On the subject of “epic sagas,” horror may not be the style that first involves thoughts. Certain, there are long-lasting franchises like Halloween, Friday the thirteenth, Noticed, and Scream. However when it comes to long-form storytelling with world-building and distinct character arcs, the closest to a “saga” would doubtless be The Strolling Useless, with not solely its fundamental storyline in each comics and TV, however its many spin-offs as nicely.
It’s additionally not all the time the primary style people consider when the time period “worlds colliding” involves thoughts. In fact, there’s your Alien vs. Predator and Freddy vs. Jason—however that’s simply it, it’s all the time two characters opposing each other. Seldom are there team-ups, converging timelines, and characters from vastly completely different landscapes put ready to work collectively in horror; that’s typically saved in your customary superhero fare.
However that’s precisely what occurs in Archie Comics’ latest Premium Occasion, The Cursed Library. The primary chapter, launched in August, picked up the place we final left off with three of Archie’s fundamental horror characters: Madam Devil, Jinx Holliday, and Danni Malloy. Oh, and Lucifer. I suppose you may say he’s a fairly fundamental character in horror Archie Comics lore, too.
Many may not notice this, however Archie Comics has produced horror comics for over a decade. Afterlife with Archie in 2013 was the primary to determine that Archie can seamlessly lend itself to the horror style, inserting the red-headed teen and his family and friends smack dab in the midst of the zombie apocalypse. And we’ve continued that with quite a lot of titles over the previous ten years, seeing everybody’s favourite hamburger-happy pal develop a lupine style for human flesh, Riverdale’s resident wealthy heiress turning right into a bloodthirsty creature of the evening, two notorious twins going from naughty to straight evil, and quite a lot of tales that place the beloved iconic characters and prolonged solid in a number of the most horrific and nightmare-inducing eventualities conceivable.
Three characters specifically have emerged as tried-and-true horror heroines: Edward Spellman’s former flame/Sabrina Spellman’s nemesis/once-Queen of the Underworld/succubus supreme Madam Devil, daughter of Devil Jinx Holliday, and her time-traveling greatest good friend Danni Malloy. These characters could sound like they don’t make a ton of sense to not solely be our featured gamers, however for his or her very completely different lives to intersect in any respect, however the work we’ve carried out over the course of our horror one-shots over these previous three years explains all of it.
And that each one involves a head with the three-part miniseries The Cursed Library, the second situation of which—“Omega”—is on sale Wednesday, October twenty third. On this restricted occasion collection, we’re in Hell—actually, at Lucifer’s fort, to be precise. With Earth become an apocalyptic Hellscape, Jinx realizes it’s time to make amends along with her father if she needs there to be any hope of saving the world and simply having a traditional life taking part in in a band and avoiding homework. She makes an attempt to make good by providing him a sacrifice—the defiled and browbeaten former Queen of the Underworld and traitor to the Darkish Lord, Madam Devil—however might that really be sufficient? Is it simply his daughter’s respect that Devil needs? Both approach, it’s a hell of quite a bit (pardon the pun) of duty to placed on a 14-year-old’s shoulders!
I gained’t spoil an excessive amount of of the story for you, however should you’ve been following together with our horror choices over the previous decade, you’ll be delighted to note that these three characters are not at all the one ones who make appearances all through this miniseries. In actual fact, The Cursed Library is riddled with cameos and surprises company from Archie’s huge, nicely, library, of horror comics (the title is beginning to make lots of sense now, isn’t it?).
Easter eggs—or I suppose these might be known as Halloween eggs—aren’t all that outrageous to see on this style. In actual fact, it occurs in horror motion pictures usually! There are tons of nods to earlier iterations of movie franchises just like the beforehand talked about Halloween, Friday the thirteenth, and even the delightfully devilish Little one’s Play, however even amongst administrators’ earlier movies, a eager eye can showcase some particular cameos and appearances you in any other case may not anticipate.
For instance, director James Wan consists of a number of nods all through his filmography to his directorial debut: Noticed. You’ll be able to see the likeness of Billy the Puppet within the motion pictures Useless Silence (2007), Demise Sentence (2007), Insidious (2010), in addition to these directed by Noticed author Leigh Whannell, like The Invisible Man (2020) and Improve (2018).
Horror motion pictures have additionally turn into an increasing number of self-aware, resulting in the rise of the meta-horror style made standard with movies like Scream (1996) and The Cabin within the Woods (2006), as a result of these motion pictures happen in worlds which are conscious of horror movies, it’s not a shock that many of those are rife with Easter eggs and cameos.
For instance, 2006’s Behind the Masks: the Rise of Leslie Vernon, directed by Scott Glosserman, makes use of a mockumentary fashion to observe the titular Leslie Vernon, who aspires to be a slasher and tries to recreate the experiences of Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, and the like. It’s no shock that this movie would function many nods to others within the horror style, from the plain to the extra well-hidden, just like the Lament Configuration puzzle field from Hellraiser that’s positioned on a desk in a single scene.
Even in your extra avant-garde horror flicks just like the latest Longlegs, you get small refined hints, nods, and character callbacks to author/director Osgood Perkins’ earlier movie, 2015’s The Blackcoat’s Daughter, just like the silhouette of the “Shadow Satan.” (Additionally, Kiernan Shipka is featured in each movies. In case you don’t know, Shipka was additionally the titular star of Netflix’s Chilling Adventures of Sabrina collection. There you’ve gotten it, horror Archie Comics are additionally part of the Osgood Perkins filmography—even when he doesn’t know that but!)
Interconnected storylines don’t should be a barrier to entry for brand new horror followers—as an alternative, they’re extra of an added bonus. For those who’ve been following Jinx’s story, there may be nice delight taken in witnessing her growth as a personality and her relationships with these round her—very like Sidney Prescott’s evolution over the course of the varied Scream movies. You’ll even be excited to see the enjoyable acquainted faces from Archie’s earlier horror comics. Nonetheless, if that is your jumping-on level—concern not! It’s an exquisite, thought-provoking, well-rounded horror story that’s self-contained sufficient to get pleasure from by itself. However should you do get pleasure from it, there’s consolation in realizing that there’s a entire world—truly, a number of worlds—to discover past The Cursed Library you probably have not but already.
Come to The Cursed Library for a storyline full of familial drama, eldritch terror, existential crises, and dilemmas of private autonomy, keep to seek out all of the Easter eggs and nods to Archie’s huge horror library. We gained’t even cost you any overdue charges!
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Learn on for extra particulars on The Cursed Library #2: Omega, and go right here to compensate for all of the scary good installments of Archie’s Home of Horror!
An occasion ten years within the making has lastly arrived… THE CURSED LIBRARY is a three-issue restricted ARCHIE PREMIUM EVENT collection that brings collectively the worlds of Madam Devil, Jinx, Danni Malloy, and a lot of horror staples from the previous decade.
Once we final left off in Madam Devil: Hell on Earth, Jinx has the previous Queen of the Underworld trapped within the mysterious library, as her father-bestowed demon powers have intensified. To cease Jinx from turning into like her father, her greatest good friend Danni Malloy should rescue and persuade Madam Devil to information her by way of Hell itself to seek out the one factor that may probably save her good friend’s soul––Jinx’s mother. Alongside the way in which, they’ll additionally uncover a lot of faces they’ve seen earlier than, although solely within the pages of the terrifying tomes throughout the cursed library. This three-issue restricted collection horror occasion tells a narrative concerning the bonds that tie us collectively and the way the one factor that may save the world from evil is radical love.
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Cowl Artwork by Craig Cermak:
Cowl Artwork by In-Hyuk Lee:
Cowl Artwork by Julius Ohta:
Cowl Artwork by Skylar Patridge:
