Jughead: The Hunger, Vol. 1 by Frank TieriMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Jughead Jones harbors a terrible secret: he is a werewolf from a long line of werewolves! Fortunately, Betty Cooper comes from a long line herself...
On the heels of reading Afterlife with Archie back before we were all self-isolating, I took advantage of Archie comics having a 50% off sale and snapped this up like a werewolf on a high school teacher.
At first glance, this looks like it's riding the coattails of Afterlife with Archie. Jughead is a werewolf, running amok in Riverdale. While AoA may have opened the door, Jughead: The Hunger is its own animal.
The story owes something to Buffy the Vampire Slayer in addition to the usual werewolf tropes. I love that Jughead's legendary appetite is explained as one of the symptoms of his lycanthropy. The Coopers have been hunting werewolves for generations and now Betty is on Jughead's tail. As Jughead fights with his primal nature, Betty and her family toughen Archie up so he can help them take down his friend.
The story moves along at a great clip. There's no decompression here and barely any time to breath. Jugheads toward two confrontations: one with his true nature and one with the Cooper clan and friends with a thousand silver bullets!
The art is pretty great. It doesn't quite have the punch of Francovilla's art on Arfterlife with Archie but it's still great. The werewolves are hulking brutes, all teeth, claws, and hair. The gore factor is high and blood is spattered on about half the panels. The art team of Michael Walsh, the Kennedy brothers, Joe Eisma, Bob Smith, and Jim Amash do a great job of following Francovilla's lead without copying him. It's a gorgeous book.
I'm on board for the duration. I often say I've never read a really good werewolf story. Jughead: The Hunger changed that. 4.5 out of 5 werewolves.
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