Archie’s The Cursed Library Reading Order Checklist

For more than 85 years, Archie Comics’ characters have been surprisingly malleable. Beyond the publisher’s fair of teen comedy and romance, dozens of other interpretations have been introduced and explored – from superheroes, rock bands, cavepeople, fantasy, and more.

The genre exploration that has risen to the top is horror. In recent years, Archie Comics has published numerous one-shots that put characters like Archie, Betty, Veronica, and Jughead into horror situations. Additionally, they’ve mined their extensive catalogue and brought back new interpretations of classic characters like Jinx and Madam Satan.

Eagle-eyed readers might’ve noticed these horror one-shots have been building up to something big. And you’d be right. All roads lead to The Cursed Library, a three-month event starring Jinx, Danni Malloy, and Madam Satan, which will see them traverse the depths of Hell to rid the world of evil.

Comic book events can be confusing. I have assembled this handy reading order checklist to make reading The Cursed Library easy. It has the recommended reading order, annotations, background reading, creative teams, and heaps more so you can dive right into reading.

Background reading

The Cursed Library has been bubbling away in the background of many of Archie Horror one-shots. While these may seem like unconnected and standalone stories, everything is all tied together through being a book in the Cursed Library.

However, some of these are more consequential than others, especially if you want to do some background reading on characters like Madam Satan and Jinx. I have added annotations for the comics involving those characters.

The relevant one-shots have been collated in the following collected editions:

Archie Horror Presents… Chilling Adventures – The Anthology Collection
Collects: Madam Satan, Chilling Adventures in Sorcery, Jinx: Grim Fairy Tales, Weirder Mysteries, Chilling Adventures of Salem, The Return of Chilling Adventures in Sorcery, and Happy Horror Days

For those wanting to follow Madam Satan’s story will want to check out Madam Satan, Chilling Adventures in Sorcery, and The Return of Chilling Adventures in Sorcery one-shots.

If you’re looking to follow Jinx’s story – who is a grown-up version of the character – you’ll want to check out Jinx: Grim Fairy Tales.

Archie Horror Presents: Terrifying Tales
Collects: Betty: The Final Girl , Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe of Horrors , The Cult of That Wilkin Boy, Jinx: A Cursed Life, Camp Pickens, Strange Science, and Madam Satan: Hell On Earth

Readers wanting to know what’s next for Jinx should read Jinx: A Cursed Life, Strange Science, and Madam Satan: Hell On Earth. As for Madam Satan, checkout the latter one-shot.

Strange Science is a notable one-shot as it establishes Danni Malloy as Archie Comics’ first transgender character.

Free Comic Book Day: The Cursed Library
Written by Magdalene Visaggio. Art by Craig Cermak.

This was a comic that was given away at comic book shops as part of Free Comic Book Day 2023. It hasn’t been collected anywhere but is a good bit of background reading if you can track it down. It also introduces the reimagined Danni Malloy, Jinx’s best friend, who later is revealed to be transgender. This was released a few weeks before the Strange Science one-shot.

The Cursed Library reading order

Below is the recommended reading order if you’re looking to read The Cursed Library.

The Cursed Library: Prelude (Prelude)
Written by Sarah Kuhn, Amy Chase, Eliot Rahal, and Magdalene Visaggio. Art by Carola Borelli, Liana Kangas, Butch K. Mapa, Vincenzo Federici, Craig Cermak.

Note: The Cursed Library: Prelude reprints stories from recent Archie Horror one-shots and includes a five-page prelude to The Curse Library event. This was given away for free for Free Comic Book Day 2024.

The Cursed Library: Alpha (Part 1)
Written by Eliot Rahal and Magdalene Visaggio. Art by Craig Cermak.
On sale 28th August

The Cursed Library: Omega (Part 2)
Written by Eliot Rahal and Magdalene Visaggio. Art by Craig Cermak.
On sale 25th September

The Cursed Library: Unbound (Part 3)
Written by Eliot Rahal and Magdalene Visaggio. Art by Craig Cermak.
On sale 30th October

Buy The Cursed Library on…

After The Cursed Library

Archie Comics hasn’t shared what’s next for Jinx, Madam Satan, Danni Malloy, and others yet. I will update this section when the publisher reveals more details. Whatever it is, it won’t be published until at least November.

Have your say!

Will you be reading this Archie Horror event? Share your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook, X (formally Twitter), or Mastodon.