In this Chilling Adventures one-shot we get to see Betty Cooper as… the final girl! Veronica has invited Betty to her luxurious mountaintop chalet for a cozy weekend of skiing. But their girls’ weekend is interrupted when Archie shows up and whisks Veronica off on their own snowy romantic adventure. What could go wrong at a fancy remote cabin in the mountains all by herself? Betty’s mind races, fact and fiction become muddled as she suddenly realizes she might not be so alone after all. Is Betty letting the horror movies she’s watched get the best of her, or is someone (or something) really out to get her? The answers await you in Chilling Adventures Presents… Betty: The Final Girl horror anthology one-shot, it’s equal parts Scream and When a Stranger Calls. Some of the Archie comics team joined us to celebrate the upcoming release.
Writer Micol Ostow says, “I’m a diehard horror fan, and I’ve been obsessed with how seamlessly Archie’s been able to integrate different styles, levels, and aesthetics of spookiness into their Archie Horror library. I’ve been so thrilled to have the chance to contribute at all, and it doesn’t hurt that Jamie [Rotante] and I both adore all things that go bump in the night, so I think our respective wheels are always turning when it comes to new ideas for putting our pals at Archie in peril. And while I don’t have *one* favorite scary movie or book, I’ve always been a sucker for the ‘final girl’ trope; I think it helped me rationalize the sexist undertones of horror when I first delved into it. Last winter, my daughter and I were reading The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix on vacation. It hit me that Betty would make a fantastic final girl: blonde, kick-ass, capable! My favorite little ‘closing the loop/callback’ of the whole thing was that when I did pitch it to Jamie, her response was immediate: she told me she’d been reading The Final Girl Support Group and she also thought it sounded perfect. So clearly it was meant to be!”
Archie Comics Senior Director of Editorial Jamie L. Rotante was in enthusiastic agreement, “When Micol Ostow first pitched the idea of doing a ‘final girl’-style story with Betty as the eponymous final girl, I was immediately interested. I just so happened to be reading The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix when the email came through, so it felt kismet. Plus, the idea of a ‘final girl’ is so synonymous with horror that it would be silly NOT to do it. Every good teen/college horror flick utilizes that idea, so fitting it into the Archie universe was a lay-up. In keeping with our practice of horror anthologies, we also wanted to have there be more than one ‘final girl,’ so, the final girls of Betty, Brigitte, and Melody all came into play!”
Ostow adds, “The best thing about the final girl trope is how it can be applied to any scenario or premise. Once Jamie finalized the selections from the other writers, I could ‘back in’ to my own story, so to speak, to ensure that all three worked together and complemented each other. My partners did an amazing job and I can’t wait to see the finished project with art in place. I hope you guys have as much fun reading it as we did working on it!”
There are multiple nods to be found in this issue. Rotante breaks down some of the Easter eggs awaiting horror fans within the pages, “This anthology pays homage to a number of iconic horror films, including When a Stranger Calls, My Bloody Valentine, and You’re Next. We love when we can take horror media and incorporate the Archie characters–but the characters always drive the stories.”
Two covers will be available, Laura Braga’s “battle-bloodied Betty” and Megan Hutchison’s variant cover. Archie Comics Art Director Vincent Lovallo had this to say about the featured artwork, “When considering the covers for Betty: The Final Girl, we kept in mind the survival themes of fear and dread. We knew artist Laura Braga would be up to the task as she had already done tremendous work within the Archie Horror line in the past, providing interior and cover art for our Blossom 666 series. Laura hit the mark perfectly with the eerie atmosphere of the forest, the frightening figure in the distance, and a battle-bloodied Betty who’s prepared to face the unknown.”
For Hutchison’s variant cover, Lovallo adds, “Variant cover artist Megan Hutchison is also no stranger to the world of Archie Horror, providing a variant cover for our second Vampironica series. We’re so happy we got the chance to work with Megan again. From Betty’s bewildered expression to the neon-like glow of the surrounding demons, Megan’s variant creates an air of uncertainty; which horrors are real and which are fake?!”
Colors by Matt Herms and Letters by Jack Morelli. With a script by Micol Ostow, Casey Gilly, and Sam Maggs and art by Laura Braga, Natalie Nardozza, and Carola Borelli Betty: The Final Girl hits comic store shelves February 15th. That’s thirty-two pages of full-color goodness to look forward to early in the new year!
