I read all 4 books of the Best of Archies Series, and then I read what is basically the 5th book in that series, "The Best of Betty and Veronica."   I like the fact that you get a lot of material (400+) pages for a low price, and can buy a kindle version.


I wish that series continued, but I've read all 5 books.  Now I'm trying to figure out what should I read next?  I'd like a lot of bang per buck, and I'd like to read stories that I haven't read before (although I'm sure some duplication is unavoidable.)


So which series of Archie books should I read next?  (I like the stories from the 70s and decades near the 70s.  I'm not so crazy about the real recent stuff.)

The 1000 pagers which collect the recent digests. Best bang for your buck but it's a mix of everything. Not just 70s. They also have a few books Best of 60s, 70s etc.

Thanks!  I was just looking at those online and thought maybe they'd be my next purchases. 

Quote from: Fred99999 on February 13, 2017, 03:16:03 PM
Thanks!  I was just looking at those online and thought maybe they'd be my next purchases.

You might also try:

Archie's Comics from the Vault

and

Archie's Favorite High School Comics.

Those are both 400 pagers that are similar to the Best ofs.  The Comics From The Vault one is really good.  Probably my favorite 400 pager.

Thanks Vegan Jughead!  I'll check it out! 

You should definitely read Reggie & Me, sadly there's only be 5 issues. The graphic novel for it isn't coming out till Oct. I preordered mine from Amazon. I hope they change their minds & put out more than 5 issues.

Thanks BettyReggie!

Also, you should read the ARCHIE AMERICANA Series, which collects stories by decade. Archie Comics published 2 books for each decade from the Forties through the Nineties in paperback, and IDW did hardcover reprints combining both books for each decade from the '40s through the '70s.

Thanks DeCarlo Rules!


For starters, I bought the kindle version of "Archie's Favorite Comics From the Vault," as recommended by Vegan Jughead, and am reading that.  I'll probably eventually get around to all the others that have been suggested as well. 

The IDW "Best Of" Lucey, Shwartz, and/or DeCarlo volumes. Also any of the Bob Montana Collections of dailies are great fun imo.

Quote from: steveinthecity on February 18, 2017, 03:36:46 AM
The IDW "Best Of" Lucey, Shwartz, and/or DeCarlo volumes. Also any of the Bob Montana Collections of dailies are great fun imo.

IDW also published a single hardcover volume of The Best of Stan Goldberg (all older stories). While these are all beautifully produced by IDW, oversized, with good coloring and printed on quality, glossy paper stock, mostly shot from the original art, and the selection of stories is superb, I only hesitated to mention these because at $25 per volume for 152 pages, IDW's "Best of" the Archie artists series is really aimed at collectors as opposed to general readers, and not the most economical in terms of price per page, bearing in mind that Fred99999 mentioned he was looking for "bang per buck". Many of the stories in the IDW artists series do also appear in other, cheaper trade collections published by ACP.

As an aside, I feel the need to caution Fred99999 NOT to purchase any issues of the ARCHIE 75th ANNIVERSARY JUMBO COMIC DIGEST, as this 12-issue limited digest series merely recycles the exact same stories which had previously appeared in the BEST OF ARCHIE COMICS and ARCHIE'S FAVORITE STORIES trade collections, with the addition of absolutely NO newly-reprinted stories whatsoever. Let the buyer beware.

Regarding the IDW Archie by Bob Montana newspaper strip collections, while they are in black and white (except for the single volume of ARCHIE'S SUNDAY FINEST), they are also all 300+ pages collections for about $40 (less from many online booksellers), and the material therein has not seen print (except for a few very brief excerpts in THE BEST OF ARCHIE COMICS) in any other publication. I was hesitant at first to purchase the newspaper strip collections, as I am, to be completely honest, not much of a fan of the 1940s Archie comic book stories. I've studied a lot of Golden Age comic books and strips, and I find the comical style in ACP's 1940s comics to be crude, to be absolutely blunt, even considering the lower standards of art generally acceptable in comic books of that time. I'm not really sure what happened to Bob Montana between his service in WWII and the start of the newspaper strip in 1946, but somehow in a few short years he had developed into a highly competent cartoonist and writer, and the work on those 1946 and later newspaper strips is a quantum leap in quality over his comic book work for ACP 3-5 years earlier. Maybe because of the higher standards the newspaper strip held itself to, after the strip was launched the quality of the comic book cartooning also began to improve, but I don't think it really caught up to Montana's work on the strip until about a decade later, when the years of journeyman work really began to pay off for artists like Harry Lucey and Bill Vigoda and they came into their own as cartoonists -- Lucey perhaps 5 years earlier than that (he had always been an above-average talent as an adventure-style comic book artist, even going back to the early '40s). Lucey seemed to experience a growth spurt as an artist around 1950-51, when he worked on both SAM HILL and GINGER. DeCarlo doesn't really begin to hit his stride an an Archie artist until around 1958 (prior to that he concentrated the bulk of his time on work at Marvel/Atlas). The first couple of those IDW newspaper strip collections made me a believer, and I was happy to discover the genius of Bob Montana.

Thanks again DeCarlo Rules!


Particularly helpful to know to avoid ARCHIE 75th ANNIVERSARY JUMBO COMIC DIGEST because of the duplication.

If you like the early material, there's also Dark Horse's Archie Archives and Archie's Pal Jughead Archives which reprint the early material chronologically.

Update:  Since my original post, I've read "Archie's Comics from the Vault" and "Archie's Favorite High School Comics."  and greatly enjoyed both of those. (Thanks again Vegan Jughead, for recommending those.) 

But recently I bought and am reading "Archie 1000 Page Comics Spree."  It's not nearly as good as the previous titles;  So far, it's mostly newer stories, which lack much of the artistry and charm of the older material.

Actually, now that I'm a little further in reading "Archie 1000 Page Comics Spree," there are some good older stories in there.  So it's a mixture of good and not-so-good.