Exclusive: BETTY & VERONICA never looked so good as on these #1 variants drawn by women

Over a year after Archie Comics successfully reinvented themselves for the 21st century with ARCHIE #1, the ladies of Riverdale are finally getting their own comic. BETTY & VERONICA puts the boys on the back burner in order to explore the relationship between Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge.

Written and drawn by Adam Hughes, BETTY & VERONICA appears to be veering away from the rivalry over Archie Andrews and engaging in a different narrative. After all, in the new iteration of ARCHIE, the very first arc dealt with how Betty dumped Archie over the “Lipstick Incident.” Plus having an entire series dedicated to two girls fight over a boy is dated and kind of cringe-worthy.

Instead, BETTY & VERONICA #1 has the on-again/off-again friends fighting over something else. Gentrification.

Image Credit: Adam Hughes/Archie Comics

From the press release:

IT”S BETTY VS. VERONICA! The most highly-anticipated debut in comics history is here! Betty and Veronica are America”s sweethearts… until they turn on each other! “Pops” Chocklit Shoppe is being taken over by a huge coffee company. When Betty and Veronica go head-to-head over the issue, all bets are off! Friendships will shatter. Cities will burn. Nails will be broken. Betty and Veronica are back in this ALL-NEW #1 from comics legend Adam Hughes (Wonder Woman, Catwoman)!

Social media has been buzzing since it was announced Hughes would take on both writing and artistic duties, as some of his past work with the female form has…taken liberties with physics. And while Hughes was on board to write ALL-STAR WONDER WOMAN, that project never made it out of development purgatory, making BETTY & VERONICA his first writing gig. However, Archie has handled the roll-out of their new line with aplomb. For now, I”m going to trust they know what they”re doing!

To celebrate the upcoming release of BETTY & VERONICA, HitFix Harpy got an exclusive look at four variant covers for Issue #1, all drawn by fabulously talented women artists!

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