Derek Charm

After a video of "The Jugheads" playing a song about how much they love to eat hamburgers becomes a worldwide smash, Riverdale's favorite teenagers are transformed into unwilling Internet superstars, and it's up to one Forsythe Pendleton Jones III to fix everything before it ruins everyone's life forever. Check out an exclusive preview!

Folks, there is a lot going on in the first few pages of this week's issue of Jughead. Not only have Ryan North and Derek Charm introduced us to an increasingly bizarre roster of musical acts in Riverdale --- including the Josie and the Pussycats side project Melody and the Literal Cats Who Play Cat-Sized Instruments --- but their story about Reggie becoming King for a Month has done wonders for one Dilton Doiley. Yes, the book might be about Jughead being in conflict with Reggie, but the real action here comes from Dilton, who shatters the fourth wall to bring us one of the best recap pages I have ever seen. Check it out!

Valiant High feels like something I accidentally wished into existence. Even putting aside the fact that I'm a huge fan of teenage superheroics and alternate universe stories about heroes and villains going to high school together, they would've had me hooked just with the phrase "Teenage Ninjak." And now, we're finally getting to see it. After being announced last year as part of Comixology's new line of digital-exclusive titles, the first issue of Daniel Kibblesmith and Derek Charm's Valiant High debuts next week, and you can report early for roll call with a seven page preview.

The big news for Archie this week is, of course, the launch of Riverdale as a prime-time TV drama that's already garnering interest by building its first storyline not around a botched double-date or a milkshake with too many straws, but the discovery of a dead body that may or may not have been murdered by one or more members of the cast. Really, though, dead bodies? That's small potatoes compared to the shocking and tragic events that are going to be playing out in the comics next month: There's just so much Reggie Mantle.

The Holidays are upon as, and the year is basically gone. And as you know by now, that mean that here at ComicsAlliance, we're looking back at the best that comics had to offer in 2016. So here, to give you warm feeling as you head into your holiday weekend, are the best Archie Comics covers of the year.

Check out the best comedy comics in 2016, including our critics' picks and the comics you voted the runners up and winner in this category!

Reggie Mantle is a menace. I mean, we've all known that for years --- even Archie's official Twitter account spends most of its time dragging him for being Literally The Worst --- but now, his unchecked terribleness has gotten way worse. Not only is he starring in his own ongoing series with its second issue hitting shelves on January 11, but he's also got a starring role in Jughead #12, out the same day, where he somehow becomes actual, literal King of Riverdale (or at least of Riverdale's Teens) for a day.

In Ryan North and Derek Charm's Jughead #10, our hero has found himself not just on a date, and not just on a date with a girl that he thought was some kind of gigantic humanoid hamburger, but on a date with a girl that he thought was a gigantic humanoid hamburger who just so happens to be Sabrina, the for-real magical Teenage Witch. But hey, at least the date itself is going well with absolutely no problems that could --- no, wait, it's a complete disaster. Check out a preview!

Sabrina the Teenage Witch returns to the rebooted Archie universe in Jughead #9, coming next week by Ryan North and Derek Charm, and she's sharing pages with Grubhead, who might just be the sensational character find of 2016. Trust me, you are not ready for him, but if you want to tempt fate, check out a preview!

The city of Townsville is home to three of pop culture's greatest superheroines, and with their return to television with a new series last year, it was only a matter of time before The Powerpuff Girls made it back to comics. Now the newly redesigned Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup are taking center stage in comics once again in a new series from show writers Haley Mancini and Jake Goldman, and artist Derek Charm. But with a show that's been as visually driven as PPG, there are a lot of challenges to bringing it to the page. I spoke to Charm about his connection with the show, the challenges of what he's drawing, and how the comics are coming from a much stranger place than the show.