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To the average person, Archie Andrews remains stuck in the Eisenhower Era. Even after the soapy ridiculousness that was the CW show Riverdale, Archie’s name brings to mind malt shops, sock hops, and driving a jalopy around town. All of those elements remain true for the character today as much as they did when he first debuted in 1941’s Pep Comics #22.
But the publishing house that bears Andrews’ name hopes to bring Riverdale into 2026 by teaming with a respected independent comic company. As announced by The Hollywood Reporter, Archie Comics have teamed with Oni Press to publish new, modern takes on Archie and his friends, as well as related characters Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Josie and the Pussycats. The series will be written and drawn by award-winning creators such as W. Maxwell Prince of Ice Cream Man, Fábio Moon of Daytripper, and Corinna Bechko of Green Lantern: Earth One.
Such a high-profile announcement might lead those who know Archie as the clean-cut kid from the ’40s to think that the series needs a creative overhaul. But the fact of the matter is that Archie Comics have been putting out interesting work for a while now, more than just the weird phenomenon that was Riverdale.
The company began to reinvent the line with its new look comics from 2007, which veered away from the cartoony house style established by Bob Montana and later revised by Dan DeCarlo and embraced more realistic illustrations. But the line grew most ambitious in 2010, first with the Life With Archie series and then with the introduction of gay character Kevin Keller.
In addition to tackling hot button issues such as gun control, Life With Archie also resolved the franchise’s age-old question in the most comic book way possible. The series followed two timelines, one in which Archie chose Betty and another in which he chose Veronica. The series led to a multiversal mystery investigated by resident nerd Dilton Doiley, in a way that felt fresh before alternate realities saturated pop culture.
Shortly thereafter came Archie’s horror line, with books such as Afterlife With Archie, in which Jughead accidentally unleashes a zombie apocalypse while trying to revive his beloved pup Hot Dog, and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which leaned into the character’s occult elements. 2015 saw the release of surprising crossovers such as Archie vs. Predator, which does indeed feature several scenes of a Yautja ripping the spines out of Riverdale teens, but somehow also feels like a legitimate Archie story.
Lest one think that the line was all gimmicks, Archie Comics also relaunched its main books in 2015, spearheaded by top-level creators such as Mark Waid, Fiona Staples, and Annie Wu. While updated for the 2010s, the series retained Archie’s central themes, about a group of average teens going through adolescent life in America.
Given this history, it’s clear that the partnership between Archie Comics and Oni Press isn’t an attempt to save an out-of-touch franchise. Rather, it’s an opportunity to get new readers to check out a character who has continued to grow for the times, while remaining true to his malt-shop roots.
Archie #1 from Oni Press launches in September 2026.
The post Archie Comics Teams With Indie Publisher To Continue Its Creative Reinvention appeared first on Den of Geek.
