Last issue, the entire Riverdale Gang won a fabulous tropical island vacation during their Spring Break. Everything was fairly traditional for an Archie Comics adventure. Jughead got to eat tons of food. Archie flirted with everyone. Betty and Veronica clashed over our favorite carrot-top. Cheryl and Jason Blossom instigated all sorts of mayhem. And...
And the Predator arrived from some unknown intergalactic location and began hunting our favorite teens! (I'm not joking! Both Cheryl and Jason got skinned alive!!)
After a major blow-out between Betty and Veronica, the surviving gang returned to Riverdale. However, Betty accidentally snagged a dark ceremonial blade on her outfit before leaving the island. Not only that, but it appears that the Predator stowed away in one of Veronica's trunks!
But before I get too far into this blog entry...
This blog entry contains spoilers. If you don't want to know what happens in ARCHIE VS. PREDATOR #2, then stop reading now. You have been warned!
Back to the show...
The action picks up pretty quickly in AVP #2. One of Riverdale's main characters -- Pop Tate -- got his head blown off while slicing up a "Welcome Home" cake for our traveling teens! Betty quickly connects the Blossoms' gruesome deaths with Pop's violent murder and determines that she is the cause of these deaths.
And she's probably correct. I don't know if it's just the black ceremonial knife that attracts the Predator or if it was the entire ceremony -- where she vowed vengeance against both Cheryl Blossom and Veronica Lodge for their nasty attitudes.
Anyway, she and Veronica rush over to Greendale to see if Sabrina can break whatever nasty curse that Betty has unleashed upon her friends. Our favorite Teenage Witch gives it her best try, but... her best efforts are quickly interrupted by Riverdale's newest visitor!
Betty and Veronica are unharmed, but Sabrina is no more. And don't count on Salem to save the day anytime soon. But Betty managed to capture an image of the Predator with her cell phone camera, which she uses to warn her friends:
Since the Riverdale Police are helping the Greendale Police with mess over at Sabrina's home, General Keller leads a frontal attack against the Predator using the next best thing -- a squadron of teen soldiers.
Seriously. It doesn't turn out pretty.
General Keller and his Kid Commandos are easily slaughtered. The Predator didn't leave the battle unharmed, but that's little consolation. I ended up leaving this issue wondering if there was anyone left alive in Riverdale!
As it is, we ended up losing Pop Tate, Sabrina, Salem the Cat, General Keller, Moose, Midge, Reggie, Kevin, and Chuck.
I really don't understand why they led an armed assault against the Predator -- especially since General Keller explained to them the basic rules of surviving a Predator attack. They would have been better off doing a collective yoga meditation session until the Predator got bored and moved over to the next community!
I'm really curious about that knife. There's clearly something mystical and/or alien about it. It shattered during the Predator's assault on Sabrina's home and then melted back together after things settled down. Not only that, but it somehow ended up in Veronica's purse -- and I'm pretty certain that she didn't put it there!
Maybe there's something to Betty's "curse of the Jaguar Goddess" theory after all!
ARCHIE VS. PREDATOR #2 was written by Alex de Campi, beautifully penciled by Fernando Ruiz, inked by Rich Koslowski, colored by Jason Millet, and lettered by John Workman.