Quote from: VintageJon on March 10, 2017, 02:12:41 PM
I am a little confused by something.... Are there no more new comics being created with the traditional Archie art and characters?   I have read through the posts and this is the impression I'm under.  If that is the case, when was the last traditional, new story printed?

There are still new 5 page stories in every new digest issue, all of them written and drawn by Dan Parent (along with the covers). Since there are 4 new digest issues that come out every month, that means 48 new 5-page stories per year (unless they decide to cut back), or 240 pages of new Archie/Betty/Veronica/Jughead stories per year. They are always the first story in every digest issue.

There are no remaining standard format comic book stories in the traditional Archie style. The last new one was released last Fall -- the ARCHIE MEETS RAMONES one-shot comic book drawn by Gisele Lagace. Prior to that, the last issue of a regular-format ACP ongoing comic series in the traditional Archie style was BETTY AND VERONICA #278 (released on October 21st, 2015). The covers of that issue (and there are 6 different variant covers) say that it's issue #625 (that was arrived at by adding the cumulative numbering of ARCHIE'S GIRLS BETTY AND VERONICA, which ran 347 issues from 1950-1987, to the second series which began with a new #1 in June 1987). Prior to that, ARCHIE had ended its long run which began in 1943 with the July 2015 issue, #666 (which also had 6 different covers).

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on March 10, 2017, 02:23:46 PM

Quote from: VintageJon on March 10, 2017, 02:12:41 PM
I am a little confused by something.... Are there no more new comics being created with the traditional Archie art and characters?   I have read through the posts and this is the impression I'm under.  If that is the case, when was the last traditional, new story printed?

There are still new 5 page stories in every new digest issue, all of them written and drawn by Dan Parent (along with the covers). Since there are 4 new digest issues that come out every month, that means 48 new 5-page stories per year (unless they decide to cut back), or 240 pages of new Archie/Betty/Veronica/Jughead stories per year. The are all the first story in every digest issue.

There are no remaining standard format comic book stories in the traditional Archie style. The last new one was released last Fall -- the ARCHIE MEETS RAMONES one-shot comic book drawn by Gisele Lagace.

Thank you for clearing that up for me!  I seem to recall that even years ago the story at the front would be a little more contemporary in tone and content.  I guess that was to balance out the 1950's/60's stories inside.

Quote from: Fernando Ruiz on March 08, 2017, 08:45:29 PM
The numbers for February's direct sales figures are out. Here's how Archie is doing:


Archie #17 = 11K


This number held from the preceding issue but down from the 13K the title had been at a couple of months back. I've mentioned before that January is a notoriously bad month for publishing in general. I'd wondered if the dip in this title's sales was due to the usual January publishing doldrums or part of an overall gradual decline. I'm still not convinced one way or the other. Has "Reboot Fatigue" set in? How does this title refresh itself and attract new readers?


Jughead #13 = 6K


This number is also being held from the preceding issue. This book HAS to be in trouble. The pre-reboot Jughead sold about 1.5 K when it was cancelled. Keep in mind the current creative team is paid significantly more than the pre-reboot crew. This book is also currently bolstered by THREE variant covers (Another expense!) a month! Taking those factors into consideration, this book is probably drifting very close to where its predecessor was in terms of profitability. The preceding Jughead title was published by the previous regime of Archie Comics out of pride and stubbornness. They believed Archie Comics should ALWAYS publish a Jughead title. They also published the thirty-two page books even at a loss because they provided fresh material that would later be funneled into the far, far more profitable digests. From their perspective, the digests paid for the thirty-two's.


Josie #4 = 6.5 K


This one suffered a heavy drop of about 2K from the preceding issue. Ouch! Bad, bad news for a title in its fourth issue. I expect this one to be retroactively declared a "mini-series" soon... or go on "hiatus."


These were the only Archie titles I could find on February's sales charts. Wow!

Wow, the Pussycats can't catch a break.  Pretty depressing considering this version is closer to the real Pussycats than Josie and the Affirmative Action Hires form Riverdale.