Review: Jughead Vol. 1
Quick Summary
Pros: The book can be very funny at points, especially if you appreciate the humor. Plus the characters are well written and enjoyable regardless of the humor.
Cons: The jokes and comedy definitely feel a little juvenile and silly at points. The art can also be odd in places.
Overall: This is one that will be a hit or miss for different readers, depending on what kind of comics you like and what kind of jokes you find funny. If you are into crazy and off the wall humor that features wild, imaginary fantasy trips, then this is for you. However, if you are looking for something more subtle, then you will not find much of it here.
Story
Comedy in comic books often walks a somewhat fine line between being too much and being not there at all. Recently the big two publishers have hit both sides of that line with the polarizing comedic characters of Deadpool and Harley Quinn. Some people think their humor is perfect and hilarious, others think it can be juvenile and redundant. Jughead Vol. 1 walks a similar path in that it offers loads of laughs to the people who are able to appreciate it. If you are the type of person who likes crazier and more bizarre humor, such as that featured in Deadpool and Harley Quinn, then you are the type of person who will really like and appreciate this book. However if you are not then you may be out of luck here.
On a personal note, I found the humor to be a little bit of a mixed bag; some portions of it were very funny, while others were simply too much. Humor is something that is incredibly subjective from person to person so I am attempting to write this review in a way that will demonstrate opinions from both sides of the spectrum. Humor is also undeniably the largest portion of this book, so it will indeed be what makes or breaks this series for people. So, as a disclaimer, below are my more personal opinions on the humor found throughout Jughead; you may have a completely different experience with it but such is the nature of comedy.
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Some of the funniest parts of this book were those outside of Jughead’s daydreams and occurred when the gang was simply hanging out. Moments like Jughead responding to Archie’s frantic texts with “new phone who dis?” or Reggie falling in love with his genderbent double, Regina, were hilarious and elicited some genuine laughter. These are similar to those funnier moments from the Archie series and do this story a whole heap of favors. If this volume had more of these moments, I personally think it would have been a little nicer of a read.
However, for each of the books successful jokes one of them fell flat. These usually happened when the comic went into Jughead’s mindscape to play out whatever fantasy he was dreaming. Overall, these just felt like the story was trying too hard to be funny. It was as if the somewhat normal comedy it was delivering was not enough and everything needed to be turned up to 11. This hurts the book overall and makes it feel like a silly kids book, rather than preserving the all-ages approach that works so well in the Archie series.
Besides the humor, the story is somewhat interesting and the characters are wonderful. The story and characters both maintain the same charm that they have in Archie but simply tell jokes more often here. This gives the book the additional lighthearted and humorous flair that the series was trying to obtain. All in all, it is has a similar feel to the Archie series if you took away the relationship drama and replaced it with more comedy.
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Art
The art was fairly solid throughout the book. It does not look as spectacular or as detailed as some other books and series but it works well for what this story is. The art here allows the story to be more bizarre and cartoonish because the art is less grounded in reality. It gives the story a Saturday morning cartoon or Loony Toons vibe which then helps it to achieve the comedy it is going for.
However, some portions of it end up looking pretty weird. In particular Betty’s character not only looks weird but also looks completely different from her character in the Archie series. Seeing as this “New Riverdale” universe is supposed to be a little cohesive between series it was a little odd to see a character looking completely different here, especially while many of the other characters look fine.
Continuity
This story is the first volume in the Jughead series of the “New Riverdale” universe. It somewhat flows out of Archie Vol. 1 but does not make any reference to it besides sharing a universe. This means that you really do not have to have read anything prior to this to understand the story or characters. Reading earlier Archie Comics (particularly the Jughead 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. The stories started in this volume continue on in Jughead Vol. 2.