Archie Comics Fan Forum

Everything Archie => All About Archie => Topic started by: Vegan Jughead on February 16, 2018, 12:31:14 PM

Title: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: Vegan Jughead on February 16, 2018, 12:31:14 PM
I can't say I'm surprised, although I've really enjoyed the book.  It's probably weak sales that's ending it (I haven't looked up the sales), but it also could be because after they got The Monkees and Blondie, they weren't able to get any more well known "guest" bands to appear in the book. 


I can't imagine what the future is for the RIVERDALE comic title because while I've actually been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the stories, Thomas Pitilli's art is horrible in that book in my opinion. 


https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/02/tegan-and-sara-join-the-archies-in-this-exclusive.html
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on February 16, 2018, 01:29:45 PM
Quote from: Vegan Jughead on February 16, 2018, 12:31:14 PM
I can't say I'm surprised, although I've really enjoyed the book.  It's probably weak sales that's ending it (I haven't looked up the sales), but it also could be because after they got The Monkees and Blondie, they weren't able to get any more well known "guest" bands to appear in the book. 


I can't imagine what the future is for the RIVERDALE comic title because while I've actually been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the stories, Thomas Pitilli's art is horrible in that book in my opinion.

Enough to compile into a trade paperback, which is the usual performance of any new floppy title. That goes for the ones I like as well as the ones I don't. JUGHEAD managed to get three, so for ACP it did much better than average.

Only two titles seem to have escaped that fate (so far): ARCHIE and RIVERDALE. Since Riverdale is still on TV and popular, I guess it'll last a little longer than most of the others.

I agree with you about Pitilli, but Eisma isn't much better, and there really hasn't been a new Archie artist except for Derek Charm that I thought was outstanding. Adam Hughes and Audrey Mok are both good artists, but it'll never matter to me if I don't care for the way the stories are written, because I'm never going to buy it just to flip through and look at the drawings. Apart from Derek Charm's issues of JUGHEAD, I haven't bought a single one (except for a few cover variants I really liked by Gisele, Dan Parent, and Mike Allred -- JOSIE #1, RIVERDALE #1, and The ARCHIES #4). Either I don't like the artwork, or I don't like the writing, or both. The ARCHIES might not have been too bad (judging by #4) if Charm or Mok drew it, because it's not horribly written (except for the one-shot). It just needed to be a little funnier... and the artist could have helped out with that, too.

The obvious and smart thing to do here if ACP would like to have 3 other comic books every month that sell as well as ARCHIE, is to publish ARCHIE every week instead of every month. Not another Archie spinoff title... ARCHIE. They just have to hire 3 more artists to do it, but it would seem not to matter since the artist drawing the book isn't what's selling it, and those people who like it will buy it regardless of whether that artist is Fiona Staples, Thomas Pitilli, Joe Eisma, or Audrey Mok. It should be a snap for Waid to write it, because he can easily write 4 scripts a month, particularly simple ones where there isn't a lot happening in any one particular issue, like ARCHIE. The problem is that for Waid to do that, he'd have to stop writing his other titles for other publishers. He's not going to be giving up a paycheck from Marvel for AVENGERS, which is one of Marvel's Top Two selling titles right now, for "Archie money".
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: irishmoxie on February 17, 2018, 01:30:16 AM
They squandered the potential with this one. I wish they would've brought The Veronicas back (who aren't super kiddie pop anymore) but they could've done some other pop artists.
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on February 17, 2018, 04:21:47 PM
I think my basic problem with most of the new Archie Comics is that I really don't understand the mindset of the approach to the characters at all. I would make the single exception of JUGHEAD to that statement, because it seems like someone rightly acknowledged that you just CAN'T approach Jughead as a realistic character or try to interpret him seriously, because his basic defining characteristics absolutely defy that. So what you got instead was a re-interpretion using a different type of approach to humor (as opposed to the classic, slapstick/situation comedy approach).

When I look at the other new Archie Comics (not talking about the superheroes or Cosmo here), I just have... no response. No emotional reaction or connection with it in any way. To me they just seem like oddities that I don't know what to make of. I mean, they attempt to present some sort of functional continuity that can be followed in the usual way of sequential storytelling, but I constantly feel like I just walked into a party where I was told all my old friends would be there -- but looking all around me, all I see is a room full of strangers wearing these stickers that say "HELLO My Name Is ARCHIE" or "HELLO My Name Is Betty", "HELLO My Name Is Veronica", etc. and I'm just staring at them and thinking "Who the heck ARE these people, really?" It's this weird unsettling place where there are bits and parts where they seem to confirm who they claim to be, yet there are just as many strange, unfamiliar things about them making every moment I spend in this room an analytical guessing game. So there's no emotional reaction to what's going on here, it's just me watching stuff happen from the distant POV of a very detached observer.

And what pops into my head is the thought "Is this what non-comics reading people see when you show them a comic book?" Sure, they can read the text and understand it, and know that those lines on the page represent people going about, doing things and moving through space over time. But in the end, they hand it back to you with this blank expression of "Yeah, I understood it I suppose... but so what?"

The other thing that pops into my head is the impression that if I hadn't read comics in years and years, and didn't know stuff about how they're created, who the creators are, and how the industry works and so forth, but was familiar with the older icons of comic books, and you handed me a copy of ARCHIE, my first reaction would probably be something like "Marvel Comics publishes ARCHIE now??" That's what they look like upon seeing them for the first time, as if somehow Marvel (or DC) had licensed Archie -- how they'd approach it and reinterpret it from their perspective. And to be sure, a lot of Marvel and DC's iconic characters now strike me almost the same way, as far as how they're being interpreted currently, and I have the same strange feeling of detachment towards characters which once excited me. Hello, do I know you? But at least the Marvel and DC characters have evolved away from from their familiar selves over years and years of change, and not literally overnight.

In the end, the things I would be expecting and looking to get out of reading an Archie comic book are just nowhere to be found in the new ones.

Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: BettyReggie on February 18, 2018, 11:15:46 AM
I wish it didn't end. I'm going miss it.
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on February 19, 2018, 12:48:33 AM
Most of the New Riverdale artists aren't bad in the sense of where you can point to some specific thing like poor anatomy or bad composition. It's just, on average, that the artists they pick tend to be kind of bland and ho-hum, middle-of-the-road, plain-vanilla. They can draw, but there are a hundred other artists who can do so just as well or better. There's just nothing specific, nothing particularly interesting or appealing about them that stands out or is notable in any way. The New Riverdale comics aren't the 'action genre' type, so I don't expect the artwork to impress me in terms of being dynamic or powerful or especially dramatic, but I guess what it needs is to be more expressive in terms of the faces and body language, or the storytelling aspect (page layout and pacing) needs to be more interesting or more nuanced somehow.
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: Tuxedo Mark on March 17, 2018, 07:20:00 PM
Has the series been cancelled after #5? That's the last issue that I saw on Amazon, and it seems like the entire series was removed around a week or two ago.
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on March 18, 2018, 12:48:29 AM
Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on March 17, 2018, 07:20:00 PM
Has the series been cancelled after #5? That's the last issue that I saw on Amazon, and it seems like the entire series was removed around a week or two ago.

Issue #7 was the last to be solicited through Diamond Comics. Whether #6 or 7 will actually see print NOWseems iffy at best. Sounds like ACP may have run into some legal difficulties having to do with licensing rights to the musicians appearing in the series. That probably means no trade paperback collection, either. Or at least, no COMPLETE trade paperback collection.
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: Vegan Jughead on March 18, 2018, 01:08:26 PM
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on March 18, 2018, 12:48:29 AM
Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on March 17, 2018, 07:20:00 PM
Has the series been cancelled after #5? That's the last issue that I saw on Amazon, and it seems like the entire series was removed around a week or two ago.

Issue #7 was the last to be solicited through Diamond Comics. Whether #6 or 7 will actually see print NOWseems iffy at best. Sounds like ACP may have run into some legal difficulties having to do with licensing rights to the musicians appearing in the series. That probably means no trade paperback collection, either. Or at least, no COMPLETE trade paperback collection.


I hope that's not the case.  I can't imagine the disappointment of Alex Segura and Dan Parent if the Blondie issue doesn't happen.  They both LOVE Blondie and of course Dan has a variant cover on that issue. 
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on March 18, 2018, 01:47:17 PM
Quote from: Vegan Jughead on March 18, 2018, 01:08:26 PM
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on March 18, 2018, 12:48:29 AM
Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on March 17, 2018, 07:20:00 PM
Has the series been cancelled after #5? That's the last issue that I saw on Amazon, and it seems like the entire series was removed around a week or two ago.

Issue #7 was the last to be solicited through Diamond Comics. Whether #6 or 7 will actually see print NOWseems iffy at best. Sounds like ACP may have run into some legal difficulties having to do with licensing rights to the musicians appearing in the series. That probably means no trade paperback collection, either. Or at least, no COMPLETE trade paperback collection.


I hope that's not the case.  I can't imagine the disappointment of Alex Segura and Dan Parent if the Blondie issue doesn't happen.  They both LOVE Blondie and of course Dan has a variant cover on that issue.

I know! I ordered #6 specifically for Dan's variant cover. Still, I'm at a loss for any other explanation that would account for the sudden withdrawal of already-published issues of The Archies. It's like when you suddenly see some product removed from retail sale... nobody wants the loss of revenue, so you can only assume that there exists some greater danger to the company that produced the product if they continue to sell it.

I will allow that perhaps the legal kerfluffle pertains only to the digital licensing rights... that would allow for the existing material written and drawn for print publication to go ahead as planned. The lost revenue from digital sales might have so impacted the title's profitability as to account for its sudden discontinuation as of #7.

Now, what I am imagining here is that there is some dispute over exactly what intellectual property rights were being granted under the contract which the musicians (or their legal representatives) signed, granting rights to use their likenesses (which are their "intellectual property") to Archie Comic Publications.

In the day-to-day world of comic book publishing, most creators (like Alex Segura, comic book writer, or Joe Eisma, comic book artist) are creating intellectual property for the publisher under a "work for hire" contract. What that means is that they are in effect assigning all future intellectual property rights in the work they are creating to the publisher, and the publisher then becomes the creator of record for all purposes going forward. That means that Archie Comic Publications can continue to exploit the work created by Alex Segura or Joe Eisma for ACP under contract for any future profit they might derive from it, in reprints and whatever formats they choose to exploit.

In the wider publishing world, "work for hire" isn't a standard contract agreement. If Stephen King writes a novel for say, Random House, he does not sign away all future interest in his work to the publisher. By the same principle, if Capcom licenses the rights to ACP to publish a MEGA MAN comic book, they are only granting those rights to ACP in a limited fashion for a limited time, which may either expire or be revoked after "first use" or "first publication", or for a specific period of time stated in the contract. They are not granting the rights to ACP to use Mega Man in its comic books (or reprint those comic books later or in different formats) in perpetuity. The same goes for musicians who are granting ACP use of their likenesses for the purposes of creating comic books designed to generate profit for the publisher.

I would venture to guess that the legal dispute has something to do with how "first use" or "first publication" (unless otherwise defined as a specific time period in the legal contract binding the musicians) relates to digital comics. Unlike traditional publishing, in digital comics their are no "second printings" or "reprints", because the original "first publication" never exhausts itself. Unlike print publishing, there is no finite number of copies being initially printed, so that digital comic can in fact remain "on sale now" and be delivered on demand to any customers who choose to purchase it at any time after it first becomes available. Is a digital comic a "reprint" of the print publication? Not exactly, but then again, after a certain time has passed all original first printing copies of a comic book may become unavailable for purchase by any retailer choosing to stock the product -- this will never happen to a digital comic. Perhaps one of the musical groups took issue with this, arguing that they did not grant ACP the rights to use their likeness in digital comic books that could potentially continue to sell forever, or as long as any consumer interest remains.
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on March 18, 2018, 03:58:05 PM
One other possibility just occurred to me, which... if it turned out to be true, I'd find REALLY funny and ironic. What if one of the musical artists (The Monkees, Tegan & Sarah, Blondie, or whomever...) ONLY signed the contract with ACP to allow use of their likeness(es) under the mistaken impression that they'd be appearing in a comic book story with "The Archies"? Which is to say, what if they'd grown up with and been a fan of (the CLASSIC) Archie comic books, and were expecting to get "Archiefied" in a story with... THESE guys?

(https://cleorecs.com/store/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/0031-The-Archies.jpg)

And then were SO disappointed to discover what the finished product looked like, that they felt that they'd been deceived and tricked??
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: Vegan Jughead on March 18, 2018, 09:01:15 PM
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on March 18, 2018, 03:58:05 PM
One other possibility just occurred to me, which... if it turned out to be true, I'd find REALLY funny and ironic. What if one of the musical artists (The Monkees, Tegan & Sarah, Blondie, or whomever...) ONLY signed the contract with ACP to allow use of their likeness(es) under the mistaken impression that they'd be appearing in a comic book story with "The Archies"? Which is to say, what if they'd grown up with and been a fan of (the CLASSIC) Archie comic books, and were expecting to get "Archiefied" in a story with... THESE guys?

(https://cleorecs.com/store/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/0031-The-Archies.jpg)

And then were SO disappointed to discover what the finished product looked like, that they felt that they'd been deceived and tricked??


That would be funny but somehow I doubt that's the case.  Ha ha.
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: terrence12 on March 25, 2018, 09:02:59 PM
oy vey,If this keeps up archie comics will be out of business  :(


Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on February 17, 2018, 04:21:47 PMI think my basic problem with most of the new Archie Comics is that I really don't understand the mindset of the approach to the characters at all. I would make the single exception of JUGHEAD to that statement, because it seems like someone rightly acknowledged that you just CAN'T approach Jughead as a realistic character or try to interpret him seriously, because his basic defining characteristics absolutely defy that. So what you got instead was a re-interpretion using a different type of approach to humor (as opposed to the classic, slapstick/situation comedy approach).When I look at the other new Archie Comics (not talking about the superheroes or Cosmo here), I just have... no response. No emotional reaction or connection with it in any way. To me they just seem like oddities that I don't know what to make of. I mean, they attempt to present some sort of functional continuity that can be followed in the usual way of sequential storytelling, but I constantly feel like I just walked into a party where I was told all my old friends would be there -- but looking all around me, all I see is a room full of strangers wearing these stickers that say "HELLO My Name Is ARCHIE" or "HELLO My Name Is Betty", "HELLO My Name Is Veronica", etc. and I'm just staring at them and thinking "Who the heck ARE these people, really?" It's this weird unsettling place where there are bits and parts where they seem to confirm who they claim to be, yet there are just as many strange, unfamiliar things about them making every moment I spend in this room an analytical guessing game. So there's no emotional reaction to what's going on here, it's just me watching stuff happen from the distant POV of a very detached observer.And what pops into my head is the thought "Is this what non-comics reading people see when you show them a comic book?" Sure, they can read the text and understand it, and know that those lines on the page represent people going about, doing things and moving through space over time. But in the end, they hand it back to you with this blank expression of "Yeah, I understood it I suppose... but so what?"The other thing that pops into my head is the impression that if I hadn't read comics in years and years, and didn't know stuff about how they're created, who the creators are, and how the industry works and so forth, but was familiar with the older icons of comic books, and you handed me a copy of ARCHIE, my first reaction would probably be something like "Marvel Comics publishes ARCHIE now??" That's what they look like upon seeing them for the first time, as if somehow Marvel (or DC) had licensed Archie -- how they'd approach it and reinterpret it from their perspective. And to be sure, a lot of Marvel and DC's iconic characters now strike me almost the same way, as far as how they're being interpreted currently, and I have the same strange feeling of detachment towards characters which once excited me. Hello, do I know you? But at least the Marvel and DC characters have evolved away from from their familiar selves over years and years of change, and not literally overnight.In the end, the things I would be expecting and looking to get out of reading an Archie comic book are just nowhere to be found in the new ones.



Wow tough times and I agree if things get worse for Archie then they will have no choice but to be sold to Marvel or dc comics  and let them reprint the old stories instead.
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: Tuxedo Mark on March 29, 2018, 07:08:08 PM
The Archies is back up on Amazon with #6 available for pre-order.
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: ASS-P on March 30, 2018, 06:24:05 PM
...Let me get this straight - the standard paper version of THE ARCHIES was available do a while - through bricks and mortar shops and thru Amazon - And,  I assume,  other Internet dealers who sell paper stuff? - but was WITHDRAWN FROM SALE for a while :crazy2: ? But now is available again? Ay Yi yi :idiot2: :buck2: !
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: Vegan Jughead on March 30, 2018, 07:01:40 PM
Quote from: ASS-P on March 30, 2018, 06:24:05 PM
...Let me get this straight - the standard paper version of THE ARCHIES was available do a while - through bricks and mortar shops and thru Amazon - And,  I assume,  other Internet dealers who sell paper stuff? - but was WITHDRAWN FROM SALE for a while :crazy2: ? But now is available again? Ay Yi yi :idiot2: :buck2: !


I've only heard that on this message board.  I never found that to be the case anywhere else.  To make things more confusing, issue 7 is officially delayed by a couple of weeks until April 11th, but I got 2 copies of issue 7 with my subscription BEFORE the original publishing date of March 28th. I only have one subscription but Archie Comics has sent me 2 copies of the last few issues. 
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on March 31, 2018, 03:26:30 AM
Quote from: Vegan Jughead on March 30, 2018, 07:01:40 PM
Quote from: ASS-P on March 30, 2018, 06:24:05 PM
...Let me get this straight - the standard paper version of THE ARCHIES was available do a while - through bricks and mortar shops and thru Amazon - And,  I assume,  other Internet dealers who sell paper stuff? - but was WITHDRAWN FROM SALE for a while :crazy2: ? But now is available again? Ay Yi yi :idiot2: :buck2: !


I've only heard that on this message board.  I never found that to be the case anywhere else.  To make things more confusing, issue 7 is officially delayed by a couple of weeks until April 11th, but I got 2 copies of issue 7 with my subscription BEFORE the original publishing date of March 28th. I only have one subscription but Archie Comics has sent me 2 copies of the last few issues.

I think you must mean issue #6 - the Blondie issue, right?  So you have it? Still waiting on my copy of that issue with the Dan Parent variant cover ordered thru my LCS, but Diamond now lists the shipping date as April 11th. Shipping dates as originally solicited are often revised in later Diamond updates to retailers, a very common practice that affects nearly every publisher at one time or another. Diamond Comics issues shipping updates on a weekly basis.
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: Vegan Jughead on March 31, 2018, 07:29:16 AM
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on March 31, 2018, 03:26:30 AM
Quote from: Vegan Jughead on March 30, 2018, 07:01:40 PM
Quote from: ASS-P on March 30, 2018, 06:24:05 PM
...Let me get this straight - the standard paper version of THE ARCHIES was available do a while - through bricks and mortar shops and thru Amazon - And,  I assume,  other Internet dealers who sell paper stuff? - but was WITHDRAWN FROM SALE for a while :crazy2: ? But now is available again? Ay Yi yi :idiot2: :buck2: !


I've only heard that on this message board.  I never found that to be the case anywhere else.  To make things more confusing, issue 7 is officially delayed by a couple of weeks until April 11th, but I got 2 copies of issue 7 with my subscription BEFORE the original publishing date of March 28th. I only have one subscription but Archie Comics has sent me 2 copies of the last few issues.

I think you must mean issue #6 - the Blondie issue, right?  So you have it? Still waiting on my copy of that issue with the Dan Parent variant cover ordered thru my LCS, but Diamond now lists the shipping date as April 11th. Shipping dates as originally solicited are often revised in later Diamond updates to retailers, a very common practice that affects nearly every publisher at one time or another. Diamond Comics issues shipping updates on a weekly basis.


Yes, DCR, that's what I mean, the Blondie issue.  Sorry, I guess #7 is the next and final issue. 
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on March 31, 2018, 10:05:24 AM
Quote from: Vegan Jughead on March 31, 2018, 07:29:16 AM

Yes, DCR, that's what I mean, the Blondie issue.  Sorry, I guess #7 is the next and final issue.

You just gotta love it when as a subscriber you wind up getting an issue weeks earlier than retail consumers. Doesn't happen for me with my digest subs all that often, but it DOES happen occasionally.
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: Vegan Jughead on March 31, 2018, 11:30:49 AM
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on March 31, 2018, 10:05:24 AM
Quote from: Vegan Jughead on March 31, 2018, 07:29:16 AM

Yes, DCR, that's what I mean, the Blondie issue.  Sorry, I guess #7 is the next and final issue.

You just gotta love it when as a subscriber you wind up getting an issue weeks earlier than retail consumers. Doesn't happen for me with my digest subs all that often, but it DOES happen occasionally.


Yes, usually my subscription copies are almost EXACTLY 2 weeks late, except apparently when they announce the issue will be delayed 2 weeks, then you get it early!  Ha ha. 
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: AnoddaShoah4U on April 04, 2018, 04:52:15 PM
Quote from: Vegan Jughead on February 16, 2018, 12:31:14 PM
I can't say I'm surprised, although I've really enjoyed the book.  It's probably weak sales that's ending it (I haven't looked up the sales), but it also could be because after they got The Monkees and Blondie, they weren't able to get any more well known "guest" bands to appear in the book. 

I can't imagine what the future is for the RIVERDALE comic title because while I've actually been pleasantly surprised by the quality of the stories, Thomas Pitilli's art is horrible in that book in my opinion. 



Vegan Jughead? So he eats vegan burgers?
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: tvminded on April 09, 2018, 10:40:57 PM
What titles actually WILL still be running by the end of the year?  Unless my list is wrong, titles that have been cancelled in the last few years are: Jughead and Archie Comic Digest (as well as more digests I'm sure, I kind of lost track), both Sonic series, Betty & Veronica (laughing that they still had "published monthly" in the publishing info even when #3 came out over a year later), Josie & the Pussycats, Black Hood, Hangman, Shield, and Jughead, presumably replaced with Jughead the Hunger.  My predictions of next-to-go: one of the Betty & Veronica digests, Afterlife with Archie (since they haven't published an issue in almost 2 years, but there's still a monthly subscription available! (What a joke), and Betty & Veronica Vixens will probably be done by the end of the year.  I just can't get my head around B&V as bad-ass biker chicks...sorry.


Plus, I think Archie Comics is in real trouble financially, even more so since the fund-raising fiasco.  They simply can't afford to keep cranking out new titles with small sales and even though the TV series may be getting them some money, that won't last forever either - Riverdale is a teen show and what happens when they graduate and then go to college and then I guess Archie has to marry someone, huh? :)  We are looking at probably 6 seasons tops (anyone remember Dawson's Creek, Saved by the Bell?)


Except for Riverdale and Archie, I can't see any of the other titles lasting that long.  You just run out of story in a horror comic like Vampironica, Afterlife with Archie (obviously since it's been nearly 2 years), and Jughead the Hunger.  They seem to have put Sabrina on hold - and with the new Netflix show coming out, it makes sense, I suppose.   That series should have legs if they could ever get the issues out.  What more horror titles can they do?  Moose as a morose and soulful Frankenstein?  Chuck as a demon?  Josie and the Pussycats as a "Charmed"-like trio of singing witches who cross over with Sabrina?  Reggie as an immortal?  But Betty - Betty has to stay the hero, right?


So...coming out with Betty & Veronica at the Movies makes sense.  Going back to what has worked for the last 75+ years.  It doesn't have to go completely back to that, but look at the sales of "Your Pal Archie" and I think the company is seeing that having a little bit of both will work best.  The art is also, sadly, much to be desired in most of the titles. 


Unfortunately, the "relaunch" of Archie Comics, as a whole, has been a huge disappointment - I think to fans and definitely to the company.  There is no consistency of art and characters among titles, stories veer off and our characters are kind of different, but not enough to go "wow" - what a great, original idea!  Just kind of, "oh, ok, well, I guess it's better than not having any new Archie stories...".  The consistency of releasing of titles is the worst of any major comic brand (which never used to be the case that I can recall) and the policy of "don't confirm or deny" is wearing thin.  If you can't commit to an answer (even if it becomes wrong later), that's a sign of poor leadership - and fear. 


I came back to actively read and support Archie Comics to see what the hype was all about and other than the TV series, and a few small wins (Sabrina is OK, but not consistent and I have hopes for Vampironica - short-term at least), it's been like watching a friend who used to be really funny get up on stage and you want them to do really well and you cheer for them - and their set is different and you laugh loudly to support them - but your old friend unfortunately just isn't funny anymore...
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on April 10, 2018, 12:20:36 AM
Quote from: tvminded on April 09, 2018, 10:40:57 PM
What titles actually WILL still be running by the end of the year?  Unless my list is wrong, titles that have been cancelled in the last few years are: Jughead and Archie Comic Digest (as well as more digests I'm sure, I kind of lost track), both Sonic series, Betty & Veronica (laughing that they still had "published monthly" in the publishing info even when #3 came out over a year later), Josie & the Pussycats, Black Hood, Hangman, Shield, and Jughead, presumably replaced with Jughead the Hunger.  My predictions of next-to-go: one of the Betty & Veronica digests, Afterlife with Archie (since they haven't published an issue in almost 2 years, but there's still a monthly subscription available! (What a joke), and Betty & Veronica Vixens will probably be done by the end of the year.  I just can't get my head around B&V as bad-ass biker chicks...sorry.

You forgot Mega Man, Reggie and Me, Mighty Crusaders, Cosmo, and Archie's Funhouse Double Digest, also all cancelled within the last 2 years. Although arguably, either Archie's Funhouse or Jughead and Archie digest was immediately replaced by Archie and Me Digest. Still, you can't compare the digests to the floppy comics. Both of the now-cancelled digests ran for three years, from 2014-2017, for 28 and 27 issues, respectively. But it's been established practice that the digests need to be refreshed every few years by replacing old titles with new ones. The only floppy comic to run over 20 issues since Mega Man (55 issues, 2010-2016 -- a healthy run) is the new ARCHIE. The Sonic titles seem to be a special case -- although the sales weren't as good as they once had been, the decision seems to have been Sega's, not ACP's (and a new Sonic title has just begun from another publisher, IDW).

I wouldn't worry about either of the B&V digests being cancelled, either... when both Jughead and Archie, and Archie's Funhouse digests began, B&V Friends digest was only published 6 times a year. In 2017, it actually got an increase in frequency from 6 to 10 times per year. Also, beginning in 2018, Archie digest, World of Archie digest, and the two B&V digest became permanent Jumbo Comics digests, so I guess that proves that they're not only still selling, but that people wanted more pages in them -- and are willing to pay the higher cover price of $6.99 to get those extra stories.

I just read THE ARCHIES #6 and can see why it was cancelled. It's truly an awful book. Dreary and depressing, with bad artwork to boot (but a GREAT Dan Parent variant cover, which is the only reason I bought it). Apparently, we're supposed to be convinced that the following equation actually balances:

[THE ARCHIES] - [humor] + [angst] = [FUN!]

The old Archies stories were fun and funny. The new Archies stories are drab, awful, tedious, and boring. I immediately regretted succumbing to the curiosity of reading the story featuring a guest appearance by Deborah Harry and Blondie, since I'd already bought it and had it in my hand (I should have just bagged & boarded it, and left well enough alone). Ouch! Big mistake. I felt so BAD after reading the story that I immediately had to stare forlornly at Dan Parent's cover for 20 or 30 minutes, drifting off into a daydream of how much better the story could have been if he'd been involved in it. In fact, I wrote my own little story in my head where The Archies meet Blondie, just so I could have something to wash the bad taste of issue #6's actual story out of my mind, and was pretty happy with the story that I came up with. If I can write one in my head, it really can't be THAT hard.

It would take several paragraphs of text to detail the story here, but it took place in the 1980s, and involved the modern-day Archies traveling back in time due to the sudden appearance of Deputy Marshall Forsythe P. Jones of the Time Police, and his supervisor, "Timekeeper January M" (because that's really all Archie Andrews and friends needed to know), who send the Archies back in time to the 1980s on a mission of vital importance to the very fabric of the multiverse, where they not only meet Blondie, but fill in as backup musicians for Debbie Harry when the rest of the band mysteriously disappears. Of course, Deputy Marshall Jones knows all about the 1980s, because that's where he spends most of his time, although the modern-day Archies are a little freaked out that he and January appear to them to be cartoon characters. And let's just say that this particular mission of vital importance to the history of the timestream as the 29th Century Time Police know it (all in a day's work for a Timekeeper), is of even more vitally personal importance to January.
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: tvminded on April 10, 2018, 12:59:45 AM
According to the website, I'm on the fence on whether Cosmo was supposed to be limited or not.  On the issue 4 blurb for the pre-order, it calls it a 5 issue limited series, but the first issue listed as a new on-going series, so I'm thinking it was rethought after poor sales.  The B&V books maybe will still run concurrently, but I've seen a big decrease in the number of grocery stores and retail outlets carrying them like they used to, so I can see them limiting titles.


I didn't realize until I looked at the last page in the story that Crusaders had ended. Not surprising since the title never lasts long.  It's just never been popular.  They would have done better bringing back That Wilkins Boy.


Also - what happened to the tease of Little Sabrina and Little Josie at the end of Little Archie One-Shot?  That was last summer and they said "Coming Soon"?


I just can't see a vision in place for the "New Archie", sometimes because I just can't get past the artwork - and yes, the stories are not great...


Did anyone else think that the auction for the complete run of Archie comics full-page ad sometime last year might be the company selling off the vault copies to raise capital?
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on April 10, 2018, 01:15:08 AM
Quote from: tvminded on April 10, 2018, 12:59:45 AM
According to the website, I'm on the fence on whether Cosmo was supposed to be limited or not.  On the issue 4 blurb for the pre-order, it calls it a 5 issue limited series, but the first issue listed as a new on-going series, so I'm thinking it was rethought after poor sales.  The B&V books maybe will still run concurrently, but I've seen a big decrease in the number of grocery stores and retail outlets carrying them like they used to, so I can see them limiting titles.


I didn't realize until I looked at the last page in the story that Crusaders had ended. Not surprising since the title never lasts long.  It's just never been popular.  They would have done better bringing back That Wilkins Boy.


Also - what happened to the tease of Little Sabrina and Little Josie at the end of Little Archie One-Shot?  That was last summer and they said "Coming Soon"?


I just can't see a vision in place for the "New Archie", sometimes because I just can't get past the artwork - and yes, the stories are not great...


Did anyone else think that the auction for the complete run of Archie comics full-page ad sometime last year might be the company selling off the vault copies to raise capital?

Nope. Not them. They haven't scanned all those stories digitally yet, and they can't do that until they complete that task, unless they really ARE planning to sell off ALL the assets and bail out of the publishing business even sooner than many people think -- which means they would be giving up on digital as well.

Yes. "rethought due to poor sales" is just a more circumspect way of saying CANCELLED, which was the case for Reggie and Me, Cosmo, and Mighty Crusaders, all of which had first issue solicitations announcing them as "ongoing series".  And when a proposed comic is "cancelled" before it is ever even published, after being "rethought due to poor PRE-orders from retailers", you get things like the REGGIE 80-Page Giant #1, JOSIE 80-Page Giant #1, and LITTLE JOSIE #1 and LITTLE SABRINA #1. (There was also a non-"Little" SABRINA #1 one-shot which was solicited, and then cancelled.)
Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: tvminded on April 10, 2018, 09:58:41 PM
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on April 10, 2018, 01:15:08 AM
Quote from: tvminded on April 10, 2018, 12:59:45 AM
According to the website, I'm on the fence on whether Cosmo was supposed to be limited or not.  On the issue 4 blurb for the pre-order, it calls it a 5 issue limited series, but the first issue listed as a new on-going series, so I'm thinking it was rethought after poor sales.  The B&V books maybe will still run concurrently, but I've seen a big decrease in the number of grocery stores and retail outlets carrying them like they used to, so I can see them limiting titles.


I didn't realize until I looked at the last page in the story that Crusaders had ended. Not surprising since the title never lasts long.  It's just never been popular.  They would have done better bringing back That Wilkins Boy.


Also - what happened to the tease of Little Sabrina and Little Josie at the end of Little Archie One-Shot?  That was last summer and they said "Coming Soon"?


I just can't see a vision in place for the "New Archie", sometimes because I just can't get past the artwork - and yes, the stories are not great...


Did anyone else think that the auction for the complete run of Archie comics full-page ad sometime last year might be the company selling off the vault copies to raise capital?

Nope. Not them. They haven't scanned all those stories digitally yet, and they can't do that until they complete that task, unless they really ARE planning to sell off ALL the assets and bail out of the publishing business even sooner than many people think -- which means they would be giving up on digital as well.



Most companies keep multiple vault copies, so I thought maybe they were thinning down by one to keep things going until they hit a "sweet spot." 



Title: Re: "The Archies" will end with issue #7
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on April 11, 2018, 07:28:45 AM
Quote from: tvminded on April 10, 2018, 09:58:41 PM
Most companies keep multiple vault copies, so I thought maybe they were thinning down by one to keep things going until they hit a "sweet spot." 

If ACP ever vaulted multiple copies of those Golden Age MLJ comics, those must have been "thinned" ages ago. I'm not even entirely convinced that they have a single copy of every comic book they ever published. If they did, those comics would probably be bound in volumes as hardcovers, originally intended for editorial reference only, which might make them unsuitable for scanning (unless the hardcovers were taken apart beforehand). At any rate, I don't think ACP has the time and personnel to get all that scanning done (not to mention post-scanning color removal and clean-up of the black-and-white line artwork). Up to this point, I think they've only done it bit by bit, as different projects demand it. I've seen reprints of some stories where no post-scanning cleanup of the artwork was done at all.

The Golden Age MLJ comics (and some from the 1950s and early 1960s) are the only ones that could bring in the serious money, anyway. Even mint copies of the bulk of what they've published are barely worth breaking up a complete collection for what they'd bring in. They'd be better off selling the collection complete to a large retailer.