I read the 7 free comic book day that I got from Midtown Comics in the mail today. I'll hang them in my comic frames tomorrow.

I finally got from the library Archie Vol. 1 The New Riverdale.

I read these for 12 minutes each
Betty & Veronica Double Digest #1
Betty & Veronica Annual Digest Magazine #1 & #2

💞 💘 💓 💕 I read Archie #8 which is my 10th Archie issue of 24 Archie issue subscription.

Thursday 05/19- ARCHIE BY BOB MONTANA: THE COMPLETE NEWSPAPER COMICS 1963-1965 (started)
Friday 05/20- WORLD OF ARCHIE SUMMER ANNUAL #59
Saturday 05/21 -  ARCHIE BY BOB MONTANA: THE COMPLETE NEWSPAPER COMICS 1963-1965 (finished)

I read Saga #22 & #23 & #24 & #25 & #26 & #34

STAR TREK: STARFLEET ACADEMY #1-5 - This is co-written by Mike Johnson, the regular writer on IDW's ongoing STAR TREK comic book series. I'm not really sure what I was expecting, probably that I'd like it, but I don't really think I expected to like it as much as I did. The story is kind of a spinoff concept for ST, and self-contained so that a reader new to the Trek universe doesn't need much background info or previous familiarity with Star Trek going into it (which is good). It's also more of an all-ages comic. Or perhaps I should say it almost seems like this could have been an animated series on Cartoon Network (it's not, but maybe it should be). If it were a novel, then it would be a Young Adult ST novel. In a way it almost feels like a modernized take on such old sci-fi television staples from the 1950s like Space Patrol or Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, although this never really occurred to me until I'd finished reading it.

The story starts with a mystery uncovered three years ago (2258) by Cadet Nyoka Uhura while she was still attending Starfleet Academy along with James Kirk, Leonard McCoy, and Spock (who is an Academy grad student-teacher at the time), as seen briefly in the early part of J.J. Abrams STAR TREK reboot film, and then flashes forward to a new group of Academy students in 2261. Most of the story focuses on them as a group representing Starfleet in a competition among students from different academies from different planets that is being held in honor of Starfleet Academy's Centennial Celebration. The mystery that Uhura discovered 3 years earlier will eventually involve the 5 students representing Starfleet Academy in a big way. The flashbacks to 2258 with Uhura and her contemporaries come up in every issue, so there are two parallel stories running, but you have to wait until the final issue to see how the whole thing connects (in retrospect the connection seems a little obvious, although I never really saw where it was going while I was reading it).

Derek Charm does a great job of drawing attractive people (and aliens), and he doesn't overwork the figures and faces with excessive lines and detail. The whole effect is pretty clean and streamlined; I have to admire an artist who has a philosophy of economy of line, but has put a lot of thought into the work to make sure every line is important and conveys all the information needed while looking good at the same time. Derek has a real facility for tweaking nuanced expression out of his characters' faces with a minimal number of lines, too. Seeing how his art works gives me a good feeling as far as him taking over JUGHEAD. The only thing I can't tell from his work here (because there are no real opportunities in this script to showcase any comedy scenes) is whether he'll be able to exaggerate his characters' facial expressions and body language enough to get the most out of the funny parts of JUGHEAD.

Josie and the Pussycats Manga digital exclusive

I read Jughead #6-Cliff Chaing variant. I'm going hang my 12 favorite Jughead covers & I'll take a picture & put it on Twitter page soon.

I read for 15 minutes each
Archie 1000 Page Comics Digest
Archie 1000 Page 75th Anniversary Bash
The Best Of Archie Comics 75 Years 75 Stories

Reading the STARFLEET ACADEMY miniseries a few days ago got me motivated to catch up on my IDW Star Trek comics, which I'd let pile up for over a year. So yesterday and today I made a concerted effort to catch up, and read a veritable boatload of Trek comics:


STAR TREK: NEW VISIONS #3-11 - A bookshelf format series of 48-page standalone episodes; fumetti done in 'photomontage' style, by manipulating hi-def screen grabs of the actors and props from The Original Series, mixed with Photoshop-created imagery, by John Byrne. As close as possible to watching new episodes of the classic Trek.

STAR TREK: MIRROR IMAGES TPB (= #1-5) - A miniseries based on the original series "Mirror, Mirror" episode that shows how that universe's Kirk became Captain of the ISS Enterprise.

STAR TREK (2011 ongoing) #35-54 - This is the series based on the J.J. Abrams rebooted Trek universe.

STAR TREK: ALIENS SPOTLIGHT TPB VOL. 1 - Six standalone stories focusing on the Star Trek alien races: Gorn, Orions, Vulcans, Borg, Andorians, and Romulans.

I'm reading The Blue Baron from Sitcomics.

I read
Jughead #211- which is all time favorite Jughead issue & The last Archie #666 issue with Jughead on the cover. I changed all my comic frames 12 issues of Jughead. 6 issues are the classic Jughead & 6 are from the reboot. I'll take a picture & put it on my Twitter page. I can't wait for all the Derek Charm covers .

I read AfterLife With Archie #8. I forgot Archie asked Betty to marry him in that issue. I'm getting Afterlife With Archie #9 from tfaw. The one with Reggie on the cover.

I finished the Blue Baron, liked it a lot. Now I'm brushing up on Afterlife 1-8 so I'll know what's going on when I read 9 tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to it, every reread I do of this series makes me like it less and the next issue sounds like it could misstep badly. I hope the character who does the "unexpected act of kindness" that makes Reggie confess is one of two characters even though it's not likely.