Archie Comics announced Thursday via Entertainment Weekly that it’s establishing a new horror-focused imprint based on the success of its Afterlife with Archie series. The imprint, titled Archie Horror, will feature the return of Afterlife of Archie after a year-long hiatus, the recently launched The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and an as-yet-unnamed third title. Aguirre-Sacasa said that it would feature a “major” female Archie character from the past, but wouldn’t disclose who.
“It’s happening organically already. You launch one book, it is what it is. You launch a companion book and you think, ‘These seem to be speaking to each other’ … In-house we started referring to these books as the Archie Horror books,” says Archie Chief Creative Officer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. “We wanted to make it official, and when it started to look like Afterlife #8 and Sabrina #2 were going to be released around the same time, why don’t we formalize something that is already happening, which is the imprint.”
For fans that have supported the two series which spurred the creation of this imprint, they might be upset over the major delays both titles have had previous to this.
“I could give you a dozen excuses, and none of them are really good. We really really wanted to launch the book at New York Comic-Con because it was close to Halloween. In retrospect, we should’ve delayed the launch to get a few issues in the can,” says Aguirre-Sacasa. “there’s no excuse, and there will never be a delay like there was been between Sabrina 1 and 2. Like, never. We are very, very lucky that we have an incredibly passionate and understanding fan base that is eager for the book.”
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #2 is set to resume on April 15, with Afterlife of Archie #8 coming in May 6.
