Review: Betty & Veronica by Adam Hughes
Quick Summary
Pros: The story is entertaining and ends with a wholesome message. The humor in this book is amazing and diverse. The book looks incredible and is filled with beautiful artwork.
Cons: Some aspects of the book stretch believability.
Overall: Betty and Veronica go head to head in a book that will have you shocked at some points, delighted at others, and laughing the entire time. This is a grounded tale about friendship being tested and powerful lead characters showing what they are made of. Along the way, comedy fills any dull moments and provides more laughs than most books out there. Plus, the entire collection looks beautiful and is a delight for the eyes. If you like visually stunning books about conflict between friends causing tons of funny situations, then give this one a try.
Story
Fans of Archie Comics, or humor in general, are in for a treat because Betty & Veronica by Adam Hughes is an endearing and hilarious comic book. Set in the world of Archie Comics, this book pits the universe’s two biggest female leads against each other in an all out brawl. These two stars are driven, committed, and intelligent, making them a joy to read throughout the book. This also allows for Hughes to work in themes regarding friendship that give the book a heartwarming appeal, especially at the end. Along the way, readers are exposed to a wide variety of humor ranging from slapstick and absurd to meta and self-referential. If you are looking for a short and contained book about real people, with low-stakes and plenty of laughs, Betty & Veronica is for you.
(spoilers start here)
The entire premise of the book is based around Betty and Veronica taking opposite sides in the war for Pop’s Chok’lit Shoppe. Betty wants the shop to stay in business and Veronica wants it to be bought out by her father’s business. Their rivalry escalates as both raise money for their cause and face off in direct competition with each other.
Veronica ends up playing the role of the villain for the majority of this, as she is actively campaigning against most of her friends. She also uses increasingly underhanded tactics to achieve her goal, leaving Betty frustrated and disheartened. However, she does manage to play the villain well and really seems to relish her role as the center of chaos. This role is taken to the extreme as the story progresses and she finally goads Betty into a physical fight. The two go at it until they hit the town center where they accidentally knock a drum set into a some primed fireworks, which fire into the drink stand, which sprays blood red punch all over the crowd.
At this point in the story, I was actually starting to get upset at how evil Veronica’s character was being written. However, upon turning the next page, the truth was revealed and Betty and Veronica’s entire feud was ousted as a ruse. The two did all of this to cause mayhem in the town square, thus destroying Veronica’s father’s plans. This twist was unexpected, well executed, and revealed at the perfect time. It solidifies the heroines as the intelligent masterminds that they are and builds upon the book’s theme of friendship. Seeing the pair walk away together was heartwarming and the perfect way to end the book.
While most of the narrative is focused on this showdown, it is also tremendously focused on comedy as well. The entire series starts with a ridiculous conversation between Archie and Jughead about if Santa Clause could beat the Easter Bunny in a fight. If absurd humor like this isn’t your thing though, there are still plenty of jokes to enjoy as every character contributes their fair share of one-liners and Archie Comics based comedy. Then, Hughes throws some meta humor on top by having Hot Dog the dog narrate the book and make commentary on the situation of the comic in general. There is a lot to laugh at here and I found myself verbally chuckling on more than one instance while reading.
The collection’s only real flaws, for those who enjoyed the humor, are a few odd moments at the book’s conclusion. How Betty and Veronica managed to launch the drum directly into the fireworks and launch those fireworks directly into the punch is never quite explained. Not to mention, that the entire reason Betty and Veronica needed to fight in the first place seemed rather contrived. In a comedy focused book little details like these are easy to overlook but may bother more serious readers.
(spoilers end here)
Art
Adam Hughes is famous for a few covers featuring Betty and Veronica in older Archie Comics but had, before this, not done any interior work for the company. Luckily for all of us, in this collection, he breaks that streak and crafts a great looking book in the process. Hughes brings the denizens of Riverdale to life in a way that shows them at their most beautiful, yet manages to avoid objectifying them. His character depictions are probably the best part of how this book looks and make the entire comic more enjoyable to read.
It isn’t just the characters who look good though, on top of that, Hughes also does a fantastic job with the background imagery. On some pages, readers are treated to a beautiful scene of Riverdale covered in autumn leaves or winter snow, and perfectly complemented by José Villarrubia’s colors. Meanwhile, on other pages, the background is completely blank, something purposefully done in order to highlight the character designs. Shifting between these two extremes allows for a diverse looking book where readers’ attention is constantly being pulled to the most relevant piece of information on the page.
Continuity
Despite being set in the “New Riverdale” universe of Archie Comics, the Betty and Veronica series does not seem to make any references to any other series. This means that you do not have to have read anything prior to this to understand the story or characters. Reading earlier Archie Comics (particularly the old Betty and Veronica series) will give you a little better perspective on the characters and how they interact, but will not give you any additional information about their history in this relaunched comic.