First published in 1939, the long-running Archie comics series featuring the freckled hero and his various friends have been adapted numerous times for television, but, surprisingly, he’s never hit the big screen before. Warner Bros. seems set to change all that, hiring Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa to write and **Pitch Perfect’**s Jason Moore to direct a story that might put more of a twist on the concept than you might expect.
For the uninitiated – and it’s not like Archie is exactly troubling 2000 AD, Dennis the Menace or Desperate Dan for pop culture dominance in the UK – Archie is the eponymous teen hero tackling life, love and other issues with friends such as Betty, Veronica (love triangle alert!) and Jughead. Together, they’ve evolved through the years, hitching their wagon to various popular trends.
Aguirre-Sacasa is the key name here, because he signed on earlier this year to create a new, horror-themed spin on Archie’s adventures called Afterlife With Archie. The plot finds an undead apocalypse hitting the otherwise sleepy suburban New York locale. Which, given the current bloodlust among studios for zombie projects, is what Warners wants to get on screen. So... you Archie fans - is this a wise move? Or is it a lurch too far?