to be clear: This is issue #1 of all the new Archie comics, not anything specific to Riverdale the show. BUT I think it's a great idea to collect all the first issues like this, kind of a lil comic sampler. I really did like most of these comics more than I expected! (I know, I know, the new Archie comics have some really good writers/artists attached to them, but in the back of my head I was still like....yeah but it's Archie though? SORRY)

I'm definitely going to follow up with the Josie & the Pussycats comic and Jughead.

I think this is a good intro for a new-to-Archie (or at least new-to-New-Archie) reader BUT it could be misleading for someone wanting something more like [b:The Flash Season Zero|25241730|The Flash Season Zero|Andrew Kreisberg|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1481053563s/25241730.jpg|44961196] but for Riverdale.

I don't know a ton about the Archieverse but this was goofy and weird and made me legit LOL many times. Also, asexual representation in comix!

I think this book is basically what Tyra Banks was trying for when she wrote [b:Modelland|9535351|Modelland|Tyra Banks|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1311403288s/9535351.jpg|13168092]? And I applaud the work deconstructing beauty standards and think that'll be important for a lot of teens to read, especially related to skin color/social construction of race.

That said, I didn't love this? It has a lot of kind of steampunk-y trappings that just aren't my jam. (For example, measuring time in "hourglasses" but not specifying how long an hourglass is? You'd think an hour, since it has "hour" right in there...but it seemed inconsistent? This is a minor point but also something that consistently distracted me...) But also I'm never really into steampunk type situations, so again, this is the kind of thing that might be a draw for someone else.

Also the friendship between Camellia, the protagonist, and her best friend Amber, seemed a little strange to me? A lot was made about how they're ~best friends~ and tell each other everything...but also have secrets and also are very competitive?? I mean I guess as I type it out, that's pretty typical ~teen girl but it just felt very hollow as I was reading it.

I'm filing this under Things That Are Not My Personal Cup Of Tea But I'm Glad They Exist For Other Readers.

Spoiler

PS also it does that thing a lot of YA series books do, where it ends with a very abrupt cliffhanger. I know you want to build suspense for your next book but please also give this one an actual ending, thanks byeee

This is a great, realistic story! I know when the blurb for this came out there was a lot of hubbub about it maybe seeming to posit that a ~lesbian is just waiting for the right man~...I think that was mostly cleared up already in the book world, but my 2 cents is that it's definitely not saying that, but rather acknowledging that sexuality is fluid! There is a great discussion within the narrative where 2 characters discuss the relative usefulness of more specific labels like "demisexual homoromantic" (not Ramona's identity but a friend's), and a great portrayal of small town LGBTQ community dynamics, and a great portrayal of a low-income Southern teen...all kinds of identities that are underrepresented in YA fiction.

But also a great character to root for and a compelling story!

The good news is I read a BUNCH of these as kid and still grew up to be a feminist.

The bad news is basically everything else??

http://www.frowl.org/worstbestsellers/episode-74-sweet-valley-high/

I loved Desi Lee and found her awkward overachiever self very charming and relatable. Which is good--for a book with this storyline, it's super important that we like Desi because otherwise once she gets going with her K-Drama Plan to Get a Boyfriend.....well, if we didn't like her, she would kiiind of be the villain, because this Boyfriend Plan is really intense and could have caused some serious injuries!!! (This is me reading as an Adult.)

I've never seen any K-dramas but they're explained enough in the book and also I feel like I get the concept enough from other things in pop culture to see where Desi's coming from--the imperiled heroine, the big true love moment when the hero realizes she's in danger, etc....that's all so pervasive and seems so appealing.

Her plan is still super wack but I believed it and I still believed the relationship that formed from it. At some points I was feeling so much secondhand embarrassment I had to read like, a paragraph at a time and stare at the wall for awhile between paragraphs to recover my senses. I was in very deep.

All in all a great YA romance with a lot of funny bits and great side characters (including a lesbian couple), great for fans of Sarah Dessen etc etc etc.

Spoiler

for awhile I was afraid she was never going to reveal her plan to Luca and I felt so bad about it!!! spoiler it all comes out tho!!!

This was really #relatable and I liked how messy it was--how even as we see what a hard time lil Shannon is having, we also see her inadvertently being kind of a dick herself and diminishing her friends by trying to build herself up. Great for fans of [b:Smile|6393631|Smile|Raina Telgemeier|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1438206850s/6393631.jpg|6582125] [b:El Deafo|20701984|El Deafo|Cece Bell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1423770455s/20701984.jpg|40021855] etc!

I also loved the stories within stories from Shannon's imagination. A fun & bittersweet look at the tween ~growing out of playing pretend~ age.

The art is fantastic, too--all the girls are very easily distinguishable (as is the difference between the girls with new clothes and the girls with hand-me-downs), and the different styles between "reality" and the various pretend/daydream sequences is amazing.

One small concern I had--lil Shannon had some pretty big signs of OCD throughout the narrative (needing to count things and feeling intense anxiety based on what number she counted), and in the post-GN author's note she mentions she probably had OCD but it was never diagnosed... which, I mean, this is a memoir and I don't think Shannon should make up something like that! And she does mention some resources in her author's note...I hope kids who need it stick around for that!

I think this is something that will resonate with a lot of teen readers (and beyond). For me it felt a little too much like the novel's Thesis Statement was: LOOK, MOM, THINGS THAT I DO ON THE INTERNET ARE IMPORTANT AND REAL. Which is totally valid (I'M DOING THIS REVIEW ON THE INTERNET) and something that I know is hard for teens living at home with ~parents who don't get it~; for me as an adult reader it felt perhaps a little too aggrieved and had a very wish fulfillment ending...

But, again: for a certain flavor of teen reader this is gonna be #thebusiness. Also, nice to see anxiety/grief/mental health care wrapped up in the online stuff, since of course that overlap happens.

For me, it was fine, I wasn't that invested in the characters but again: it's not for me, it's for teens, and I think it's gonna be the jam of a certain flavor of teen.

This is beautifully written, and very spare--you get to know a lot about these characters without having too much spelled out for you. I, as a reader, would have loved MORE, but I grudgingly acknowledge that's not the kind of book this is.

It would be an interesting pairing with Burn Baby Burn since they're both in NYC in the 70s, partly both in the summer of 77, but such different tones.

It was also interesting for me because I read and loved Woodson's memoir [b:Brown Girl Dreaming|20821284|Brown Girl Dreaming|Jacqueline Woodson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1424308405s/20821284.jpg|39959105], and I know this is fiction but I did keep wanting to make connections to the memoir. (Also...I loved the memoir so much!)

I wasn't sure if this would be ~too scary for me~ and it's like, borderline, but I'm too intrigued by the premise of, essentially, "what if a Scientology-like belief system is REAL" to let that stop me?? eee