Archie Meets The Ramones #1 Review: Travel Through Time To The Era Of Punk!


Archie Meets The Ramones is a special one-shot story featuring the Riverdale gang meeting the iconic punk rock group known as The Ramones. Interestingly enough, this isn’t the first crossover to be put out by the company. Way back in the nineties, Archie Comics and Marvel comics both put out Archie Meets The Punisher/The Punisher Meets Archie with the same story coming from both companies, but with two separate covers. Yes, that actually happened, and it only gets weirder from there. I think that the most normal crossover, ‘normal’ being taken loosely in this case, would be the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover, mostly because Archie Comics was putting out a comic about that property.

I bet Jughead could eat more pizza than all four turtles combined.
Speaking of corporate synergy, Sonic The Hedgehog and Sabrina The Teenage Witch crossed paths in a very weird story involving alternate dimensions. More recent crossovers featuring the Archie gang meeting properties not owned by the company would be the television show Glee, the Predator films, KISS, and even Sharknado. Fun fact: as well as being extraordinarily gory, that was released as a special promotional tool for the third movie.

I see nothing wrong in this wholesome, family-friendly comic.
Strangely enough, one comic crossover wasn’t even put out by the company. Archie Comics publications gave the writers of Gen13 permission to briefly include the characters in an issue of the comic, going so far as to have the characters drawn in the usual style, for the most part. Other crossovers have included the ‘Little Archie’ versions appearing in a Tiny Titans comic, George Takei appearing to talk with Kevin Keller, and Barack Obama and Sarah Palin making a special trip to Riverdale.

Donald Trump tried to campaign in Riverdale, but the pure-heartedness of almost everyone caused him to melt.
Thankfully, Archie Meets The Ramones isn’t as goofy as some of the television and real-life figures or as gory as some of the film crossovers. Aided by the magical intervention of Sabrina, it actually does a really good job of mixing the squeaky-clean world of Riverdale and the gritty world of punk rock. Some of the funniest moments in the comic just come from seeing Archie and the gang react to the seventies.

I think this is the first time an Archie comic has featured a character drunkenly puking into a toilet.
The one-shot is surprisingly good, with neat cameos from other Archie characters, an interesting time travel plot, and delightfully cartoony artwork. In fact, most of the joy from the artwork comes from the subtle differences between the world of the seventies and the present.

True, I do find the battle of the bands plot to be somewhat tiresome, but it’s not bad. It’s well-written and nostalgic, which is somewhat apropos given the time travel plot. I’d say that even if you’re not a fan of the Ramones, then it’s still definitely worth your time.

Archie Meets The Ramones #1 is written by Alex Segura and Matthew Rosenberg and drawn by Giséle Lagacé. You can find it at your local comic book shop.


Zachary Krishef is an evil genius. Do not question his knowledge of Saturday Night Live trivia or Harry Potter books.