This is what happened before. Several Riverdale regulars -- Pop Tate, Big Ethel, Miss Grundy, Bingo, and Dilton -- fell victim to the Riverdale Ripper! Not only were they each killed, but they were literally torn apart. It turned out that Jughead Jones was the Riverdale Ripper. He comes from a long line of werewolves within the Jones family. Additionally, we learned that Betty Cooper also comes from a long line of werewolf hunters. He tried curbing his inner beast before ripping apart Reggie Mantle! Now Jughead is on the run -- with Betty and Archie Andrews hot on his heels!
In JUGHEAD: THE HUNGER #1, we find Jughead and Hot Dog hiding out in a traveling circus. He meets with the other circus-travelers -- each hiding from their own pasts. His plan is to chain himself up within his trailer each night to protect the people around him. But what happens if someone somehow manages to break him out of his cage?
Meanwhile, Betty and Archie are joined in their hunt by Bo Cooper -- Betty's creepy cousin. It makes sense that JUGHEAD: THE HUNGER would need to introduce some new characters to the book given that they killed off so many regulars back in the one-shot comic book.
I was curious if Bo Cooper had ever appeared before in an Archie Comic. I don't think that he has. but I did learn that "Bo Cooper" was an alias used once by Ron Dante, the lead singer from The Archies cartoon band.
There was also one more development. Reggie Mantle -- the Riverdale Ripper's final victim -- returned from the dead as a brand new werewolf! Will Veronica survive the encounter??
I can't help wondering why Reggie came back, but none of the others. Maybe there is something especially evil about Reggie that turned him into a werewolf. Maybe Betty did something to sanctify the corpses of the previous victims. Either way, I can't wait to find out in subsequent issues!
JUGHEAD: THE HUNGER #1 features storytelling by Frank Tieri, art by Pat & Tim Kennedy, colors by Matt Herms, inks by Bob Smith & Jim Amash, and letters by Jack Morelli.