Review: Betty & Veronica- Vixens Vol. 1
Quick Summary
Pros: The main storyline is fun and features uncomplicated and satisfying conflict. The role reversal works out well and helps create some appealing feminist themes. The artwork looks good and is a solid complement to the story.
Cons: The uncomplicated nature of the conflict may not appeal to everyone. The storytelling has a number of small problems that hurt the appeal of this comic. The overall theme is damaged by mismatched messaging.
Overall: This is a book that reads fine on the surface but starts to fall apart when placed under scrutiny. The overall narrative is appealing and combines strong female characters with fun conflict. However, underlying problems with storytelling and messaging work against the comic and are numerous enough to take away some of its otherwise promising appeal. In the end, this book will appeal to those looking for an uncomplicated take on these familiar characters, not for those looking for a more advanced and impactful narrative.
Story
Betty & Veronica: Vixens Vol. 1, by Jamie Lee Rotante, is a fun story about the women of Riverdale stepping up and defending their town from the people who are trying to hurt it. The central narrative here is entertaining and has a solid moral message to it. Betty and Veronica’s actions are exciting and emphasize feminism in a straightforward and uncompromising manner. However, there are numerous problems with the storytelling used to detail these adventures, and mismatched messaging undercuts the impact of the book’s theme. In addition, the conflict here has little nuance or complexity to it, which may be appealing to some readers and unappealing to others. This mix of positives and negatives creates a reading experience that is alright, as long as readers do not look too deep into it.
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The overarching storyline in Vixens Vol. 1 is solid. It has Betty and Veronica frustrated with inaction from the typical “heroes” of the Archie Universe and has them take the reigns in defending Riverdale from danger. This allows the women of Riverdale to step in as its leaders and protectors, in a satisfactory role reversal.
Their crusade ends up being very straightforward, perhaps too much for some readers. Every character the Vixens fight is doing something obnoxiously inappropriate or wrong, easily justifying the resulting conflict. However, not every story needs to maintain ambiguous moral complexity in order to have appeal, sometimes it is nice to see people who are obviously good fight against people who are obviously bad. I, personally, found this to be the case for this comic, as watching the Vixens reign victorious is satisfying.
However, problems start to arise through the actual storytelling. Some elements of the story simply suffer from poor justification; such as the Vixen’s decision to punish various individuals in their home community, which seemed like an odd thing to do immediately before a war against the Serpents, and Betty’s racing victory, which seemed odd considering their mismatched levels of experience. However, the biggest storytelling problem is introduced through a series of flash-forwards that are difficult to actually relate back into the main storyline. Even after finishing and rereading portions of the book, I was still unclear when one of the flashforwards, to a time when the Vixens were “on the lam”, occurred. None of these problems is significant enough to completely wreck the reading experience but each one does erode it in ways that make it less enjoyable.
More significant problems arise through Vixens Vol. 1‘s themes and messaging. There are places in this book where the feminist statements made by the narrative are undercut by what actually takes place. For example, Betty expresses indignation when Archie tells her that he was worried motorcycle riding would be too “dangerous” for her but then, on the very next page, she tells Archie that she doesn’t think what they are doing is safe. Minor problems like this occur elsewhere in this comic and weaken the impact of what would otherwise be a very wholesome message.
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Art
The artwork in Vixens Vol. 1 is very appealing and is one of the most consistently positive aspects of the collection. Eva Cabrera’s stylized take on Riverdale and its inhabitants is evocative of classic Archie comics yet is immediately recognizable as something fresh and interesting. Enhanced with colors from Elaina Unger, the artwork throughout this story pops on nearly every page. Specifically, Cabrera does a wonderful job with the characters, presenting Betty, Veronica, and the rest of the Vixens with a wonderful level of creativity and emotion. The entire cast changes in and out of outfits that help stress the mood of the present situation and demonstrate a bit about the personality of the wearer. All in all, the artwork in this collection is a definite positive and is a draw for this book as a whole.
Continuity
Betty & Veronica: Vixens Vol. 1 begins the Betty & Veronica Vixens series. Readers do not have to read any other comics to understand the story in this book.
The story here continues in Betty & Veronica: Vixens Vol. 2.