Archie Comics Fan Forum

Everything Archie => All About Archie => Topic started by: Vegan Jughead on July 23, 2017, 11:26:37 AM

Title: Your Pal Archie
Post by: Vegan Jughead on July 23, 2017, 11:26:37 AM
Got issue one in the mail yesterday as part of my subscription.


Pretty fun!  Great art and I like that there's several shorter stories instead of one long one.  B&V are beautiful drawn by Dan of course!!!
Title: Re: Your Pal Archie
Post by: BettyReggie on July 23, 2017, 01:41:53 PM
My copies are coming from Midtown Comics.
Title: Re: Your Pal Archie
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on July 23, 2017, 01:53:10 PM
Quote from: Vegan Jughead on July 23, 2017, 11:26:37 AM
Got issue one in the mail yesterday as part of my subscription.


Pretty fun!  Great art and I like that there's several shorter stories instead of one long one.  B&V are beautiful drawn by Dan of course!!!

I thought I read an interview with Dan that said each issue would have two stories -- one complete, and another which continues into the next issue.
Title: Re: Your Pal Archie
Post by: chrisophical on July 23, 2017, 02:11:13 PM
I got mine in the mail a few days ago and really enjoyed it! I thought it was quite funny, and having it continue into the next issue makes it more interesting.

I also really want to get my hands on the 5 variant covers when they come out!
Title: Re: Your Pal Archie
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on July 23, 2017, 03:12:09 PM
I like the idea of 2 stories in each issue, and the idea that one is complete, but the other is continued in the next issue. That allows for variety of stories (if you don't like one of them that much, you may like the other one better), plus stories of different lengths. And if it's done right, the "continued" story can be written in such a way that it's sort-of complete in itself, while still leading into a second part - basically complications or consequences arising from the events of the first part. That gives it a connection and encourages people to pick up the following issue to see what's going to happen next.
Title: Re: Your Pal Archie
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on July 25, 2017, 06:17:41 PM
Your Pal Archie #1 was good. It contains 3 stories, the first of which (12 pages) is complete in this issue. The second story (8 pages) is Part 1 of a longer story, so it ends on a "To Be Continued!" teaser (not going to give away any spoilers here). The third story is a classic B&V reprint (5 pages), although the story selected is a relatively recent one, also by Dan Parent, so it doesn't look so obvious that it's a reprint (although it does actually say it's a classic reprint, so they're not trying to fool anyone here). It seemed vaguely familar to me, without checking, so I'm going to say it probably appeared in one of the two B&V digest titles within the past couple of years. It felt like a good selection to add some extra pages.

The cosmetic makeover of the characters was a little off-putting to me when first previewed, but in actual practice it doesn't make the stories that different. It felt like Ty and Dan were working from a presumption of readers having no real prior familiarity with the classic stories, so it's a bit of a clean break and a fresh start from that aspect. Notably absent from either of the new stories were any of those secondary supporting characters (virtually all of whom were created in the past decade) that Dan frequently likes working into his digest stories, since most new readers would not be familiar with them. All things considered, I find this to be a more-than-acceptable replacement floppy title for the 1st series ARCHIE, which ceased publication with issue #666 just about 2 years ago now, in a way that the New Riverdale ARCHIE will never be a replacement for me personally. I can accept it as an "alternate Archieverse" title for a different audience than me, but that's all. To me it will never be the "main" Archie.

I've mentioned this before, but all I really want is more new pages of classic Archie stories. I don't care what format they're in. It doesn't have to be the floppy comic format. I can accept the cosmetic facelift because that's what they think they need to do in order to sell this comic in the direct market. I'd probably have been happier to see them making a real effort to attract new readers to the digest titles by adding more pages of new stories (10-20 pages in every title), because that's where the real market for Archie seems to exist to me, outside the comic shops. If it were up to me I'd be making real efforts to reconnect the Archie characters with their main demographic, school-age kids, by pursuing formats that would get NEW stories into schools and libraries, where there already exists a "captive audience" of readers, and revitalizing the digests to make them more attractive to more readers. I do question what they think has changed in 2 years of absence of classic Archie stories in the floppy format that is suddenly going to result in a new influx of readers from the direct market (because outside of digital, that's really the only sales outlet here, comic book stores). If I had to hazard a guess I'd say they think the mere existence of Riverdale as a television show has raised awareness of the characters across the board to the point where a new classic floppy might be viable -- but I don't know... maybe I'm wrong, but it seems the mainstream comic shop consumers have always marginalized ACP's comic books and their characters, and never really embraced them like Marvel and DC's (or even Image or Dark Horse's) characters. Maybe relaunching with a new #1 will help, maybe not. I'd rather be wrong on this one.
Title: Re: Your Pal Archie
Post by: ASS-P on September 29, 2017, 12:53:42 PM
...SPOILER:
s
p
a
c
e


...I had a real-world " Oh, come on! " problem (Possible acronym: OCO?) with the continued story in YPA#1...........Sixteen-year-olds are not allowed to play the lottery! Period. Therefore, the way the story will work out is extremely telegraphed - Except that you'll wonder why the lottery people let Archie temporarily have the money, then, as the " Coming Up " page said they would. Okay, MAYBE they' ll work it out differemtly (uh huh) :o .. .
  As it happens, IIRC I obtained YPA about the same time that there  was a story about just this...A man had won the lottery but the lottery was denying him it az the ticket had been physically bought by his teenage son when he sent the son to the store to buy him some other stuff and a ticket (Obviously, the clerk slipped :( .)...
Title: Re: Your Pal Archie
Post by: ASS-P on September 29, 2017, 12:57:17 PM
Quote from: ASS-P on September 29, 2017, 12:53:42 PM
...SPOILER:
s
p
a
c
e


...I had a real-world " Oh, come on! " problem (Possible acronym: OCO?) with the continued story in YPA#1...........Sixteen-year-olds are not allowed to play the lottery! Period. Therefore, the way the story will work out is extremely telegraphed - Except that you'll wonder why the lottery people let Archie temporarily have the money, then, as the " Coming Up " page said they would. Okay, MAYBE they' ll work it out differemtly (uh huh) :o .. .
  As it happens, IIRC I obtained YPA about?? the same time that there was a story in the news about just this...A man had won the lottery but the lottery was denying him it as the ticket had been physically bought by his teenage son when he sent the son to the store to buy him some other stuff and a ticket (Obviously, the clerk slipped :( .)...
Title: Re: Your Pal Archie
Post by: Tuxedo Mark on September 30, 2017, 06:46:39 PM
Quote from: ASS-P on September 29, 2017, 12:53:42 PM
Sixteen-year-olds are not allowed to play the lottery!

How do you know Archie's not 18 in this story?
Title: Re: Your Pal Archie
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on October 01, 2017, 12:05:39 AM
Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on September 30, 2017, 06:46:39 PM
Quote from: ASS-P on September 29, 2017, 12:53:42 PM
Sixteen-year-olds are not allowed to play the lottery!

How do you know Archie's not 18 in this story?

Because he's still in high school? Nothing has changed in that respect. I guess the Archieverse just has different laws regarding playing the lottery.
Title: Re: Your Pal Archie
Post by: rusty on October 01, 2017, 01:52:37 PM
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on October 01, 2017, 12:05:39 AM
Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on September 30, 2017, 06:46:39 PM
How do you know Archie's not 18 in this story?

Because he's still in high school? Nothing has changed in that respect. I guess the Archieverse just has different laws regarding playing the lottery.


There are plenty of high school students who are 18.  I turned 18 in January of my senior year, but I've had students who turned 18 before their senior year even started.


I haven't read the story in question and he probably isn't supposed  to be 18, but not just because he is still in high school.

Title: Re: Your Pal Archie
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on October 01, 2017, 03:15:11 PM
Quote from: rusty on October 01, 2017, 01:52:37 PM
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on October 01, 2017, 12:05:39 AM
Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on September 30, 2017, 06:46:39 PM
How do you know Archie's not 18 in this story?

Because he's still in high school? Nothing has changed in that respect. I guess the Archieverse just has different laws regarding playing the lottery.


There are plenty of high school students who are 18.  I turned 18 in January of my senior year, but I've had students who turned 18 before their senior year even started.


I haven't read the story in question and he probably isn't supposed  to be 18, but not just because he is still in high school.

It rarely seems to be mentioned in most stories, but the few times I can recall seeing it, Archie (and his friends) are mentioned as being 16.

But then, inconsistency is sort of the hallmark of Archie Comics stories, as in a story from earlier this year in one of the digests where Jellybean looks (and talks and acts) like she's 5 or 6 years old, as opposed to the baby or toddler she's usually portrayed as. This particular story had Archie and Jughead at a summer camp as counselors, and Jellybean as one of the campers, and she gets in trouble by running a money-making scam (selling the other campers snack foods on the sly at high markup cost) which she learned by imitating Jughead.
Title: Re: Your Pal Archie
Post by: ASS-P on October 02, 2017, 12:50:21 PM
...ACP's " guide ", back at their Web site, said that Archie was 17/18, and a junior in HS??, as were all. He may have been 15/16 before?? (I do believe B&V went, likewise, in the official guide from being 15 (16) to 16 (17) - presumably make them closer to
" fully legal " - and " Sweet Sixteen " :smitten: .)
  This was the pre-2015 Archie, and furthermore, not the itself-seperate I suppose YPA version, I guess..." A boo-boo on the writer's part", is about the only real explanation! :idiot2:
Title: Re: Your Pal Archie
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on October 02, 2017, 05:02:52 PM
Quote from: ASS-P on October 02, 2017, 12:50:21 PM
...ACP's " guide ", back at their Web site, said that Archie was 17/18, and a junior in HS??, as were all. He may have been 15/16 before?? (I do believe B&V went, likewise, in the official guide from being 15 (16) to 16 (17) - presumably make them closer to
" fully legal " - and " Sweet Sixteen " :smitten: .)
  This was the pre-2015 Archie, and furthermore, not the itself-seperate I suppose YPA version, I guess..." A boo-boo on the writer's part", is about the only real explanation! :idiot2:

Well, I'm sure if they'd been thinking far enough ahead they would have made them all 18 to address the Riverdale gang's burning desire to purchase lottery tickets in the prescribed "fully legal" fashion. I mean clearly they are of legal age to obtain their drivers' licenses, but beyond that and a need to support the state-run gambling franchise, I can't imagine what they'd be needing to be old enough to do "fully legally". I am not a lawyer, but perhaps someone better versed in the law can explain to me the exact distinction between the "fully" type of legality and the other kind.
Title: Re: Your Pal Archie
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on October 06, 2017, 06:57:49 AM
YOUR PAL ARCHIE #3 is out next week (along with the reprint ARCHIE'S HALLOWEEN SPECIAL)!

And for Halloween ComicFest coming up the week of Halloween, another ARCHIE'S MADHOUSE minicomic!  8)
Title: Re: Your Pal Archie
Post by: ASS-P on October 08, 2017, 01:34:45 AM
...Actually, DCR, I believe I was talking about ACP's decision to make B&V 16 in the official guide/statistics on the website!
  I tbought that what I wrote made that entirely clear that that was what I was writing about! Perhaps I failed to do so...
Title: Re: Your Pal Archie
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on October 08, 2017, 05:54:35 AM
Quote from: ASS-P on October 08, 2017, 01:34:45 AM
...Actually, DCR, I believe I was talking about ACP's decision to make B&V 16 in the official guide/statistics on the website!
  I tbought that what I wrote made that entirely clear that that was what I was writing about! Perhaps I failed to do so...

I think you can always find the odd reference here or there in one story or another where they might be referred to as older, but I've always taken it as given that they're all 16 (as a median age, with all the gang's ages being less than a year's difference) and Juniors in high school.

Most of the original source material of the characters seems to have been drawn from Bob Montana's own memories of his years at Haverhill High School, particularly the last year he attended, which was Junior year. After that his family moved to Manchester, NH and he finished his high school education as a Senior at Manchester High, but the characters in ARCHIE all seem to be drawn from his memories of people he knew while at Haverhill High.
Title: Re: Your Pal Archie
Post by: DeCarlo Rules on October 10, 2017, 06:32:18 PM
I read issue #3 (but I'm not going to talk about the stories and give any spoilers). It was good -- better even than the first two issues (which I liked). I could get used to this as an ongoing series, so it's kind of a drag that there are only going to be 2 more issues. Not that I really had any expectations of it bucking the current trend at ACP and being some kind of breakout title. Ah well. I guess 5 issues is better than none, and more than I could even really expect.

So I've been buying these variant cover versions of the regular issues, with part of a long connecting scene with artwork by Les McClane. I'm really only buying them (in addition to the regular, Dan Parent cover) to support the book, so the first couple I just bagged & boarded and filed away without even looking at them. But today I just happened to really be looking at #3, and there are quite a few characters in there, with a little story going on in the background if you look hard.

#1 - Sheila Wu and ? (could be Shrill, but it doesn't really look like her) are reading a fashion magazine with a cover story about Katy Keene, while Dilton holds an old issue of PEP (with The Shield on the cover) open, showing it to Midge and Moose. Behind them, Betty holds on to Archie's arm as they stroll through the parking lot (since when does Pop's Chok'lit Shoppe have a parking lot?) towards the door of Pop's. Behind them, Cricket O'Dell spots a piece of folding money on the ground, and behind her sitting on a wall, Salem is being doused by a little storm cloud (because he's sitting next to Jinx Malloy). Behind the wall, zombie Jughead and zombie Ethel are emerging from the trees behind January McAndrews, while behind them, Sabrina hovers on her broomstick, waving at Harvey Kinkle from outside his second-floor window. Behind Sabrina, Evilheart is flying towards a big tree in which Captain Hero is perched on a large branch. The tree is located in front of a house where we can see the tiny figures of Fred & Mary Andrews and Alice & Hal Cooper.

#2 - Betty and a smiling Archie have just entered through the door of Pop's and Betty is frowning when she sees Veronica waving at them (sharing a booth with Reggie, who's also frowning). At the booth behind them (to the left on the cover) sit RHS faculty Coach Clayton, Ms. Grundy, Prof. Flutesnoot and Mr. Weatherbee. Behind Betty & Archie, Pop is at the counter serving up a pile of hamburgers on a platter to Jughead, standing at the counter. Jughead has his back to Linda Moore and Wilbur Wilkin, sitting on counter stools, and Wilbur is looking off-cover to the right, sipping on a straw in a big milkshake, while Linda stares up at him with a forelorn look on her face. Behind them, outside Pop's back window, Sabrina carries Harvey off on her broomstick as below them, zombie Jughead and zombie Ethel and zombie Grundy advance behind zombie Weatherbee toward January McAndrews and Deputy Marshall Forsythe P. Jones (he's in uniform) of the Time Police. Fortunately, Pureheart the Powerful, patrolling overhead, has spotted the situation.

#3 - Zombies Weatherbee and Grundy are attacking Harvey Kinkle, as he dangles from Sabrina's broomstick by one hand, and the zombies attempt to grab his feet. Pureheart is keeping zombies Jughead & Ethel at bay while Time Police Jughead and January escape. Zombie Moose and zombie Midge are arriving to assist the other zombies, and Evilheart & Captain Hero are zooming down from the left to help Pureheart in battling them, while Superteen is about to land from above right behind Pureheart. There is a large TV monitor in front of the window (showing Josie and the Pussycats playing) and beneath the monitor outside the window we can see Chester and Mad Doctor Doom lurking behind some trees. Over at the left side of the cover we can see Laurie Lake sitting at the counter, sipping on a straw sharing that same milkshake that Wilbur was drinking on #2's cover. She has her back to Alec and is ignoring him, as he slouches on his counter stool, frowning. The stool to the right of Alec is unoccupied, but the next one is occupied by Trula Twyst (wearing a light blue U.G.A.J. t-shirt) as she eyes Jughead who's just strolled past her carrying his huge platter of hamburgers. Watch out, Juggie! You're heading into the middle of a food fight! Ginger Snapp is sitting at the counter in a yellow t-shirt, about to throw a big wad of what looks like (maybe) pizza dough? (There's another, much larger wad of the same stuff sailing over her head.) Sitting at booths in front of all this, Cheryl and Jason Blossom share a booth with Valerie Smith's brother Trev and Cheryl is handing a smirking Reggie a strawberry milkshake, as Reggie looks back over his shoulder to the right, at the booth occupied by Archie, who stares blissfully into Veronica's eyes as Betty sits opposite with arms folded and a look of extreme irritation on her face.