Archie Andrews WILL save Riverdale - even if it means murdering everyone he knows

Art from Archie Comics: Judgment Day #2 — (Image credit: Archie Comics)

Earlier this year, Archie Comics announced Judgment Day: an epic new three-issue horror story that sees the formerly good-natured boy next door Archie Andrews confront his dark side when he is forced to defend Riverdale from an infestation of demons that are possessing and corrupting his friends. But is Archie really the hero he believes?

Written by Aubrey Sitterson and drawn by Megan Hutchison, Judgment Day is the first in a new strand of Archie Premium Event series — "cinematic miniseries" designed for comics fans and collectors. The first issue, which depicts "the most horrifying version of Riverdale yet" is published in May, but we've got an exclusive art preview from June's second issue below.

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Covers from Archie Comics: Judgment Day #2 — (Image credit: Archie Comics)

"I had been familiar with Megan's work for years, so when Jamie [Rotante, Archie Comics senior director of editorial] told me Archie was courting her for Judgment Day, I was incredibly excited," said Aubrey Sitterson in a statement to Newsarama about the new series.

"Not only is Megan a talented, thoughtful artist, but she has a deep familiarity with and fondness for the types of material we're mining. As I always like to do at the start of the project, Megan and I had a nice long phone conversation and, even at that early stage, it was readily apparent that we were simpatico. Comics is a visual medium and I know that, as a reader, art is always more important to me than writing, so I very much see my job as creating a framework for my co-creators' success. On a new project, this can sometimes entail a feeling-out period as I discern how much and what type of guidance to provide, but none of that was necessary with Megan, who encouraged me to share layout and page design thoughts and then proceeded to make them even better. Creating effective sequential art is a baseline requirement for comics at this level but Megan takes things even further, with thoughtful approaches to costuming, scene design, and backgrounds that simply can't be dictated to an artist by a writer."

You can check out some of Hutchison's unlettered black and white panels for the new issue in the gallery below.

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"I am still in shock that I get to have my personal style on the Archie universe," added Megan Hutchison. "As a kid I drew classic Archie, and now I get to be on the same list as Dan Parent and Fiona Staples? I don't feel worthy! I've worked with Archie editorial before and they approached me specifically because of my weird, occulty, witchy style and storytelling. I am forever grateful to be able to bring that to such a classic institution."

Here's the official synopsis for the new issue:

"Jughead's trying his best to act as Archie's conscience and voice of reason, but with so many people once familiar and even beloved to Archie turning into demonic monstrosities, can Archie maintain his grip? Maybe if Jughead gets more people on his side, they can talk some sense into him-are Betty and Veronica up to the task of bringing back the Archie they know and love from Alistair's grasp?"

Archie Comics: Judgment Day begins with #1 on May 22. #2 follows on June 19, both published by Archie Comics.

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Will Salmon is the Streaming Editor for GamesRadar+. He has been writing about film, TV, comics, and music for more than 15 years, which is quite a long time if you stop and think about it. At Future he launched the scary movie magazine Horrorville, relaunched Comic Heroes, and has written for every issue of SFX magazine for well over a decade. His music writing has appeared in The Quietus, MOJO, Electronic Sound, Clash, and loads of other places too.