Oni Press is gearing up for Halloween with its new series, Archie in Hell, and is diving into Riverdale's history like never before. They’ve released the exclusive “Pyre Satanic” variant cover for the series’ first issue, out in November, and it’s a real doozy.
Drawn by Chloe Brailsford — who also did the Pyre Satanic cover for Sabrina the Teenage Witch #1 — the new cover is one of many surprise reveals across the Archie Comics brand that “[echo] a unique chapter of Archie Comics history in a playfully subversive way.” It joins numerous other variant covers for the first issue, including those designed by Paul Azaceta, Jesse Lonergan, Kano, Dan Parent, Mirka Andolfo, and Mahmud Asrar.
Following up on the recent Afterlife With Archie series, Archie in Hell is written by Patrick Horvath with art by Tyler Crook. The new line follows the titular redhead in an alternate universe Riverdale where his life goes completely to hell… literally, with a synopsis as follows:
They say that every small town has a secret. Well, in the case of Riverdale, it’s one heck of a humdinger: An ancient order of cultists has infiltrated its townspeople, bent on using human sacrifice to usher a demon lord into our mortal plane. And they’ve finally identified the final target they need to bring a century’s worth of planning to fruition: hometown football champion and all-around good guy Archie Andrews.
But this secret cabal never dreamed that actual witches walk Riverdale’s streets . . . and when cult and coven clash in the final stages of Archie’s secret-ritual sacrifice, the consequences will be cosmic . . . and young Archie Andrews will find himself damned to something far worse than Hell’s inner circle.
This new series lines up with the eighty-fifth anniversary of Archie’s first appearance in 1941, in Pep Comics #22, which began a legacy that continues to this day and stretches from comics to television shows to a new live-action movie currently in development.
Archie in Hell #1 hits shelves on November 4.
