapped up in five pages. We have such intriguing secrets with Cheryl cheating on Toni, Trev and Betty making Kevin a third wheel, Reggie supplying Moose with steroids. . . and then we get no follow-up on how the revelation of these secrets will affect the friend-group.

Nor do we actually see the teens try to escape or what would have happened if they didn’t fess up their dark deeds. There were hints of danger, but no blood was actually shed as if Archie Comics felt constrained by their family-friendly reputation even though they’ve tackled horror in their horror line before.

I’m sorry to be bringing up this again but the problem is the page limit. Previous specials were able to do sixty pages but these one-shots seem to be constrained to just half and it leaves the endings to feel hollow and rushed. I don’t understand why they’re not longer.

I will say I did like having Ethel be the one to bring Trula down and reach out to her at the same time as she can understand the feelings of alienation and bullying. I just wish there was a little more from Jughead because he was barely present that new readers might not understand why Trula decided to latch on to him.

Finally, one last nitpick. I wish they gave Trula a different shade of red from Cheryl. Like I know the difference because Cheryl has straight hair and Trula’s more curly, but just differentiating the shades from straight red to some sort of auburn would have been helpful. I’m just used to her being darker.

My final review would have to be 3 stars. So much potential but rushed execution.