Oni Press Slips a 'Pyre Satanic' Archie Variant Into Marvel's Midnight Launch Party

October 7's midnight release window was already crowded with Marvel's three Midnight Universe #1s, and Oni Press decided to crash the party with a card of its own: a special variant for Archie #1, going on sale at 12:01 a.m. alongside Sabrina #1 to catch the same wave of midnight-release energy sweeping comic shops that night.

Artist Chloe Brailsford drew the cover, which swaps Archie's usual wholesome branding for a "Pyre Satanic" logo — a direct jab at Spire Christian Comics, the real-world imprint that published squeaky-clean, faith-based Archie tie-ins back in the 1970s and '80s. Where those old digests leaned hard into clean living and moral lessons, Brailsford's variant flips the joke, dressing the gang up in imagery those original publishers would never have allowed anywhere near the Archie name.

It's a small release in the shadow of Marvel's much bigger midnight push, but it's a smart one: retailers running midnight events on October 7 now have a full slate of exclusives to sell through the night instead of just Marvel's three launches, and a gag cover riffing on comics history gives shops an easy conversation-starter with anyone waiting in line.

Original reporting: ICv2.