Archie Andrews Hits Gruesome Point of No Return In "Afterlife" #4 [SPOILERS]

CBR

By Kiel Phegley

Published Mar 5, 2014

Riverdale's population decreases by one in a shocking turn for Aguirre-Sacasa and Francavilla's "Afterlife With Archie" #4.

SPOILER WARNING for "Afterlife with Archie" #4

Zombie stories are known for pulling the rug out from under their audiences with surprising deaths, and in this week's "Afterlife With Archie" #4, the horror take on the Riverdale gang got personal on the head smashing front.

In the latest issue, released today by Archie Comics, writer and Archie CCO Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and artist Francesco Francavilla took the company's famed redhead past the point of no return in the publisher's zombie breakout. On the lam from Jughead's zombie hoard, Archie heads home to make sure his parents are okay, only to find himself confronted with a zombiefied father. Faced with fight or flight, Archie chooses the former, putting Fred Andrews down in one of the series most brutal and emotional scenes to date.

The issue has a lot more happening besides this loss of innocence, but the death of Archie's dad in particular marks a turn for a series that's already shown a willingness to amp up the blood, fully earning its mature readers distinction.

Come back Thursday, March 6, when CBR discusses this issue, Archie's road towards becoming "an epic hero," the relationship between Jason and Cheryl Blossom, laying various horror tropes amidst the overall undead rising theme of the series and much more with Sacasa.