Dan Parent! Bill Gollher! 


It says it's an ongoing.  Let's support this thing so it doesn't get Your Pal Archied. 


This ROCKS!!!


https://www.cbr.com/betty-veronica-friends-forever-classic-archie-returns/

Quote from: Vegan Jughead on February 08, 2018, 06:32:29 PM
This ROCKS!!!

Indeed. I'm so down for this!

Y'know, I was just going through my digest collection the other day, and I noticed that (completely unannounced anywhere) B&V FRIENDS digest had gone from being published six times a year, to ten times a year -- and this happened a year and a half ago! I can't help but think that the lack of any new classic B&V title in that same year and half was an example of "absence makes the heart grow fonder", and led to increased demand on the part of readers for more classic B&V stories, leading to B&V FRIENDS' increase in publishing frequency. And the recent phenomenon where all the ongoing digest titles (except the brand-new ARCHIE AND ME) now seem to be regularly publishing all of their issues in the Jumbo Comics format seems to bear that out as well.

I don't want to nix it, or throw cold water on anyone, but you know that ACP always seems to announce any new title as "ongoing"... but very few of them have turned out to be. Mostly they last just long enough to generate a trade paperback collection (5 issues), like the previously announced COSMO "ongoing" -- now downgraded to a 5-issue miniseries. That happened before with REGGIE & ME as well, and somehow it doesn't look like MIGHTY CRUSADERS and VIXENS are going to be continuing past their initial story arcs, either. So here's hoping that BETTY AND VERONICA FRIENDS FOREVER breaks the curse. Maybe the demand for more classic stories in the digest format is an indicator of the turning tide -- let's hope so.

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on February 09, 2018, 12:15:57 AM
somehow it doesn't look like MIGHTY CRUSADERS and VIXENS are going to be continuing past their initial story arcs, either.

That's a bit of a shame, because I enjoy Vixens, but, yeah, the premise is pretty limiting. Maybe they could retool it into a standard New Riverdale B&V title after the arc is done and run it alongside B&V: FF.

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on February 09, 2018, 12:15:57 AM
I don't want to nix it, or throw cold water on anyone, but you know that ACP always seems to announce any new title as "ongoing"... but very few of them have turned out to be. Mostly they last just long enough to generate a trade paperback collection (5 issues), like the previously announced COSMO "ongoing" -- now downgraded to a 5-issue miniseries. That happened before with REGGIE & ME as well, and somehow it doesn't look like MIGHTY CRUSADERS and VIXENS are going to be continuing past their initial story arcs, either. So here's hoping that BETTY AND VERONICA FRIENDS FOREVER breaks the curse. Maybe the demand for more classic stories in the digest format is an indicator of the turning tide -- let's hope so.

Dan Parent already said on Facebook that it would be "at least 5", so you aren't really throwing cold water.  It's just reality.  If it sells they'll keep it.  If it doesn't they won't.  At least they're trying it!  I thought Your Pal Archie was awesome, but it didn't sell.  Maybe B&V can do better! 

Well,I heard from the news that classic betty and veronica are back with new stories in a new ongoing title called Betty & Veronica Friends Forever which is great except that it has the pre-your pal archie Dan parent designs which I loathe before the reboot came .But I am not sure how long the series will be ongoing because  it would last for few issues before the series is quietly cancelled like the other new series in Archie comics,Well Let's hope this series is a success and will be considered ongoing otherwise things will get really worse if this series sales is low.

Quote from: Vegan Jughead on February 09, 2018, 12:30:24 PM

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on February 09, 2018, 12:15:57 AM
I don't want to nix it, or throw cold water on anyone, but you know that ACP always seems to announce any new title as "ongoing"... but very few of them have turned out to be. Mostly they last just long enough to generate a trade paperback collection (5 issues), like the previously announced COSMO "ongoing" -- now downgraded to a 5-issue miniseries. That happened before with REGGIE & ME as well, and somehow it doesn't look like MIGHTY CRUSADERS and VIXENS are going to be continuing past their initial story arcs, either. So here's hoping that BETTY AND VERONICA FRIENDS FOREVER breaks the curse. Maybe the demand for more classic stories in the digest format is an indicator of the turning tide -- let's hope so.

Dan Parent already said on Facebook that it would be "at least 5", so you aren't really throwing cold water.  It's just reality.  If it sells they'll keep it.  If it doesn't they won't.  At least they're trying it!  I thought Your Pal Archie was awesome, but it didn't sell.  Maybe B&V can do better!

Lets hope so

I really have no way of knowing for sure, but the main audience for a new Betty and Veronica comic book may still be the younger audience of pre-teen girls. At any rate, all I can say for a fact is that since the old B&V floppy comic series ended, digest sales on the B&V FRIENDS title went up to the point where ACP decided it was worth publishing four extra issues a year -- and that they also decided that what that same audience really wants is MORE pages of classic Archie comics stories, so now the four remaining digest titles are ALL Jumbo Comics issues.

Apparently not enough of the people who buy the New Riverdale ARCHIE also bought YOUR PAL ARCHIE. The same logic doesn't necessarily apply to a B&V classic floppy comic book, if there's no other New Riverdale B&V (or B&V VIXENS) competing with it for the same audience. Then again, it may sell poorly in comic shops, but make up the balance in sales digitally or in trade collections -- AND if they want to continue to publish B&V digests, they have to be producing SOME new stories that will eventually be reprinted in those... so there are a number of different factors to weigh into the mix.

I'll definitely be buying the series.  Then again, I supported Your Pal, Archie as well.

I have to find this

Quote from: gillibean on February 10, 2018, 07:59:13 PM

Quote from: Vegan Jughead on February 08, 2018, 06:32:29 PM


Let's support this thing so it doesn't get Your Pal Archied. 

OMG "You Pal Archied" I hope this one lasts!

Functionally speaking, he could just as well have said "Reggie and Me'ed" or "Cosmo'ed". Both of those were "miniseriesized" based on consumer acceptance - on whether they generated profit for the investment in the effort of creating them. So if it's "Your Pal Archied", it's because it's coming from a perspective of "...but we like Dan Parent more..."

FORMAT is important when marketing a comic to consumers, because the format itself helps dictate the size and demographics of the consumer base for that comic. The format dictates where a comic will be most likely to be sold, and which retailers are doing the ordering, and also how long the comic will remain on display and how it will be displayed -- all crucial gateways in the pipeline for a comic book to make its way into the hands of a potential consumer. Standing stock in the floppy comic format in a comic shop has to turn over rapidly, or usually not at all. Because profit margins for most comic shop owners are so thin, they often hang on in this business by doing a lot of day-to-day hand-selling (store employees' recommendations to customers) of comics that they personally like. Then there is the question of whether the largest potential target audience for the content of any particular floppy comic book could get to a comic shop, would be likely to make the effort, or would even know that particular comic book existed. These are all aspects that most digital readers aren't likely to consider, because they don't affect them. But they're absolutely vital to the economics of the publishers' bottom line.

I'll definitely be buying this digitally. Comic book stores are too much of a hassle for most people. Also I don't think Betty and Veronica's main audience is young girls. I think it's mostly men 40+, those who have nostalgia for them as sex symbols and commission Dan and Fernando to draw pin ups.

Quote from: irishmoxie on February 12, 2018, 07:49:41 AM
I'll definitely be buying this digitally. Comic book stores are too much of a hassle for most people. Also I don't think Betty and Veronica's main audience is young girls. I think it's mostly men 40+, those who have nostalgia for them as sex symbols and commission Dan and Fernando to draw pin ups.

Probably true enough if the format is that of a printed floppy comic book, because those 40+ males still overwhelmingly make up the backbone of the average comic book shop's consumer demographic.

On the other hand, digest sales are so negligible through comic shops that they aren't even large enough to be included at the bottom of the lists of reported sales numbers in comic book stores. Yet someone is buying those digests (and the B&V digests' sales actually improved in recent years, as proven by the B&V FRIENDS digest's increased publication frequency since the end of the previous ongoing B&V floppy comic book). So that means there are a lot of "invisible" Betty & Veronica readers who are getting their B&V fix outside the comic book shop market. I would bet that that larger audience isn't mainly composed of 40+ males buying the digest titles in bookstores and supermarkets -- and what little merchandising of the characters over the past ten or twenty years exists, seems to bear out the existence of a largely female audience. https://www.bettyandveronica.com/

It should also go without saying that the pre-teen girl B&V readers won't be among those commissioning original artwork from Dan & Fernando. Artist commissions really can't be taken as representative of anything, apart from their having a devoted core fan following. Clearly there's a huge gap between that group and the number of readers needed to support a printed comic book's continued publication. If that weren't true, then there would be no need to Kickstarter a Die Kitty Die comic -- they could simply have published it through one of the established comic book publishers from the outset.

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on February 13, 2018, 01:47:06 PM

Quote from: irishmoxie on February 12, 2018, 07:49:41 AM
I'll definitely be buying this digitally. Comic book stores are too much of a hassle for most people. Also I don't think Betty and Veronica's main audience is young girls. I think it's mostly men 40+, those who have nostalgia for them as sex symbols and commission Dan and Fernando to draw pin ups.

Probably true enough if the format is that of a printed floppy comic book, because those 40+ males still overwhelmingly make up the backbone of the average comic book shop's consumer demographic.

On the other hand, digest sales are so negligible through comic shops that they aren't even large enough to be included at the bottom of the lists of reported sales numbers in comic book stores. Yet someone is buying those digests (and the B&V digests' sales actually improved in recent years, as proven by the B&V FRIENDS digest's increased publication frequency since the end of the previous ongoing B&V floppy comic book). So that means there are a lot of "invisible" Betty & Veronica readers who are getting their B&V fix outside the comic book shop market. I would bet that that larger audience isn't mainly composed of 40+ males buying the digest titles in bookstores and supermarkets -- and what little merchandising of the characters over the past ten or twenty years exists, seems to bear out the existence of a largely female audience. https://www.bettyandveronica.com/

It should also go without saying that the pre-teen girl B&V readers won't be among those commissioning original artwork from Dan & Fernando. Artist commissions really can't be taken as representative of anything, apart from their having a devoted core fan following. Clearly there's a huge gap between that group and the number of readers needed to support a printed comic book's continued publication. If that weren't true, then there would be no need to Kickstarter a Die Kitty Die comic -- they could simply have published it through one of the established comic book publishers from the outset.

Ok there may also be some grandmothers buying digests from Walmart and grocery stores who like the classic stories they read in the 60s/70s.


I'm not sure who is buying that Betty and Veronica merch. It's way too expensive for the average digest reader. I suspect it's young women (20s) who are also fans of Riverdale and have deep pockets/Daddy's money and like to dress up as pin ups on a daily basis.

Quote from: irishmoxie on February 13, 2018, 07:07:15 PM

Ok there may also be some grandmothers buying digests from Walmart and grocery stores who like the classic stories they read in the 60s/70s. .

Some, maybe. You're reading them (even if buying them digitally)... are you a grandmother? If that's really the main demographic, then why aren't the digests primarily filled with B&V stories from the 1960s and 1970s, for the gratification of grandmothers and ?

Instead, most of the reprinted stories are from the 1990s through 2010 or so. My guess would be that the girls who read those stories when they were new are now the young women and mothers purchasing the merchandise for themselves, or the digests for their daughters (and maybe some of those 40+ male parents too).

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on February 14, 2018, 03:30:40 AM

Quote from: irishmoxie on February 13, 2018, 07:07:15 PM

Ok there may also be some grandmothers buying digests from Walmart and grocery stores who like the classic stories they read in the 60s/70s. .

Some, maybe. You're reading them (even if buying them digitally)... are you a grandmother? If that's really the main demographic, then why aren't the digests primarily filled with B&V stories from the 1960s and 1970s, for the gratification of grandmothers and ?

Instead, most of the reprinted stories are from the 1990s through 2010 or so. My guess would be that the girls who read those stories when they were new are now the young women and mothers purchasing the merchandise for themselves, or the digests for their daughters (and maybe some of those 40+ male parents too).

I'm more of an occasional digest reader these days though I have read a lot in the past. I think the only reason they use the 90s and 00s stories is because they're already digitized and easy to reprint. A lot of the older 60s-80s stories which the grandmothers really want aren't digitized and would have to be re-colored. A lot more work for ACP who would rather make a cheap easy profit. I think the grandmothers buy the digests hoping for 1-2 of those older stories.