Next month, Archie Comics will release The Return of Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #1. The new one-shot, part of Archie’s many spooky offerings for the Halloween season, features a trio of stories from writers Eliot RahalSina Grace, and Casey Gilly, artists Vincenzo FedericiCorin Howell, and Liana Kangas, colorists Matt Herms and Glenn Whitmore, and letterer Jack Morelli, all packaged beneath stunning covers by Julius Ohta and Francesco Francavilla. Today, ahead of the preorder cutoff date for the one-shot, The Beat is proud to present an early look at the stories included in the issue, with each tale featuring another potential soul ready to join Madam Satan’s army.

Here’s how Archie describes The Return of Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #1:

Madam Satan escaped Hell a fugitive and hated woman by Satan and his thralls. She’s now principal of Baxter High and Hell has come to Earth. With each classroom acting as a portal to the different circles in Hell, Madam Satan must recruit similar tortured souls if she has any chance of survival… all leading up to a Madam Satan and her army vs. Satan and his in this highly-anticipated follow-up to last year’s hit Chilling Adventures in Sorcery!

The new Chilling Adventures in Sorcery one-shot is part of Archie Horror’s Month of Mayhem, which features a number of new specials spotlighting the scarier side of Archie and the Riverdale gang. The first one-shot of the event, Chilling Adventures Presents…Weirder Mysteries #1, released last week, with two more specials, Chilling Adventures of Salem #1 and Fear the Funhouse #1 following on October 12th and 19th, respectively, before the event concludes with the one-shot previewed here. Archie Horror has been one of the publisher’s most consistently successful imprints, so it’s both welcome as a reader and no surprise they would spotlight it in time for Halloween.

Speaking to The Beat about the special, Archie Comics Art Director Vincent Lovallo praised the work of all three artists:

“In this year’s RETURN OF CHILLING ADVENTURES IN SORCERY anthology, we not only continue Madam Satan’s return to Baxter High (which has been taken over by Lucifer and his band of demons), but we also get to explore the darker sides of characters like Veronica Lodge and Shrill Prisston. Vincenzo Federici, Corin Howell, and Liana Kangas all brought their A game to these stories and characters, expertly illustrating some of the most disturbing scenes and faces I have ever witnessed in our horror comics. If you’re looking for some chilling tales to keep you up at night this spooky season, we’ve certainly got you covered!”

Check out the exclusive preview of the one-shot, featuring inked pages from each of the three stories, as well as commentary on two of the stories from Eliot Rahal, Vincenzo Federici, and Liana Kangas, below. The Return of Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #1 is due out in stores and digitally on Wednesday, October 26th. The final order cut-off date for the issue is next Monday, October 3rd.

“When I wrote this short, I was really thinking about my newborn daughter. And I knew Vincenzo could make magic happen, so I just went as hard as I could. I really let loose while still allowing our stories to serve as a framework to showcase the other creators.” – Eliot Rahal

“In this issue I had the luck to draw, for the first time in sequential interior pages, Sabrina Spellman! As a fan of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Netflix show, it was a real blast to work on this character. I love the transformation sequence that Eliot wrote and I tried my best to better show the power of Madam Satan.” – Vincenzo Federici

Art by Vincenzo Federici
Art by Vincenzo Federici

“As a veteran Hot Topic employee, I was immediately enthralled to not only redesign Shrill, but to modernize a fun take on the folks at Riverdale for a wild Tales from the Crypt-style short with none other than Casey Gilly. I hate to admit it, but I too often feel this dehydrated (all while staying cute), so you could say drawing these pages was A MOOD. You won’t want to miss this very spooky, extremely fun one shot of CHILLING ADVENTURES IN SORCERY!” – Liana Kangas

Art by Liana Kangas
Art by Liana Kangas
Art by Corin Howell
Art by Corin Howell