Sabrina cover by Robert Hack
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Although Archie Comics' core line of kid-friendly titles has been grabbing its share of headlines lately, the company's biggest critical and commercial success over the past year has undoubtedly been Afterlife With Archie, the moody, adult-oriented story of how the zombie apocalypse hits Riverdale. Created by Francesco Francavilla and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, the book has been hailed by fans and critics, and with that kind of praise, it was pretty much inevitable that they'd expand the line with another similar title.

Now, they have. This week, Archie announced Chilling Adventures ofSabrina, an ongoing series about everyone's favorite teen witch, from Afterlife writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and artist Robert Hack.

Traditionally, Sabrina, along with her two witchy aunts and her talking cat, has given Archie some of its greatest media success outside of comics, being featured in multiple animated series and a live-action show starring Melissa Joan Hart that ran for eight years. Those projects, however, were all geared towards the kids, while Sabrina's more recent adventures in Afterlife -- involving the Necronomicon, forbidden spells, and exile to a nightmarish hellscape -- has skewed decidedly more adult. Even beyond raising the dead and unleashing hell on earth, the designs of Aunts Hilda and Zelda alone -- originally drawn by Francavilla for Afterlife and featured on one of the covers for Sabrina #1 -- are skewing way more toward the horrific than the supernatural comedy that the character might be best known for.

Still, it seems like a solid move to on Archie's part that Aguirre-Sacasa will be helming the series, presumably keeping it set in the same horror-ravaged world as Afterlife. As a long-time Archie fan (who recently took up a position as Archie's Chief Creative Officer), Aguirre-Sacasa obviously has a connection to the character, and it'll be interesting to see what kind of stories that he tells. For his part, Hack's art has been seen pretty sparingly at Archie, on the pulp-themed variant covers for both Afterlife and Life With Archie, but Sabrina will mark his first shot at interiors for the publisher.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina launches in October.

 

Sabrina #1, art by Robert Hack
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Sabrina #1, art by Robert Hack
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Sabrina #1, art by Robert Hack
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