Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #9

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (Single Issues) #9

by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Robert Hack (Artist), Jack Morelli (Artist)

“WITCH WAR” Part 3: “The Sacrificial Lamb” – Sabrina has brought Harvey’s body back to life (along with her father’s soul). But there is a cost to everything. Unless she wants the Gates of Hell to open, Sabrina must find a person to sacrifice in Harvey’s place. But wait… Sabrina would never kill someone, would she?

Genres: Horror, Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Witches, Fiction, Young Adult

31 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 13, 2021

About the author

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is an American playwright, screenwriter, and comic book writer best known for his work for Marvel Comics and for the television series Glee, Big Love, Riverdale, and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. He is Chief Creative Officer of Archie Comics.
Aguirre-Sacasa grew up liking comic books, recalling in 2003, "My mom would take us out to the 7-Eleven on River Road during the summer, and we would get Slurpees and buy comics off the spinning rack. I would read them all over and over again, and draw my own pictures and stuff."
He began writing for Marvel Comics, he explained, when "Marvel hired an editor to find new writers, and they hired her from a theatrical agency. So she started calling theaters and asking if they knew any playwrights who might be good for comic books. A couple of different theaters said she should look at me. So she called me, I sent her a couple of my plays and she said 'Great, would you like to pitch on a couple of comic books in the works?'"
His first submissions were "not what [they were] interested in for the character[s]" but eventually he was assigned an 11-page Fantastic Four story, "The True Meaning of...," for the Marvel Holiday Special 2004. He went on to write Fantastic Four stories in Marvel Knights 4, a spinoff of that superhero team's long-running title; and stories for Nightcrawler vol. 3; The Sensational Spider-Man vol. 2; and Dead of Night featuring Man-Thing.
In May 2008 Aguirre-Sacasa returned to the Fantastic Four with a miniseries tie-in to the company-wide "Secret Invasion" storyline concerning a years-long infiltration of Earth by the shape-shifting alien race, the Skrulls,and an Angel Revelations miniseries with artists Barry Kitson and Adam Polina, respectively. He adapted for comics the Stephen King novel The Stand.

In 2013, he created Afterlife with Archie, depicting Archie Andrews in the midst of a zombie apocalypse; the book's success led to Aguirre-Sacasa being named Archie Comics' chief creative officer.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

FINALLY!
A new Chilling Adventures of Sabrina...4 years later.
I had to go back and re-read all of the previous issues because let's face it, 2017 was a long fucking time ago. At this point, horror comics haven't got much on everyday life.
*cough, cough, cough*

Too soon?

WARNING: Spoilers for the last issue ahead!
But I may need then in case it's another 4 years before issue 10 comes out.
So.



Alright. So last we saw Sabrina, she had resurrected her dead boyfriend, Harvey Kinkle, with the help of her teacher.
Except her teacher was Madam Satan, and she wasn't trying to help anyone. And it wasn't Harvey that came back in his body, it was her shady warlock father. OMFG. So. Gross.
Unaware of all of this, Sabrina had gone to battle with her aunts to keep them from re-killing him and won.
Only to find out that she is now obligated to kill someone to balance the scales!



This issue has Sabrina heading to prison. <--to kill a serial killer.
Pretty smart way around the Witch Law, right?
Except the killer she meets isn't what she was expecting.



You also get more of the inner thoughts of Madam Satan and Edward Spellman as they hurtle toward their eventual reunion. He's a complete bag of dicks and she's pretty much a demon, so here's hoping they live happily ever after.



Also, I loved that the cover was an homage to the first Sabrina comic.





Recommended for fans of this darker version of Sabrina.

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Did she want to kill him…or kiss him? Perhaps she’d kiss him, then kill him. Who could say? She would have to play it by ear…”

Madam Satan, the way you relate to men somehow seems very, very familiar to me... 😁

[♥Milica♥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, could've been better. I kinda wish that demon twist didn't happen, but not everything can be that easy.

[rayhanah · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you liked the tv show and questioned how the comics compare well, let me be your guinea pig :)
They're okay-ish reads. The tv series is better, I would say. For most of them, it felt too short, and nothing really happened, but they were still entertaining, hence why they're mostly 3 stars. It was pretty different from the tv series though; we got a lot of backstory about salem specifically, his life prior to being a familiar and ambrose's snake familiars, and (to my dismay) harvey wanting to propose to brina, which we otherwise wouldn't have found out so that was really interesting! Also, I did not expect a riverdale crossover!! That was super cool.
Embarrassingly, i knew it was only 9 issues, but I was still hoping nick would show up. I love him :( Definitely not team harvey.
All in all, I'm a huge fan of this story and these characters, and glad I read the comics 🖤

[Elizabeth Lapp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ugh. I don't want to wait for more!

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm gonna be brutally honest: I had totally forgotten about this series. The only reason I remembered it was because I was googling Halloween comics and Sabrina was on the list. So I decided I'd give this a read. It's been what, 4 years since the last one? So, naturally, I had to go back and reread the last issue, as I'd forgotten what had happened.

It was a good read. Hopefully it won't be another four years until the next one.

[Ana Herondale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pues me deja con la miel en los labios porque termina super abierto, vaya

[Maitê · Rating 3 out of 5]

I need to read this all over again before the end because my memories are fuzzy and it's been a while between new issues, but it's worth it. It's a fun series that stands on it own.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

How wonderful to have Sabrina back in comic form after her long hiatus. It was perhaps not as shocking as the previous issues, or perhaps after the TV show I've become more jaded, but it was a great continuation of the story. Fantastic to see more or Robert's amazing artwork. Can't wait to see where this all goes.

[Kot bard · Rating 4 out of 5]

tbh that's more likely. Salem i Sabrina wyruszają do Chicago, by znaleźć odpowiednią ofiarę na "zapłacenie" za wskrzeszenie Harveya. w poprzednich zeszytach bardzo brakowało mi duo Sabriny i Salema. szkoda, że następnego zeszytu albo nie będzie, albo będzie trzeba czekać następne pięć lat.

[Sina]

not rating bc it’s a single issue

[Caroline O'Gorman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved the TV show so much, that it was a bit of a let down to read the original story that inspired it. There are a lot of extreme differences, and I am not into the idea of Sabrina’s dad stealing her boyfriend’s body (ew).

[Aline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Elle est où la fin...?

[Peter A. Lio · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite comic!

I love the art, the crazy story, and the characters. I liked the first season of the show on Netflix, but I really didn’t care for the later seasons. However this continues to hold my attention in an incredible way!

[Kayla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Never fails to surprise me

I always forget how insanely different the on-screen adaptation ends up being. They're both fantastic in their own way the comic is so much darker. I hope they're able to finish the comic series eventually.

[Khione · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! What an amazing continuation to the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina comics! It was dark, twisted and compelling as usual. My only criticism that it's not long enough. I need more! Can't wait for the two comics (occult world of sabrina) and Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina #10!
Thank you for this great story!
A great read for Halloween!

[nightmares.of.eliza · Rating 3 out of 5]

And Then Hell Just… Waits? 🕯️🩸

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #9 leaves me in the most annoying place possible: fully interested, increasingly invested, and then abandoned at the edge of the Gates of Hell.

The story has grown darker, stranger and more delicious with every issue. What started as creepy retro witch horror turned into something nastier: family rot, demonic manipulation, body theft, grief, bad bargains, and Sabrina trying to save love while being quietly fed into a machine built by adults, monsters and relatives who should absolutely not be trusted.

This issue keeps that momentum too long. Sabrina is still determined to fix what happened to Harvey, Salem remains the only emotionally competent creature in Greendale, and Edward Spellman continues proving that some fathers are not people, just curses. The moral trap is great: a girl who wants to save someone now has to decide how much blood love is allowed to cost.

But then… that’s it. For now, the story simply stops. No proper conclusion, no final reckoning, no satisfying collapse of all those rotten threads. And honestly, that hurts, because I do want the ending. The Netflix series went its own way and is over, the hype may never fully return, but this comic deserves closure.

Verdict: 4 / 5. Creepy, bloody and genuinely compelling — with the cruelest horror of all: an unfinished story I actually care about.

Try next:
• Chilling Adventures of Salem by Cullen Bunn, 2022 — more Salem, because the cat deserves compensation for emotional labor.
• Afterlife with Archie, Vol. 1: Escape from Riverdale by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, 2014 — Archie Horror with the same nostalgia-turned-nightmare energy.
• Locke & Key, Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft by Joe Hill, 2008 — cursed family legacy, children trapped in adult horrors, and actual narrative payoff.

[Coralie · Rating 2 out of 5]

(2.5 stars)

idk i think i lost interest in this series because it's been so long since the last issue and i forgot everything that happened before... if it wasn't for the summary at the beginning i would've been LOST 😭🤧 I only read this because I'm trying to continue/finish series i'm in the middle of, and this was only 31 pages. We had to wait 4 years since the last issue and it has been over a year and a half at the time i'm reading #9 since it came out and there doesn't seem to be a new one coming any time soon... if it ever were to happen, i'll probably continue BUT i'm just gonna wait for the series to be finished first and binge everything from the beginning again!

[Aldana · Rating 3 out of 5]

A este volumen lo siento como un pasaje lento para lo que vendrá, igual se entiende debido a que ha pasado bastante desde el volumen 8. Las recapitulación que dan en unas páginas y principalmente en explicar lo que hizo Madam Satan en la vida de los Spellman me pareció perfecto para aquellos que olvidamos lo sucedido. Tengo el presentimiento que este demonio que se nos presentó será clave para que Sabrina descubra que su padre está en el cuerpo de su novio. Con respecto a Madam Satan, será la que ayude a Edward y al final lo mate.

[Jenn Adams · Rating 2 out of 5]

[Welcome to a series called I-am-insane-and-trying-to-finish-my-unfinished-series-even-ones-that-are-picture-books-and-ones-I-didn't-like-the-first-time. Reminder that my ratings are relative to other books of a similar genre/format/age level]

Honestly, this is just not my thing. I think that it's dark "in a good way" if that's what you're into - relatively gruesome ideas and imagery. Even the art is not usually what I'm looking for, though I do think it fits well. Unclear if there is going to be more to this series.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I almost wish this issue didn’t exist despite really liking it because the series does not look like it’s going to be continued and we’ve essentially traded one cliff hanger ending for another. That being said I really liked this issue, liked where it was going and was pro the “twist” at the end because I want Sabrina to walk the line between good and bad while still learning from her mistakes along the way.

BIG TRIGGER WARNING: a demon summoner essentially rapes a female demon as revenge for her giving his enemies information and while it’s not on page explicitly it’s not fully off page either. There’s also contemplation of incest that does not happen (same character).

[Gabriela Gonçalves · Rating 3 out of 5]

Não estou gostando do rumo da narrativa e dos personagens. Eles parecem mudar de atitudes repentinamente sem mostrar uma evolução. Sabrina se sente muito rainha de tudo e ela só tem 16 anos. As tias desistem muito fácil de "educar" ela. As tias são bruxas ancestrais e poderosas e não conseguem controlar uma adolescente e evitar o colapso do mundo sombrio? Odiando os pensamentos e desenvolvimento do Edward. Até Madam Satan perdeu o brilho e sua força. Não temos mais histórias no momento, mas fiquei um pouco desmotivada, estava esperando mais.

[Derreck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man I can not get enough of this! It just so happens Sabrina came out near my neck of the woods, Crest Hill! Because uh, she's gotta set 'right' to a 'wrong', but can she follow through with it?

Ha! Nothing that goes on in this world is that easy!

It's almost like Sabrina never left my dark heart. Even after a long hiatus. I'm glad this story hasn't be scrapped and left someplace to be forgotten. It's just so amazingly dark and awesome! I've even fell in love with the art style!

[Jesse · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was... fine. The art was cool, I still love this book's style. The story was oddly self-knowledgable about its confusing motives for certain characters (I'm looking at you Madam Satan). That's something the show suffered from too, and never really was able to fix. The ending of this book was cool, actually had an interesting cliffhanger. Who knows how long till we get another issue. Oh well.

[Ephemera Pie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one! As much as I love the Netflix series, I really want this storyline to keep going. It's so different from the show and frankly much more disturbing but I NEED to know what happens next. Was super bummed when I couldn't just buy the next one lol. I hope we don't have to wait too long before the next issue comes out, though I see issue 8 came out in 2017, and this one in 2021, so I'm not going to hold my breath.

[everyday is earth day, save the planet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know how i missed this release! it literally came out on my birthday!!!!!

I’ve been reading this series for a few years and it’s honestly great! i don’t know why the author insists on destroying tv shows when he is this good at writing comics!!!!!!

Also, robert hack’s artwork has the perfect 80’s goth vibe, i miss seeing artwork like this.

The sad part is that each issue takes like 3 years to be released, maybe that’s a sign for me to give his riverdale comics a chance.

[xmanicpixiebookgirlx · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ohmygosh. I love the dark twisted take on this amazing series. I’ve always wanted to see a Sabrina the Teenage Witch horror/eery series and this is it! I couldn’t put the comics down! Once I started the series I just kept going! It’s enthralling and immersive and I recommend to anyone who loves a good witchy spooky story.
(I’m also very upset that the series didn’t get picked back up for more. I really was excited to see where the story was going ☹️)

[Vanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5

My only complaint is the use of Richard Speck... it could have been a fictional serial killer who was possessed by a demon, but using a real killer was a bit insensitive. Also, not into Madam Satan wanting Edward, bit weird change in development.

[Jeff Mayo · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was four years between issues 8 and 9. It's been two years since the cliffhanger of issue 9. I had grown bored with the series by the midway point. If the series continues, I won't be following it. An interesting idea, and it was beat to death four issues into the run.

[Vampyranha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm finally here and a bit disappointed, it's been two years since the release of this issue and issue #10 is not out yet. This one ended on a Cliffhanger and there's nowhere to go from here. It's as good as the other ones but goddamnit I wan to know what happens next!!!