I was probably about 8 when I found my fathers huge stash of Archie comics. It was instant love — I read them obsessively, sending my 1982 self back into the 1950s. And, as I always did in any fandom, I identified with the brunette — the glorious, gorgeous Veronica. (My great love for Snow White has been a 30+ year affair.) I never got the Betty love — she was a goody-goody, too perfect and not nearly as smart and sassy as my Veronica. In fact, no one was really good enough for my Veronica — but that’s another story.
This morning, I was reminded of that intense love when I saw “Riverdale” — “a fan-trailer responding to the common trend of ‘gritty’ remakes of popular franchises.” It’s kind of brilliant, and the fact that it’s underscored by Clint Mansell’s utterly haunting “Lux Aeterna” immediately sets the stage for this being a very very different retelling of the Archie and friends tales.
As a youtube commenter said: “French the fucking? llama, this needs to be? a full-length film.”