With so many comics out there—especially with Archie publishing fantastic comics since the Golden Age—it’s expected that fans will always have read a fantastic run of a series. And like many publishers, Archie takes its iconic characters and spins them in interesting directions.
Like some of the Archie Horror over the last decade or so, take, Jughead becoming a werewolf in the one-shot Jughead: The Hunger, from 2017. Before launching into a
full, ongoing series that fall, the book takes Riverdale’s most laid‑back character. It drops him into a full‑throttle werewolf mythos that’s equal parts brutal, tragic, and surprisingly character‑true.
Writer Frank Tieri doesn’t play coy with the premise. He leans straight into the idea that Jughead’s legendary appetite has always been more curse than comedy — the outward symptom of a bloodline tied to the monstrous Jones werewolf clan. It’s a hook that shouldn’t work as well as it does, but Tieri treats the material with the same seriousness he brought to his Marvel and DC runs. The result is a horror book that respects the Archie cast while pushing them into territory they’ve never walked before.
Artist Michael Walsh sets the tone in the original one‑shot, delivering a Riverdale soaked in dread and moonlit tension. When the concept exploded into an ongoing series, Pat & Tim Kennedy took over and brought a muscular, kinetic energy to the action — the kind of page‑turning momentum that makes every transformation and chase sequence land with impact. Joe Eisma later stepped in and ultimately became the book’s visual backbone, sharpening the storytelling and giving the cast a grounded emotional presence even as the body count rises.
What makes Jughead: The Hunger worth your time isn’t just the gore or the shock value — though the book never shies away from either. It’s the way the creative team reframes the core relationships. Betty Cooper, as a hardened werewolf hunter, is instantly compelling. Archie’s loyalty is tested in ways that feel earned. And Jughead himself becomes a tragic figure fighting a destiny he never asked for. It’s still Riverdale, but the shadows are deeper, the stakes sharper.
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