Review: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Volume One: "The Crucible" by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Robert Hack

Title: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Volume One: "The Crucible"

Story by: Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

Artwork by: Robert Hack

Lettering by: Jack Morelli

Publisher: Jon Goldwater

Published by: Archie Comics Publications, Inc.

Released: 2016

Source: Library

Summary: On the eve of her sixteenth birthday, the young sorceress Sabrina Spellman finds herself at a crossroads, having to choose between an unearthly destiny and her mortal boyfriend, Harvey. But a foe from her family's past has arrived in Greendale, Madame Satan, and she has her own deadly agenda. Archie Comics' latest horror sensation starts here! For TEEN+ readers. Compiles the first six issues of the ongoing comic book series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. (Synopsis from Goodreads)

My Thoughts: This was fun! It wasn't what I was expecting, but then, I didn't really know what to expect. My Sabrina the Teenage Witch knowledge comes exclusively from the TV show that aired in the '90's with Melissa Joan Hart. It was a lighthearted witchy show. This Comic is not a lighthearted, witchy time. It's got some gore, it's got a lot of devil worship, it has Madam Satan. It does still have a talking cat though, which I appreciate.

I really enjoyed the art style in this. When I first flipped through Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, I prematurely judged it and was unfair. The art fits the story. It's pretty. It kind of has that old comic book style to it. Robert Hack did a great job on the art.

I liked that this comic followed a storyline. There are so many comics that I read that are just little vignettes, that I wonder what the whole point of it even is. Sabrina has a storyline, which I appreciated.

The story was definitely interesting, but a little weird. It presented a more gory version of Sabrina than I was used to.

Sabrina was also very, very heavy on the devil worship. A lot of times, when I read witchy tales, they seem fun and innocent. Like, Oh look, they have cool powers, Neat! This one really stressed that those powers came from the Devil and you had to do not-so-nice things to get them (like killing things!). As a Christian reading it, I thought I could be struck down. Especially when they came out with the Hail Satan chorus. No no no, I'm definitely not hailing Satan anytime, anywhere. He's a baaaaaaad man. Definitely not a good role model. So, I could see some people having a definite problem with this part of the story. Buuut as long as you can realize that it's fiction, I think you'll be okay.

I'm now even more interested in watching the Netflix adaptation. I want to see what it's like, how it's different. I'm also really interested to see where the story goes from here. What's Madam Satan's next dastardly plan? What happened to the poor girl whose face was stolen? (I'd guess she's probably dead). And what will happen with poor, mortal Harvey Kinkle? Buuuut it looks like I've got to wait a little while for the next Volume to come out. It's not the Sabrina of my childhood, but it's an interesting one.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 4/5

Witchy!