Nobody goes to Twilight City unless they absolutely have to. So why is Sabrina hijacking a Riverdale field trip there? Your Major Spoilers review of Archie Vs. Minor Threats #1 from Dark Horse and Archie Comics awaits!

ARCHIE VS. MINOR THREATS #1

Writer: Patton Oswalt/Jordan Blum/Timmy Heague
Artist: Scott Koblish
Colorist: Hi-Fi
Letterer: Nate Piekos of Blambot
Editor: Daniel Chabon
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics/Archie Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: August 6, 2025

Previously in Archie Vs. Minor Threats: When Sabrina the Teenage Witch hijacks a Riverdale field trip to Twilight City to recover a magical artifact, she accidentally lands Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Reggie in the costumed criminal underworld led by Playtime and Scalpel. These innocent teens are mistaken for supervillain henchmen and enlisted in Playtime’s current war on magic against Top Hat, a mysterious figure from Frankie’s past. Meanwhile, a starving Jughead and Josie and the Pussycats head to Bite Burger, where they encounter Barfly’s punk rocker fly $#*@eater—are we about to witness the birth of a supergroup?!

HARVEY KINKLE RUINS EVERYTHING!

We open with a Riverdale High School bus crashing into Redport, while a giant kaiju threatens to eat everyone on board. Sabrina takes a moment to explain to us how we got where we are, flashing back to the moment where she tried to take her mortal boyfriend to the annual Halloween Witches & Warlocks’ Ball. Of course, there is a small caveat: Anyone who is able to find and proffer an artifact of ultimate power can bring whomever they want. Sabrina quickly discovers that the legendary gauntlet known as the Five Fingers of Merlin is going to be on display in Twilight City, and sets off to manipulate events to get there. She redirects a field trip led by Ms. Grundy and Mr. Weatherbee to Twilight, sneaks aboard the bus, and, as they say, Bob’s your uncle! This was, by the way, Plan B, as her troll connection never showed up. He was caught up in Playtime’s war on magicians and magic-users, as she cements her control of the Redport district of Twilight City. That’s… going to be bad.

A WAR ON MAGIC

Playtime’s angry vigilante ways are a strange fit with the kids of Riverdale, but I have to admit that Reggie dragging his classmates into Playtime’s bar, which leads to himself, Archie, Betty, and Veronica suiting up as her henchmen, is a lot of fun. (Jughead and The Pussycats went out for burgers.) I’m also very impressed with the synthesis of the Archie and Minor Threats aesthetics in these pages, something achieved with a slightly cleaner line for Playtime and Scalpel, and a slightly more textured one for the Riverdale kids. There’s even a little tinge of the Afterlife with Archie/Chilling Adventures stuff as Sabrina does her magical homework, which I appreciate greatly. The story actually has a lot of heavy lifting to do in order to bring our cast together, and the fact that we only get to the point where the wacky hijinks/swift-and-blinding violence can occur on the final page of the issue is something of a weakness.

BOTTOM LINE: A DIFFICULT SYNTHESIS

All in all, Archie Vs. Minor Threats #1 is a book that balances the difficult task of taking a gritty, black comedic parody of superhero comics and mashing it together with the O.G. wholesome funnybook and does better than I ever expected, earning a better-than-average 3 out of 5 stars overall. Next issue is definitely something I’m looking forward to, especially what happens when Reggie realizes that Redport is where a scuzzball like him actually belongs. It is well worth the read.

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