Afterlife With Archie Returns in a Massive Mausoleum Edition

Now THIS is how you bring a horror classic back into the spotlight! If you were reading comics when Afterlife With Archie first landed, you already know that book was something different. Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica and the rest of Riverdale weren’t just dealing with another school dance or a teenage love triangle. They were caught in a full-blown nightmare, and the creative team didn’t pull any punches. So hearing that Oni Press and Archie Comics are giving this series an oversized art-focused edition? Yeah, that got my attention.

Afterlife With Archie: The Mausoleum Edition Vol. 1 is headed to Kickstarter, and the whole concept is built around letting readers experience Francesco Francavilla’s artwork in a completely different way. We’re talking an 11-by-17-inch hardcover presenting the original black-and-white art from the first six issues, remastered by Francavilla himself. That’s not just another collection with a new dust jacket, fam. It’s an opportunity to appreciate the work behind the finished pages, before color changes the mood and before those panels get reduced to standard comic-book size.

Let’s give the original creative team their flowers. Writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and artist Francesco Francavilla took a property most people associated with wholesome teenage comedy and showed that Riverdale could become the setting for genuinely unsettling horror. And they didn’t do it by making the characters unrecognizable. The emotional connections were still there. That’s what made the terror hit harder. When you’re invested in the people being chased, threatened or transformed, the horror becomes more than a bunch of cool monster designs.

Francavilla’s visual storytelling is a huge reason this series worked. His shadows, his compositions, the way he can make an ordinary room feel like something terrible is about to happen — that’s the stuff I love about comics. There’s a real craft to making readers uncomfortable without having to explain every last detail. Sometimes what you don’t see is doing more work than what’s right there in front of you. Giving those pages room to breathe at an oversized format is a smart move.

And I especially appreciate that this edition focuses on black-and-white artwork. Don’t get me wrong, color can bring incredible atmosphere to a horror comic, but there’s something special about seeing the lines, the ink, the texture, and the choices an artist made on the original page. If you’re an aspiring comic artist, that kind of presentation can practically become a classroom. If you’re simply a fan who loves beautiful books, it’s the kind of edition you want to pull off the shelf and show somebody.

The Kickstarter campaign begins October 29, 2026, with additional collectibles planned, including signed material, posters, pins, shirts and other extras. That’s where collectors will have to decide what matters most to them. Personally, the main attraction is the book itself. All the bonuses are cool, but getting a large-format edition that really celebrates the artwork is the selling point for me.

The timing is interesting, too. Afterlife With Archie has been part of the conversation again with a live-action adaptation announced for 2027. Whether somebody discovered the series when it debuted in 2013 or is only now hearing about it, this campaign gives readers a reason to revisit a book that helped prove how far these familiar characters could go when the creators were given room to take risks.

And that’s the bigger point, Crusaders. Comics can reinvent themselves. Characters can step outside the boxes we’ve placed them in. The trick is doing it with respect for what makes them recognizable while giving readers something genuinely new. Aguirre-Sacasa and Francavilla showed how to pull that off, and this new edition is a celebration of their work.

Big love to Oni Press, Archie Comics, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Francesco Francavilla and everybody involved in bringing this project together. If you’re a horror fan, an Archie fan, or somebody who appreciates original comic art, keep an eye on this one. The campaign is launching on Kickstarter, and I can already hear collectors making space on their bookshelves.