#jeff schultz

Sunset Fire Opal

Archie & Friends Winter Wonderland #1 Archie Comics 2020 Written by Dan Parent Pencilled by Bill Glavan, Bill Gollier & Jeff Shultz Inked by Jim Amash & Bob Smith Coloured by Glenn Whitmore Lettered by Jack Morelli    Take a sleigh ride with Archie, go ice fishing with Mr. Weatherbee, get into a snowball fight with Jughead and sip some hot cocoa with Betty & Veronica in this collection of winter fun!     I keep saying that I love this for so many reasons and I do. It always makes me feel good, laugh out loud and just brightens up these gloomy days. In have to remember we're in February and its still winter even though you'd hardly notice that by looking out my windows. This whole book is filled with fantastic little reminders about life, friendship and adventures that are out there for the taking. I will say this much with all the contests that Jughead enters in the hopes of winning food the boy has a lot more skills and talents then he's given credit for. It seems like he is always entering some contest or another and while it always centres around food it's the event itself that should be taken notice of. So this is just a reminder that while Jughead doesn't do all that well in school he's a pretty smart and well-rounded young man who has a lot of skills.     I miss Kevin. He is hardly in the likes of these stories and that's a shame as he and Dilton have really grown in popularity, at least for me. I have to admit that I can relate a lot to the second vignette here. Kids, and I include up through high school in this, are so glued to their devices that it is so not funny. What is funny is seeing Hiram go after Veronica and her friends to go enjoy the snow and be young and adventurous. I laughed out loud at this one and I have to say if that isn't something everyone can relate to then I dunno you have issues.     Okay so Mr. Weatherbee and the Ice Fishing was hysterical for a whole lot of reasons that kind of have nothing to do with the story itself. If you have ever seen Letterkenny and what happens when they go Ice Fishing then this and that will have you guffawing. So mixing the classic clumsiness of the boys and their school principal as he tries to teach them about Ice Fishing is utterly fabulous! This is what I talk about when I say this series will resonate and you'll find something in them that takes you off the page and into your world in some very surprising ways. With the exception of the first story the rest all have something in common and I find that rather now as well. It shows how ridiculous it looks but how popular it really is and that dichotomy will never go away.     The interiors throughout the book look as if they were done by the same folks. As in it doesn't look like there were multiple artists. The pure classic feel of the interiors and yet how it also feels so incredibly modern is fantastic. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show some great eyes for storytelling. Because of the nature of these stories we see a lot more utilisation of backgrounds than I am used to here and I love every single moment of them! I always admire Glenn's work on the colours here. To keep this looking as close to the old four colour comics in this modern age isn't so easy and yet he makes the easy look so simple. Often times the more simple something is the more difficult it is, to achieve that effect. ​     If you think Archie is just for kids well you may be right, I may be crazy, and it just may be a lunatic your looking for.. but inside we're all just big kids at heart. Plus to get such family friendly all-ages storytelling, perfect to talk about at your device free meals, of this calibre isn't easy to come by.