Oni Press and Archie Comics have shared the first character designs for their new publishing partnership, by Sabrina the Teenage Witch artist Kano and Archie artist Fábio Moon, ahead of the two titles debuting this fall.
I shared these earlier in my Q&A post with the writers of the new Archie line coming from Oni Press, but thought they deserved a post of their own. Also: we’ve got variant covers! Both for September’s Archie and October’s Sabrina the Teenage Witch, which I haven’t had a chance to share yet.
Kano, who designed the cast for both books, said his goal was to update the characters without losing what makes them recognizable.
“Working on the redesigns for these iconic Archie characters was a real challenge, because the last thing you want to do is change them. They’re beloved, instantly recognizable and hold a special place in fans’ hearts,” Kano said. “My approach, both with the Archie cast and on Sabrina, was the opposite, while still celebrating and honoring their original essence. I searched for modern aesthetics that feel true to their classic styles and personalities, creating a richer visual toolkit for the other artists.”
You can see those modern aesthetics in his designs, especially for fashion icons Betty and Veronica:
“My goal was to provide versatile references that allow them to enhance each character’s look and adapt their outfits as the stories demand, while staying faithful to who they are,” Kano said. “I hope these designs become a helpful foundation for the whole relaunch team. And I probably shouldn’t say this…but Jughead’s design is my favorite! Archie is legendary, of course—but Jughead had the most exciting room to evolve while still celebrating everything that makes him special.”
Here’s a look at his Jughead and Archie:
Moon, who is illustrating Archie #1 alongside Nick Cagnetti, said his focus was less on appearance and more on behavior. “My focus on these characters isn’t as much in what they look like — that was Kano’s job — but more in how they behave and how their body language and fashion choices can help us convey their distinct personalities,” he said.
You can see the differences Moon and Kano are bringing to these characters, which comes through in all the variant covers for the first issues of Archie and Sabrina (and likely for Archie in Hell, but Oni hasn’t revealed those yet). Here’s a look at all the covers for Archie #1, coming in September:
And I’ll wrap it up with a look at the variants they recently revealed for Sabrina the Teenage Witch, which comes out in October:
