Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #8

Story by: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Artwork by: Robert Hack

The Archie Horror collection continues with this new issue of Sabrina and it continues to be a fun take on some classic characters. Since I have not been following this series too closely since its launch back three years ago, I was pleasantly surprised that this issue was first and foremost, very new-reader friendly. You don’t have to have read the previous issues to be fully caught up in the story since Aguirre-Sacasa does an excellent job of sprinkling in just enough refreshers throughout the story for anyone who may have just picked up this issue.

As the story begins, we catch up with Sabrina as she is getting ready to go meet with her Harvey for a long overdue date night. Why long overdue? Well, Harvey was killed in a previous issue and has just been resurrected. A nice touch by Aguirre-Sacasa is the music playing in the background as Sabrina is getting ready: My Boyfriend’s Back by The Angels. However, not everything is right in the Spellman household when Sabrina’s cousin Ambrose and her familiar Salem warn Sabrina oh her meddling with forces beyond her understanding. Resurrecting the dead is not seen in the best of lights in the witching world.

However, being the rebellious teenager that she is, Sabrina leaves Ambrose and Salem after a small confrontation to broom away to meet Harvey. Once there, we learn through some nice exposition that Harvey is not actually Harvey, but Sabrina’s dead father Edward Spellman! After a heartfelt talk where Edward has to play ignorance at Sabrina’s revelation that she is a half-witch, her aunts, Hilda and Zelda catch up to her to try and convince her to undo what she has done to Harvey or she will face dire consequences. Oh, and they brought back-up to drive the point home.

When I think of a horror comic, I think of the classics from the pre-comic code era and that same esthetic is found here in the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Robert Hack is not an artist that I am familiar with, but this being my first introduction to him, I have become a fan. His painted-style used throughout the issue brings a perfect level of dread to this horror comic and his depiction of Sabrina in all her moods in this issue is picture perfect.

In all, Aguirre-Sacasa’s writing of a classic Archie character like Sabrina is a lot of fun. She’s strong-willed, rebellious and will do what she feels is necessary, damn the consequences. After reading this issue, I want to learn more about this new world he is creating for Sabrina and that is never a bad thing.