Racing the Devil.
Creative Staff:
Story: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Art: Robert Hack
Letters: Jack Morelli
What They Say:
There are some things in this world that mortal eyes should never witness — that’s a lesson poor Harvey Kinkle will learn the hard way, when he makes the unfortunate mistake of intruding on the darkest of ceremonies — an offense that the witches’ coven takes very seriously. Though Harvey’s life hangs in the balance, it is the Spellman family that will come face-to-face with true evil. Indeed, the choices made by teen-witch-in-training Sabrina on this dread night will determine the fate of every living soul in Greendale.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Fooled by Madam Satan, Harvey Kinkle enters the Greendale woods at night to catch his fiancé-to-be, Sabrina Spellman, meeting some other boy. Instead, he stumbles upon a dark ritual designed to initiate Sabrina into the coven of witches. Now the boy runs for his life—racing the Devil both figuratively and literally—while Sabrina tries to find a way to salvage the situation.
As Harvey runs, he remembers another time when forces bent on causing him harm chased him through the woods. It involved a hollowed-out tree trunk, a stash of adult magazines, and three toughs from the high school. As frightening as that situation was, it had nothing on what he saw in the woods—the blood, the witches, the Devil himself, and his beloved Sabrina covered in viscera, one step away from signing her name in the Devil’s book.
Sabrina struggles to free herself from magical bonds placed upon her by the ritual’s officiate, who offers sinister, cryptic warnings about Sabrina and her aunts facing the “Council.” It’s unclear just what the Council is or what it will do, but the threat is clear and frightening. Sabrina does free herself and races her own Devil to reach Harvey.
But she’s too late.
She finds Harvey in the arms of a witch, his jaw gone, his tongue lolling, his flesh torn from his neck and chest. “He was delicious,” the witch says, and Sabrina passes out.
The rest of the issue deals with the Council covering up the death and Sabrina dealing with the trauma. She stands at a crossroads, physically and spiritually exhausted, and that’s exactly where Madam Satan wants her. She approaches the sobbing girl in the school bathroom and offers her the chance to bring Harvey back to life. How this fits in with her plans remains to be seen, but it certainly spells trouble for Sabrina and the rest of Greendale.
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina 4 is another feather in the Archie Horror cap. Aguirre-Sacasa and Hack tap into something primal with Harvey running through the woods (“Being chased by something…[is] as old as the woods, themselves). It’s terrifying but also surprisingly sexual. The two moments we see Harvey being chased share more in common than just the setting. The first time he ran into danger was out of a desire to see the stash of adult magazines, and the second time was out of a desire to see his beloved Sabrina. When the witches finally do catch up, one of them appears to him as Sabrina. She casts a spell on him, asking him for “A real…grown-up…kiss,” which he obliges, flashing back for a moment to the cover of the magazine he discovered in those very same woods years ago. The next time we see Harvey, he’s dead, partially devoured by the witch he kissed.
Sex and eating go together surprisingly well, and that connection pops up time and again in art and even our language. How many times have people referred to their objects of desire as “yummy” or “scrumptious” or “delectable”? How many times have people said to children, “I could just eat you right up!”? Perhaps it has something to do with the role of the mouth in both situations, or perhaps there is something primal and visceral to both acts that we understand subconsciously. Whatever the reason, this issue uses it to great measure, twisting fear and desire, sex and appetite together into a profoundly disturbing moment.
And speaking of disturbing, the witches that hunt Harvey are terrifying. Hack does a marvelous job of making them bestial, otherworldy, and powerful, with clawed feet, skeletal faces, and grotesque body hair. Thankfully, Hack also excels at drawing non-terrifying characters. His facial expressions, body language, and general sense of design are excellent and particularly suited to this comic. I especially love his colors, which are rough and dark and textured to resemble chalk. It fits the dark, rough feel of the comic, bringing to mind B horror movies from the ‘70s and ‘80s (which I believe is the intention). It’s difficult to imagine this comic being drawn by another artist.
The only issue I had with this comic concerns the appearance of Betty and Veronica. The girls join with the rest of the Riverdale gang to assist in the search for Harvey, and Veronica convinces Betty to play hooky for a little while. They’re approached by Madam Satan, and the three engage in a rather cryptic exchange where we learn that Betty and Veronica are witches and were involved in some nasty business in the Greendale woods some time ago. I had difficulty discerning whether the two were actually witches, or if Madam Satan was speaking metaphorically. I also don’t know what it was that the two of them got into in the woods, or if I’m even supposed to know. I missed the first two issues, so it’s possible that I simply missed it, but it was a moment that took me out of the story just a little bit.
In Summary:
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina 4 continues the standard of excellence Archie Horror has established. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is quickly becoming one of my favorite horror writers, and Robert Hack is perfect on this title. It’s frightening, disturbing, and excellent. If you aren’t reading this, then you’re doing yourself a disservice. Dr. Josh gives this an…
Grade: A
Age Rating: N/A
Released By: Archie Horror
Release Date: July 29th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
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