Apr 18

'Blossoms 666' Issue 1 Exudes Quirky Sinister Horror

About Blossoms 666 Issue 1

Blossoms 666 #1 is written by Cullen Bunn. The artwork is by Laura Braga, coloring by Matt Herms and lettering by Jack Morelli. The issue was released on January 23rd, 2019. Blossoms 666 is published by Archie Comics and was the first limited series to be published under the 'Archie Horror' imprint.

Blossoms 666 Issue 1 Review

Blossoms 666 Issue 1 began with the bold move of hiring veteran horror comic book writer, Cullen Bunn, to unleash his brand of horror on Archie and his friends. A move that was timely executed with the Riverdale and Sabrina TV shows being extremely popular - and the clear reason why Laura Braga's artwork depicts Archie and the Gang as looking more like their TV show counterparts and less like the conservative easy-to-read Archie's Digest gang.

Cullen Bunn's writing carefully unravels a murderous plot by a familiar looking family with ties to a dark Satan-worshiping cult. A family where the siblings seem to have this hold on the entire Riverdale student body which no one can quite put their finger on. With the exception of Jughead who begins to overthink and question the motivations of the Blossom siblings. There's no shortage in the mix of conservative middle America quirkiness and sinister horror which leans quite well into the Archie universe - as you're about to find out.

Blossoms 666 #1 Inside Front Cover and Page 1

Blossoms 666 Issue 1 starts with an ominous cold open in a dank, dark and haunting morgue with a white cloth covering a corpse. The scene starts with a couple specks of blood leaking through and staining the cloth but these spread into a small puddle that eventually consumes the entire scene.

With the cold open over we're introduced to the familiar sight of Riverdale with the whole gang on campus. Everyone is talking about a party coming up that's being hosted by the Blossum siblings. Veronica and Betty aren't sure if they're going to attend. While Jughead and Archie talk at their lockers, Jughead is questioning why he's been invited when he's not friends with either of the Blossom siblings. Asking himself if he's overthinking it.

While this is going on, Dilton is nervously fetching some things from his locker only to be interrupted by the schoolyard jerk and bully, Reggie, who victim blames Dilton saying it's all his fault because it's about predator and prey. Reggie is the predator and Dilton is the prey. But before anything happens, Cheryl Blossom interrupts them and asks Reggie to explain himself. Reggie, now even more nervous than Dilton, makes the excuse that he's the schoolyard bad boy and he has an image to maintain.

Cheryl, being the absolute queen that she is, tells Reggie to leave. Dilton, being inexperienced in matters of women, is unsure what just happened and Cheryl picks up this. Telling him that he needs to stick up for himself and that girls melt for guys who have confidence. She leaves Dilton with his jaw hanging open, saying she hopes that Dilton can make it to her party.

The next scene fast forwards to after class where Jughead is desperately trying to convince his teacher, Miss Grundy, for an extension on his assignment. He tries a more modern take of "the dog ate my homework" by using the excuse that his computer wouldn't save his assignment. As Jughead is pleading for an extension until Monday, Jason Blossom enters the scene, using his charm on Miss Grundy and convinces her to grant Jughead the extension.

Miss Grundy even gets a little flirty with the red-haired student for a moment, which is odd, until he leaves her with a red apple. An apple that seems to appear out of nowhere, at least that's what Jughead thinks. Jughead questions Jason outside the classroom, asking why he helped him, and Jason said he did it for a favour in the future. Hoping that it has convinced Jughead to head to the party that Jason and Cheryl Blossom are hosting.

As school finishes, Jason and Cheryl meet up to travel home together in their car. They ask one another if everything is ready for the game they have planned with Jason asking is she wants to back out. Cheryl declines with a playful smirk on her face. Once home, we get a layout of the huge Blossom mansion, and the two siblings do a final, making sure they have everything ready before heading downstairs to their basement.

Once downstairs, they're met with a scene of a dark cult in the middle of a ritual involving goblets of blood, which they interrupt. Two of the robed figures reveal themselves to be their mother and father, who admit they're very proud of their children for making plans to usher in a new era of darkness into the world. This makes Jason nervous while Cheryl isn't phased either way. It seems the Blossoms' party is anything but innocent.

With the party underway and with the whole school in attendance, the Blossom siblings get the Archie gang together for a game of truth or dare. When it's Veronica's turn she says Truth and is asked to admit what the sexiest thing is about a guy. She responds with 'confidence' as her answer which Cheryl, already getting closer to Dilton, tells him to take note of that answer. Archie chooses dare over truth. Kevin is dared to push a girl into the pool who everyone knows can't swim. Moose chooses truth and is asked to confess if he's ever thought about killing someone. Ending on Betty who is asked to confess the most awful lie she's ever told her best friend. This alienates her from the group as she storms off.

After the game of Truth or Dare, Archie and Jason are left alone together and Jason asks where Jughead is. Jason knows he screwed up when Archie confesses that Jughead said he's staying at home to finish the assignment that Miss Grundy gave him an extension for. As this is going on, Cheryl takes Dilton on a walk, away from the party and this pleases Jason, smiling maniacally.

Getting close to the woods near the Blossom mansion, Dilton asks Cheryl where they're going and she says it's a surprise. When they get near a clearing Dilton is wide eyed and in shock as he sees his bully, Reggie, tied to an old tree that's in the centre of a pentagram illuminated by candles evenly spread on the outer circle. Reggie's mouth is hogtied and Dilton nervously asks what this is for. Cheryl, impressed with her own handiwork, hands Dilton a knife and she says 'Go ahead, I dare ya!'

This brings the first issue of Blossoms 666 to a close by ending on a cliffhanger which is quintessentially typical of Cullen Bunn's horror writing. With the party at the Blossoms Mansion being a clear trap for all the Riverdale High students - what do Cheryl and Jason have planned for the Archie Gang? Whos corpse was that in the morgue? And is Jughead really at home re-writing his assignment as he misses out on this murderous fun? I don't believe it for a second.