Brian Truitt

USA TODAY

Arnold Schwarzenegger first fought the Predator. And now, of all pop-culture heroes, so does Archie Andrews.

Dark Horse Comics and Archie Comics are combining two popular franchises for Archie Meets Predator, a four-issue series coming in spring 2015 by writer Alex de Campi (Grindhouse) that puts Archie and the gang in the alien hunter's sights while they're on spring break in Costa Rica.

The beach vacation comes unexpectedly after Jughead wins a prize from a lucky bag of chips, and Betty and Veronica make the most of the sunny weather by competing in a "best-dressed" contest.

"After Betty is revealed to be borrowing Cheryl Blossom's clothes to compete, she and Veronica have a fight and she tearfully runs off into the jungle where, let's say, she isn't alone," de Campi says.

Everybody does end up back in Riverdale, she adds, "as do those big trunks of clothes that Veronica brought. Trunks so big, you could hide a Predator in them. Her Vuitton will never quite smell the same again."

De Campi talks with USA TODAY about the winning combo of Archie and Predator, entertaining fans and doing bad things to longtime characters.

Q. What makes this mash-up so interesting for you?

A. Because it's just completely insane. Let's take this gentle, beloved, classic teen cast and hunt them down and slaughter them one by one. Seriously, if you wouldn't jump at the chance to write something like this, you need your head examined.

Doing teens and horror with humor is something I've done really successfully in my Grindhouse series, especially the story "Flesh Feast of the Devil Doll." And, you know, if you have no love for the classic Predator film, I am sad for you.

I'll be putting in little easter eggs from the film throughout the story — still working out a situation in which it would be feasible for an Archie character to say, "I'm a goddamn sexual tyrannosaur," though. Sounds like possibly a Reggie line.

Q. There are definitely two different genres going on with these two genres: family-friendly teen comedy and sci-fi horror. Has finding a balance been tricky?

A. The Archie team are really supportive of all the horrible things I'm doing to their beloved characters — in fact, they suggested a few of them. We certainly won't have the dark, slow-burn kind of horror in Afterlife with Archie or Sabrina, for one reason because the book will be drawn by legendary Archie artist Fernando Ruiz.

For me, having Fernando on the book is crucial, because he brings this air of fun and light and innocence to the characters, so the story becomes more like a Final Destination film where you never see or expect the dreadful thing coming until it happens. He has the most beautiful, easy, fluid line with these characters — he'll really sell the interpersonal dramas that get the story rolling, and I know he'll have fun with some of the gory stuff, too.

My versions of the characters will really go back to the mid-1940s Archie stories, where Betty and Veronica had a little more edge to them. There's a wonderful Bob Montana/Joe Kubert sequence from 1948 that I love where Veronica is asking Betty if she has a winter sport, and Betty says, "No, only Archie," with this look in her eyes like "I am all alone, with my obsession."

My Veronica is the slightly thoughtless socialite who wants Archie because he is the one thing she can't buy, while Betty is a somewhat fragile obsessive who believes Archie is hers and only hers because they grew up together.

We use pretty much all the Archie cast in this story, though. The Blossoms play an important part, and in total 10 kids go on the holiday to Costa Rica. Only Dilton and Ethel stay home, and they play big parts in the latter half of the story, as does Sabrina briefly.

Q. Is it also fun to serve two different comic fandoms here?

A. I never really think of the fans. I know that's a terrible thing to say, but I first and foremost try to tell a story that amuses/scares me, and then I just blithely hope others like it.

I find that people are far more diverse and complex than we give them credit for, and I'll bet a big group of Archie fans are also horror and adventure fans, and so perhaps it isn't different fan bases after all. It's a sort of question I get a lot: "How do you write My Little Ponyand horror like Grindhouseand spy noir like Smoke/Ashes?" As if people can only be interested in one thing.

You know Stephen King is an Archie fan? He did the intro to one of the Archie stories I read.

Q. What's been one surprising thing about working with Archie characters and Predator?

A. I think just how awesome the Archie team are. Our conference call where we basically spitballed the entire series was a complete hoot, and I really feel they've got my back. I've also now read like 2,000 pages of Archie stories and it's fascinating for me to see how the kids have evolved over the years in different hands.

The other slightly embarrassing surprising thing is that it appears I can still quote most of Predator from memory. My college education? Gone to the winds. (But) '80s action-horror films? Still in my brain. Sigh.