Just in time for Halloween, here’s something different for this site: Me recommending a project I had nothing to do with. Okay, maybe not all that different—after all, I’ve posted summer reading lists in which I recommend other authors’ works. If anything, it’s different in that it involves a comic book series, the latest issue of which I reviewed for the news site Comics for Sinners. It’s the most unexpected—and most popular—Archie Andrews comic ever: the zombie apocalypse series Afterlife with Archie. And I think it’s something you Panatics might be interested in…
It started as a joke: a Halloween drawing by artist Francesco Francavilla (The Black Beetle), of a comic-book cover for a nonexistent horror series called Afterlife with Archie (a parody of the long-running Life with Archie); in it, America’s favorite teenager was being stalked in a cemetery by his best friend, Jughead—who’d become a zombie. The image went viral and comic fans laughed about it…but at Archie Comics, someone took a look at it and thought, Archie and his pals in a zombie apocalypse—what a great idea!
And thus was born Afterlife with Archie, the series, with Francavilla as artist, joined by writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Stephen King’s The Stand). Together, they’ve made AwA one of the most talked-about series currently being published, and one of the company’s top titles, by treating it as a straight-up horror series not intended for younger readers used to Archie’s more comedic antics. The setup is: Jughead’s dog, Hot Dog, is hit and killed by a car; Jughead brings him to Sabrina the Teenaged Witch and begs her to revive him; Sabrina uses The Necronomicon to do so (well, there’s a bad idea). In a Stephen King’s Pet Sematary–style twist, Hot Dog comes back as a very bad dog—a zombie dog, in fact, that puts the bite on Jughead…who then quickly spreads the infection to the rest of Riverdale. And suddenly Archie Andrews knows what it’s like to be Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead…
With the first story arc completed in AwA #5, Afterlife with Archie #6 shows us what’s become of Sabrina after her two witchy aunts punished her for accidentally unleashing hell on Earth—the last we’d seen of her was in the first issue, when they’d banished her to the “Nether-Realm.” Now we find out things haven’t improved much for her…
“Witch in the Dream House” uses the trope of the lead character who insists that their “hallucinations” and imagined life are reality while everyone tries to convince the character they’re insane. For Sabrina, it’s her certainty that she’s a witch, surrounded by monster in group therapy at a mental institution—run by two doctors named Lovecraft and Machen. If you recognize the names H. P. Lovecraft and Arthur Machen, two of the horror genre’s greatest writers, you can see where this is going, can’t you?
For horror fans, there are Easter eggs galore, with shout-outs to the authors’ works, most notably Lovecraft’s C’thulu Mythos—two of Sabrina’s fellow patients are Erich Zann (“The Music of Erich Zann”) and Richard Pickman (“Pickman’s Model”)—as well as Robert W. Chambers’s fabled city of Carcosa (most notably referenced in the first season of HBO’s acclaimed series True Detective) and the cult classic film The Wicker Man (the original with Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee, not the crappy remake with Nicholas Cage). And as for the ending…well, you’ll just have to see it for yourself.
As a bonus, instead of AwA’s usual backup stories—reprinted from Archie’s Red Circle–imprint series Chilling Tales of Sorcery, with stories and art by some of comics’ legendary creators—this issue features a sneak peek of Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #1, Aguirre-Sacasa’s not-quite-an-AwA-spinoff-series that’s currently on sale. Set in the 1960s, with art by Robert Hack, it seems to take its cues from Rosemary’s Baby and other occult thrillers of the sixties and early seventies. Definitely another series to check out.
Bottom line? If you’re already reading Afterlife with Archie, or are a fan of the works of Lovecraft, Machen, and Chambers, then definitely pick up this issue. If you’re a horror fan in general, you need to be reading this series. AwA is one of the smartest, creepiest comics out there right now, with a minimal amount of gore shown during its most violent scenes, but a lot of oppressive mood. Archie + zombies + the C’thulu Mythos = a can’t-miss series.
Afterlife with Archie #6
“Witch in the Dream House”
Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Art by Francesco Francavilla
Publisher: Archie Comics
32 pages • full-color
$2.99 U.S.
On sale now
The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham: First published in 1951, it’s a fast-paced, enjoyable science fiction adventure that would seem to have been an influence on the quasi-zombie apocalypse film 28 Days Later (a patient in a hospital wakes up to find himself apparently the only unaffected person in a ravaged London). Except instead of zombies, you have carnivorous plants hunting a human population that’s been mostly stricken blind by the light of a passing comet. But as the lead characters quickly learn, it’s not the Triffids that pose the greatest threat, but the other unaffected humans…
Rosemary’s Baby, by Ira Levin: The 1968 Mia Farrow–starring film adaptation is a horror masterpiece, and Zoe (Guardians of the Galaxy) Saldana starred in a 2014 television miniseries remake that was well received, but Ira Levin’s 1967 source novel is a brisk, entertaining masterpiece of its own. Rosemary and Guy Woodward move into an NYC apartment building with a long history of witchcraft and devil worship—and the current residents have plans for Rosemary… Apart from cultural references that firmly set the story in 1960s New York, the story remains as enjoyably horrific and humorously macabre as it did almost fifty years ago.
The King in Yellow, by Robert W. Chambers: This 1895 short story collection influenced not only writers like H. P. Lovecraft, Grant Morrison, and Stephen King, but also served as a major plot point in the first season of HBO’s acclaimed series True Detective, starring Matthew McConaghey and Woody Harrelson. The conceit is that The King in Yellow, a fictitious two-act play, drives people mad when they read the second act (which is never reproduced in the book). The first four stories in the collection are linked to the play. Download The King in Yellow e-book for free from 
Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1: What, I shouldn’t plug my first Pan novel—on the very site dedicated to the series it’s part of? 😉 With its sequel, Blood Reign, soon to make its long-awaited appearance, this is the perfect time to catch up on the start of Pan’s debut adventure (if you or your book-loving friends haven’t already read it, that is). Warring vampire clans! Fallen angels! Monster hunters! Romance! Danger! Pick up a copy and find out why HorrorNews.net called Blood Feud “far and away one of the best young adult supernatural fantasy novels released in the last few years.”
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, by Stephen King: Nine-year-old city girl Trisha McFarland wanders off a forest path after arguing with her mom and gets completely lost—then things get really bad. Something stalks her through the woods, and it’s only her love for real-life (now former) Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Tom “Flash” Gordon that keeps Trisha going through all her freaky adventures.
Cycle of the Werewolf, also by Stephen King, with spectacular full-color illustrations by horror comics master Berni Wrightson. There’s a werewolf on the loose in Tarker Mills, Maine, and the only person who can stop it is 11-year-old Marty Coslaw, who’s a paraplegic. But even though he’s confined to a wheelchair, Marty’s smart enough, and brave enough, to discover the werewolf’s identity. Now if he can just kill it before it kills him…
’Salem’s Lot, by Stephen King: Before his ode to wolfmen, King wrote this scary tale of vampires in small-town America. Writer Ben Mears returns to ’Salem’s Lot (original name: Jerusalem’s Lot), the small Maine town where he grew up—just in time to face a sudden outbreak of vampirism. It’s Dracula living in The House on Haunted Hill, and the horror never lets up. Forget the emo, sparkly kind of bloodsuckers and read about honest-to-goodness monsters striking from the shadows.
True Grit, by Charles Portis: Yes, I’ve got a Western on this list, and it’s the very novel that served as the basis for two movie adaptations. Although the films were more focused on John Wayne’s and Jeff Bridges’s respective portrayals of U.S. marshal “Rooster” Cogburn, the novel really makes it clear that this is the story of Mattie Ross, a 14-year-old girl searching for her father’s killer. Mattie’s a strong female character who knows what she wants, with a sense of humor so dry it makes her a little too straitlaced at times, but it’s a fast-paced, enjoyable adventure.
Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury: A classic of dark-fantasy fiction. As Halloween approaches, Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show rolls into Green Town, Illinois. The “dark carnival” holds some ominous and terrifying surprises, and when weird and evil events start to affect the people of Green Town, it’s up to two 13-year-old boys—Jim Nightshade and his best friend, William Halloway—to save everyone. Bradbury’s prose is almost poetic at times, and the story sucks you in from page one. If you’ve never read it before, do so now; if you have read it before, read it again.
The Second Greatest Story Ever Told, by Giorman Bechard: Not a horror tale but a humorous novel about the sort-of Second Coming—only this time God sends down his daughter, Ilona, to straighten out the modern-day world and introduce the Eleventh Commandment: Be Kind. Born in Cooperstown, New York (home of the Baseball Hall of Fame), she becomes a New York Mets fan, appears on the David Letterman show, becomes a spokesperson for a soda company, and tries to update the Catholic Church (which the Pope isn’t too thrilled about). It’s funny and dramatic, and was the novel that opened my eyes to how a writer can put aspects of themselves into their characters—a major influence on how I approached my writing from then on. (It’s available for Kindle and Nook, by the way.)
A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess: This one is really more for adults and older teens because of the sex, violence, and drug use involved, but it’s a fascinating, gritty tale about Alex, a sociopathic teen, and how society tries to “fix” him. Burgess plays with the language, inventing words and phrases that, at first, are a little difficult to decipher; but as the story progresses, you’re quickly able to understand what Alex is talking about. And if you’ve ever seen the Stanley Kubrick movie adaptation, you can’t help but “hear” Alex’s first-person narration in the voice of Malcolm McDowell, the actor who played him.
Carmilla, by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu: One of the first female vampire tales, originally published in 1872, and an inspiration for Bram Stoker when he created the vampire brides in Dracula. It’s also considered to be the first lesbian vampire story, because of Carmilla’s obsession with her latest friend/victim, the protagonist Laura, but there’s no sex involved, just impassioned pleas for love. SWC released its version of this Gothic dark fantasy last year, and it features black-and-white illustrations by Eliseu Gouveia, artist of the comic The Saga of Pandora Zwieback #0. You can find information on the SWC edition 
A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs: The first in the ten-book “John Carter of Mars” novel series, originally published in 1912, and the inspiration for Disney’s 2012 film adaptation, John Carter. A Civil War veteran finds himself transported to the red planet, where he winds up fighting what seems like half its population (both human and alien) for the love of Dejah Thoris—who’s no damsel in distress but a warrior princess! SWC released its own edition this past March and, like Carmilla, the book features black-and-white illustrations by Eliseu Gouveia. Princess is great pulp adventure, and I’m not just saying that because I published a version of it—I tore through the Mars novels back in high school, and they’re still worth reading. You can find information on the SWC edition 