Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is an American comic book published by Archie Horror, an imprint of Archie Comics, beginning in 2014, focusing on Sabrina Spellman during her teenage years in the 1960s. It is written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, with art by Robert Hack, and is inspired by the appearances of Sabrina in Aguirre-Sacasa's other Archie series, Afterlife with Archie.

Publication history

Due to the positive reception of issue #6 of Afterlife with Archie which centered on Sabrina, a solo series starring her was announced in June 2014.^[1][2] It was released in October 2014. The series went on a six-month hiatus before returning in April 2015 with issue #2 under the new Archie Horror imprint which it shares with its companion series, Afterlife with Archie.^[3]

Though the two series share several characters, they are each set in their own reality and are not directly related to each other.

Story arcs

Volume 1: The Crucible (Issues 1 - 5)

Set during the 1960s, Sabrina lives with her aunts, Hilda, and Zelda, as well as her cousin Ambrose, in the town of Greendale. Nearing her sixteenth birthday she must choose whether to stay a witch or become mortal forever. Madam Satan, a former flame of her deceased father, has returned from Hell and wants revenge on the Spellman family.^[4][5]

Volume 2: That Damned Cat/Witch-War (Issues 6 - )

The events of the first arc have come to a head. Sabrina’s father, Edward Spellman, is back among the living inhabiting the body of Harvey Kinkle. With Madame Satan’s master plan finally revealed will Sabrina’s aunts be able to keep Sabrina safe and what lengths will they go to in order to protect her?^[6]

List of characters

Main characters

• Sabrina Spellman is a teenage witch who lives in the town of Greendale with her Aunts and cousin Ambrose. When she was one year old she was taken by her Aunts to live with them and has no memory of her mother and hasn't seen her father since the age of six. She is dating Harvey Kinkle who is unaware that she is a witch.^[3][7]
• Hilda Spellman is Sabrina's aunt and caregiver.
• Zelda Spellman is Sabrina's aunt and caregiver.
• Madam Satan, formerly known as Iola, was the girlfriend of Edward Spellman before he broke up with her for Diana. Heartbroken that he chose a mortal over her she committed suicide by throwing herself into the zoo's lion pen where they devoured her alive. However, she found herself in the pits of Gehenna, a place reserved in the circle of Hell for suicides where she remained faceless until she was released by two witches from Riverdale. After gaining a new face, she burns Edward who was trapped in a tree and clears Diana's mind out of revenge. She then makes her way to Greendale where she settles under the alias of Evangeline Porter, a teacher at Baxter Senior High School to be able to monitor Sabrina.^[3]
• Ambrose is Sabrina's cousin from the Old Country as well as a witch. He comes to live with Sabrina and her aunts after being revealed to be a witch where he was from. He has two pet snakes named Nag and Nagaina who are really humans who were turned into snakes as punishment for trying to murder their father's bride to be. They are also Ambrose's familiars.
• Harvey Kinkle is Sabrina's boyfriend who attends Baxter Senior High School with Sabrina. He is unaware that Sabrina and her aunts are witches. He also plays for the school's football team. He would later be killed by the witch council. His body was later resurrected but instead of Harvey, Sabrina's father soul took Harvey's body. Sabrina is unaware her father is now Harvey.
• Salem is Sabrina's pet cat as well as her familiar. He is actually a human named Samuel who was turned into a cat as a punishment by the witches of Salem, Massachusetts after impregnating a witch named Abigail (not knowing she was a witch) and refusing to marry her. At some point as a cat, he attempted to enact the Book of Revelation.

Other characters

• Edward Theodore Spellman is a witch who is the father of Sabrina and brother to Hilda and Zelda. He was married to Diana Sawyer, a mortal, who he broke witch-law to marry. Sometime around Sabrina's sixth birthday he was trapped in a tree. When Madam Satan found him trapped in the tree, she began to resurrect him before deciding to summon hellfire upon the tree burning it killing Edward.Edward later came back due to Madam Satan, Betty, Veronica, and Sabrina trying to being Harvey back to life^[8]
• Diana Sawyer is the mother of Sabrina who was sent to the Hearthstone Clinic for the Mentally Unwell after her husband, Edward, turned her insane after she refused to give up her daughter to his sisters. She eventually regains her mind after receiving clarity from Madam Satan. However, Madam Satan made sure that she would never be able to convince the doctors to let her leave the clinic.^[8]
• Rosalind "Roz" is a student at Baxter Senior High School.

Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge make minor appearances in issue #2 (April 2015) as young witches from Riverdale who were trying to summon a succubus to help them settle a blood-rivalry but instead accidentally summoned Madam Satan from Gehenna. They return in issue #4 as part of a Riverdale High-led search party after Harvey Kinkle goes missing.

Reception

The first two issues sold out.^[9][10] Comic Book Resources called it "a surprisingly successful little horror sub-imprint" and "that Aguirre-Sacasa and Hack have created a horror comic that would work well even if it wasn't attached to the iconic 'Sabrina.'"^[11] while The Mary Sue said that it was "a refreshing change of pace for a story we all think we know already."^[12] IGN gave the first issue an 8.9 out of 10 calling it "something that fans of Afterlife and horror in general will be wanting more of by issue’s end."^[13] Comics Alliance called it "a pretty incredible accomplishment" saying that "in a time when we’re getting some fantastic horror comics on the stands, Sabrina might just be the best of the bunch."^[14]

References