From an exorcism of Jughead to fine-dining cannibals at Pop Tate's Chock’lit Shoppe, the amazing team at Archie Comics has been tapping into a wide range of horror genres over the past year in their eerie one-shots, and this month, Riverdale's roster of familiar faces will experience a summer to dismember in Chilling Adventures Presents... Camp Pickens!
A one-shot anthology of sun-soaked, blood-splattered summer camp horror stories, Camp Pickens will be released on June 21st from Archie Comics, and we've been provided with exclusive preview pages to share with Daily Dead readers!
Below, you can check out our exclusive previews of "The Curse of Camp Pickens" (written by Blake Howard with artwork by Carola Borelli) and "Down and Out and Death Cursed" (written by Tim Seeley with artwork by Mike Norton).
Here's what Tim Seeley (Hack/Slash) had to say about writing a slasher story featuring Veronica Lodge in "Down and Out and Death Cursed":
“I'm no stranger to combining Archie characters with horror stories, and I think what works best about it is the characters are so well-defined that they not only transcend genre, there's something inherently subversive about moving out of slice-of-life comedy with them. I decided to play with slasher tropes, as I am wont to do, and drop a mostly oblivious Veronica into a story she isn’t really paying attention to.”
Writer Blake Howard (Punchline: The Gotham Game) discussed blending multiple horror subgenres into a campfire ghost story for "The Curse of Camp Pickens":
“I was really excited to work with Archie, especially in the horror genre. When we learned the stories would focus around Camp Pickens, obviously, the first instinct is to go pure slasher. However, we realized early on that wasn't what we wanted to do, and infused different horror subgenres into the mix. There's more to the terror than just a masked killer chasing around teenagers; my story is, in more ways than one, a campfire ghost story.”
Jordan Morris (Jordan, Jesse, Go!) shared his excitement for returning to the world of Archie with a story about Jughead:
"My first Archie writing assignment was a story for POP'S CHOCKLIT SHOPPE OF HORRORS. Despite being set in the diner, it did not feature Jughead at all! Being around all that delicious Pop's food definitely put Jughead in my brain in a big way. When the opportunity to contribute to this project came up, I wanted to put Jughead through the wringer in his own food-based horror ordeal."
Looking for more Archie-themed horror? Read Jamie L. Rotante's insightful column Archie's House of Horror, and be sure to visit Archie Comics' official website:
CHILLING ADVENTURES PRESENTS... CAMP PICKENS (ONE-SHOT)
Camp Pickens has always been the go-to summer destination for the younger residents of Riverdale. It’s a rite of passage for the teen residents to hold the coveted camp counselor positions. However, Camp Pickens’ mysterious past shrouds a deep, dark secret: it’s cursed, and this summer all of its campers are going to find out the hard way in this one-shot anthology that’s equal parts Sleepaway Camp and American Horror Story: 1984, reuniting the team behind the mega-hit comic series Revival.
Script: Tim Seeley, Jordan Morris, Blake Howard
Art: Mike Norton, Diana Camero, Carola Borelli
Colors: Matt Herms
Letters: Jack Morelli
Cover: Matt Talbot
Variant Cover: Francesco Francavilla
On Sale Date: 6/2132-page, full color comic
$3.99 U.S.
Cover by Matt Talbot:
Variant Cover by Francesco Francavilla:
Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.
When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.
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