YMMV / Afterlife with Archie

• Alas, Poor Scrappy: Even Sabrina's detractors agree that her punishment is absolutely horrifying, not to mention it came from her aunts, the women who raised her whole life. And then the events in Chapter 6 happened...
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Did Josie kill Pepper to silence her or as an act of Mercy Kill? A little bit of both? She has no reason to lie to the interviewer given that she is going to kill him anyway but that could just easily be Josie justifying the act to herself.
  • Did Cheryl actually murder Jason? While her explanation is sketchy and she has a very believable motive for doing so, it's important to note that in the last page before Jason's offscreen death, there really was a zombie approaching the Blossom Twins. Did Cheryl wait until the zombie was killed and then killed Jason herself, or allow him to be killed by the zombie, even ensuring that it happens?
• Awesome Art: The art by Francesco Francavilla seems to be tailored specifically to this series as it was able to capture the character's essence from the older comic while heavily atmospheric and haunting to suit with the theme. Special mention should go to the amazing art for chapter 6 with all the effort to convey the Lovecraftian horror.
• Base-Breaking Character: Sabrina. Understandably given the fact that she is the Unwitting Instigator of Doom and lack any other characterization in the comic series.
• Complete Monster: Doctor Howard Lovecraft and his associate, Doctor Arthur Machen, are the seemingly kindly administrators of a hospital for the mentally disturbed. In truth, Lovecraft and Machen are servants of the Great Old Ones, having once tried to master them, but upon realizing the futility of such an act became the willing servants of the dark Outer Gods. They use the patients at the asylum as sacrifices for their masters. and when they realize young Erich Zann can use his music to repel them, they cut his fingers off and leave him to be taken by the monsters. Finally, revealing their intent to allow all humanity to become food or slaves to the Old Ones, they offer Sabrina the Teenage Witch as the bride to great Cthulhu himself.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Josie and the Pussycats immediately became this within their first appearance for being interpret as Really 700 Years Old Noble Demon Friendly Neighborhood Vampire pop group.
• Harsher in Hindsight: A few years before in the Archie meets KISS issues they had zombies. It was hilarious and absurd. The family-friendly Archie gang... and zombies? It just didn't mix... until now.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Not the comic itself, but it did render a previous moment in its creator's career as this. In 2003, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa had written a stage play called Archie's Weird Fantasy about Archie coming out as gay, only to get hit with a cease-and-desist letter the day before it premiered, forcing him to hastily change the title and the characters' names to dissociate it from Archie Comics' copyrights. Ten years later, they hire him to write an official zombie horror story featuring their characters, and its success sees him promoted to the company's chief creative officer the following year.
• Hollywood Pudgy: Betty is a bit broader in the chest and waist then Veronica is, and Ronnie teases that she happens to keep an assortment of "Plus-sized" swimsuits on-hand for when Betty comes over. However, this does avert the typical Only Six Faces style Archie Comics is known for.
• Magnificent Bastard: Josephine "Josie" McCoy, the most popular singer around, is the head of the band "Josie and the Pussycats". In truth, Josie is a century-old vampire who turned her bandmates. After slaughtering the Ku Klux Klan members in the area, Josie puts on a front as a mortal singer to do what she loves, having also helped the Allies against the Nazis in the Second World War. After delivering an interview on her past, Josie reveals she lured the interviewer over as she despises the music hit pieces he writes, revealing she missed the "hunting ways" to bring him as a special treat for her and her "sisters".
• Narm Charm: Issue #6 is loaded with references to H. P. Lovecraft to the point of it being silly, but the artwork and atmosphere manage to make it work.
• Nightmare Fuel: While this entry is required to be on YMMV by TV Tropes rules, there's no doubt this series is meant to terrify. Even more when you take it in the context of "These are characters we have known and loved for decades, who are now dying (and being undead) in gruesome fashion."
• Older Than They Think: Archie's did horror and zombies before this, though not nearly as graphically.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • Sabrina was not very liked for being the Unwitting Instigator of Doom, who the readers thought would be the Karma Houdini due to the nature of her franchise. People were actually shocked when she does received her horrifying punishment (by her own aunts, nonetheless) and started to change their opinions of her. And then the event from chapter 6 happened...
  • In a cross-series way, Ginger received this treatment. She had long been a Replacement Scrappy for Cheryl thanks to censorship Archie's did in the early 2000s. This comic makes her seem cool though.
• Squick: This is many readers' reaction to whole incest storyline between Cheryl and Jason, doubly so considering the abusive hints it has in later issues. Thanks God it was ended quickly by the latter's death.
• Strawman Has a Point: Occasionally Veronica's father crosses into this territory. He over all seems to be a character readers are suppose to disagree with due to his cold exterior and his overly antagonistic behaviour towards Archie, but he does bring up good points from time to time. The fact that he's set up as a Failure Knight certainly doesn't help in this regards.
• Tear Jerker:
  • The majority of Issue 4, with flashbacks of Archie and Vegas' life together before the dog's Heroic Sacrifice, and memories of Mr. Andrews before Archie has to kill his zombified form.
  • Chapter 8 is also a major contender with seeing how the apocalypse effected Archie, who resorted to drinking to drown out the sorrow. Special mention should go to the conversation between Archie and Jughead and between Jughead and Jellybean.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
  • Reggie and Kevin had a falling out because Reggie called him a pervert, culminating in Kevin punching him out. This plot was never addressed again and the two of them are at least on speaking term the next time they share a panel together.
  • Josie's adventure and rampage with Melody and Valerie as immortal vampires throughout the century could have given more focus through multiple chapters or even a spin-off series on its own instead of rushing through in order to get them to Riverdale. That is also not mentioning the fact that Valerie and Melody are given very few lines in their introductory chapter and the story is only told from Josie's perspective.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: For some readers, Veronica. While she definitely goes through her own trials, it can be genuinely difficult to feel pity for her as much as the writer intended. Most of her more likeable qualities are severely toned down and she seems more focused on Archie's affections than the fact that she's in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and could die at any moment. Made worse when despite the fact that she can tell Archie chose Betty long before his proposal she continues to act out in childish ways instead of just accepting that Betty won like a mature adult; even going so far as to steal Betty's diary and to essentially slut-shame the other girl simply because Archie chose her over Veronica. Add to the fact that her It's All About Me aspect of her personality has been dialed up to a nearly unbelievable extent and you have one potentially very annoying character that you'll likely feel zero pity for as the series goes on. It's not uncommon to see people wishing for her death just so she'll shut up on forums.
  • Also not helping is the callous way she explains to her father how the halloween dance turned into an absolute horror-fest. She somehow manages to make everything about her to some extent, even Ethel's death by Jughead, and spends an unnecessary and unprovoked amount of time trashing Betty. (When all Betty did was try to take charge of the situation when she believed she'd be of use.) All of these actions made almost every single moments that meant to invoke sympathy for her REALLY hard to take given how much of a Jerkass she acted in several pages right before or after.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Grittier art style? Check. Sexual undertones? Check. Violence and character death galore? Check and mate. This is the first series from the Archie line with a TEEN+ rating and they're using it well.
• The Woobie: The entire surviving cast is seem to be heading this way at the end of the first arc where they are forced to flee Riverdale and had their friends and family became horrible zombies. Cheryl Blossom and Veronica Lodge are more in line of Jerkass Woobie as Cheryl's twincest relationship with Jason is implied to not be completely consensual on her side and Veronica is heartbroken that Archie chose Betty over her.

---