Archie Horror is getting ready for spooky season with a “Month of Mayhem.” Four one-shot horror comic anthologies will be released in late September to October 2022, including a Twilight Zone-esque horror/science fiction story, Sabrina’s cat Salem goes on a 1980s style adventure, there are campfire tales for young readers, and the sequel to 2021’s Chilling Adventures in Sorcery.
“Who ever thought Archie Comics and horror would go so well together? We did – but it definitely took a lot of other folks by surprise! Since Afterlife with Archie’s debut way back in 2013, we’ve been consistently delivering on unique horror stories featuring our cast, and we have no plans on stopping that any time soon,” Archie Senior Director of Editorial Jamie L. Rotante said. “We’re so excited to bring everyone ‘Archie’s Month of Mayhem’ for the Halloween season. We’ve got something for everyone – three brand new horror one-shots and a middle grade horror anthology!”
The initiative starts in late September with Chilling Adventures Presents…Weirder Mysteries with three horror/sci-fi stories, kicked off by writer Frank Tieri (Deadpool) and artist Federico Sabbatini (Moon Knight). “In ‘Betty Cooper: Alien Hunter,’ a spine-tingling tale set in the Jughead: The Hunger universe, we’ll find the fan-favorite werewolf hunter trade in her silver bullets for a UFO detector as she tries to uncover a mystery that’s not of this world. But in typical Betty Cooper fashion, she may be the bigger threat to the good folks of Riverdale than anything any E.T. can dole out,” Tieri said.
On October 12, Sabrina’s favorite feline will star in his first solo title, Chilling Adventures of Salem, written by Cullen Bunn (Harrow County) with “horror paperback” art by Dan Schoening (Ghostbusters). The one-shot comic will follow Salem around the neighborhood as he helps fellow animals get revenge on whoever has harmed them.
Archie Horror takes their first step into middle grade scary content on October 19 with Fear the Funhouse. Taking inspiration from Goosebumps and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, the one-shot anthology will see younger versions of the Archie crew telling each other scary stories around the campfire. It features stories by Micol Ostow (Riverdale), Magdalene Visaggio (Eternity Girl), and Michael Northrop (Teen Titans Go!) with art by Lisette Carrera (Lore Olympus), Ryan Caskey (The Spooky Tarot), and Diana Camero (Five Nights At Freddy’s).
Archie Horror’s Month of Mayhem culminates in The Return of Chilling Adventures in Sorcery on October 26. In the direct sequel to last year’s one-shot, Madam Satan has escaped Hell and is hiding from Satan by pretending to be the principal at Baxter High. Writer Eliot Rahal returned to the story to write the framing sequence, with the rest written by Sina Grace (Iceman) and Casey Gilly (Dungeons & Dragons), with art by Vincenzo Federici (TMNT: The Armageddon Game), Corin Howell (Transformers), and Liana Kangas (Star Wars Adventures).