Archie & Friends: A Halloween Tale

Archie & Friends: A Halloween Tale
Publication Date: September 1998

Happy Halloween, Hedgehogs Can't Swim readers! If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that I love this day. Halloween isn't just my favorite holiday, it's my favorite time of year. This spooky, scary festival means a lot to me. Sadly, the “Sonic the Hedgehog” franchise doesn't indulge in the macabre or morbid very often. I've bemoan the lack of existence of a “Sonic” Halloween special before.

Except... I was wrong. There is a “Sonic” Halloween special. It's even a part of my beloved Archie-verse! But you'll be forgiven for not knowing this existed. “Archie & Friends: A Halloween Tale” is a short, ten page comic book that was published strictly as a promotional gimmick in September of 1998. I had never heard of the book before reading about it on the Mobius Encyclopaedia. Though super obscure, it's not especially rare and can be bought fairly cheaply online. I'm happy to present my thoughts on this weird bit of “Sonic” lore to you on this happy Halloween.

The book is also another one of those ill-conceived crossovers Archie was attempting around this time. “A Halloween Tale's” sole story is entitled “A Festival of Fantasy.” It depicts Sabrina the Teenage Witch meeting Sonic before their crossover in Sonic Super Special #10.

“A Festival of Fantasy” has Sabrina's talking cat Salem, weirdly depicted primarily as live-action photos from the then-relevant TV sitcom, tasking Sabrina with picking up his comics. The smarmy clerk, who can't believe a woman would be interested in comics, quickly strikes up a conversation with her. Confused, Sabrina accidentally recites a spell over the long boxes. This zaps her and Stevie into the world of Archie's “Sonic” book, where Sonic and Knuckles are currently fighting with Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Desperate to escape, Sabrina zaps herself, Stevie, and Sonic and Knuckles back out of the comic and into her world. Strapped for time, Sabrina is forced to drag Sonic and Knuckles to Cheryl Blossom's Halloween party. There, the Mobian heroes get into a scrape with Archie and Jughead before Sabrina successfully zaps them away.

Aside from the mere existence of a “Sonic” Halloween special being cool, “A Halloween Tale” is  interesting to me for another reason. I had always assumed that Archie begrudgingly tolerated the “Sonic” series' success. I imagined Archie was far more proud of the stupid teen comedy series that gave the company's its name. That they dismissed “Sonic” as a lame licensed book, of little interest. They might still be true but “A Halloween Tale” has Sonic happily standing alongside Archie's titular characters and his supporting cast. At one point, Ken Penders' script even refers to “Sonic” and “Knuckles” as best-selling books! So that's nice.

Then again, Ken Penders' might have been serving his ego some with that line. “A Halloween Tale” also has someone excitedly grabbing the first issue of “The Lost Ones.” (Which wouldn't actually come out until the year 2000.) The issue also ends with Salem, atop a pile of comics, calling the story great and imploring the reader to pick up more comics by Penders and friends. Real subtle, Ken.

“A Festival of Fantasy” is primarily a piece of cross-corporate promotional synergy. Archie packs the thing full of cameos. Aside from Sabrina and Salem, Archie himself, Jughead, Cheryl Blossom in a Playboy bunny outfit, Betty, Veronica, and Reggie all appear. There's a spread showing a crowd at the Halloween party. That includes Josie and the Pussycats and Sabrina's archenemy Enchantra. Some of those vintage superheroes Archie likes to bring back occasionally appear too: The Shield, the Web, the Comet, Black Hood, Blackjack, Steel Sterling, and the Jaguar. (And Stevie's Halloween costume is of Pureheart, Archie's superhero alter-ego.) Even further in the backgrounds are non-Archie characters like Shadowhawk, Astal, Charlie from “Street Fighter,” and Penders' Particle.

You'll notice I'm talking more about “A Halloween Tale's”  status as a novelty than as an actual story. The plotting is pretty fucking thin and lousy. The jokes, as seems to be in keeping with the “Archie” titles at the time, are pretty lame. The characters are broad and annoying. Reggie is an unreasonable asshole who tries to pick a fight with Sonic and Knuckles. For no particular reason, Jughead's Halloween costume is Robotnik, leading to an especially contrived confrontation. Robotnik's presence is a continuity error, as the classic version of the character was dead by this point. If you think Archie Sonic fans overlook this, you severely underestimate their nerdiness.

The script is exactly as lame as you'd expect a ten page long crossover to be. Ken probably wrote this fucking thing in half an hour. Artwork wise, “A Halloween Tale” is a little more interesting As in “Some Enchantra Evening,” the Archie characters and Sonic characters are drawn by different artists. Dan DeCarlo draws the Archie crew and does slightly better than the later work of his I saw. He obviously enjoys drawing sexy girls like Cheryl or Betty. None other than Patrick Spaziante handles the “Sonic” cast. They look pretty damn great, expressive and stylized. The contrast between the two styles are extreme but it's always fun to see Spaz draw the Sonic crew.

As a Halloween special, “Festival of Fantasy” is pretty underwhelming. There's nothing spooky, scary, creepy, eerie, or even spoopy about this particular book. Still, it's mere existence is delightful to me. It's a mediocre comic book but the sheer novelty factor goes a long friggin' way. If you're a fan of stupid bullshit, like me, I'd recommend you try and find a copy. [5/10]