Quote from: SAGG on December 05, 2016, 05:47:50 PM
Have we ever seen them in the same story? I'm thinking there was a recent one done by Dan Parent at a fashion show where Ronica's mother had a rival for Mr. Lodge's affections from long ago, and she was helping the rival with the fashion show. Every teen female in the Archieverse was practically there. However, that's the only one I recall. Anybody have a story here? Just wondering, thanks....

There are a number of stories (mostly multi-parters) in which both Sabrina and Josie appear as guest stars among an "all-star cast". The single story in which Sabrina has the most significant interaction with the cast of JOSIE is the one you're thinking of, (B&V 271, Aug. 2014 -- which was actually written by Tom DeFalco and drawn by Fernando Ruiz) where Sabrina prevents Alexandra Cabot from meddling with magic.


Sabrina and the cast of JOSIE have both appeared in a few other stories (for example "Archie's Rockin' World Tour"/a.k.a ARCHIE: ROCKIN' THE WORLD in TP), but the nature of those guest appearances usually doesn't involve much (if any) interaction between them.

Amazon is now listing this formerly-solicited-and-then-cancelled TPB collection with a new publication date of September 26, 2017. None of the prior solicitations for this title that I'd seen in the past ever showed an actual cover for the proposed collection, which makes it seem especially nebulous. Generally, solicitations will have at least a "Not Final Cover" disclaimer over an image if the actual publication date is too far away for the cover to have been definitely decided upon. This solicitation on Amazon (as with all previous solicitations for this title) merely shows the cover to ARCHIE & FRIENDS #146, the first part of a 2-part "Twilight" parody story (Part 2 was in A&F #147), so we can conclude that that 2-parter forms the centerpiece of this them collection. It seems likely that any B&V vampire-themed collection would also reprint the 2-parter from BETTY & VERONICA #261-262 (the 'Betty the Vampire-Slayer vs. Vamperonica' storyline).

You have to wonder why they'd use the cover from A&F #146 though, since the TPB is titled as a B&V collection and Betty doesn't even appear on that cover, and there's just 'something' about the title "BETTY & VERONICA: LOVE AT FIRST BITE" that seems a little too innuendo-ish in its possible implications to begin with.

Anyway, here's the listing on Amazon if anyone's interested in pre-ordering this. The worst thing that could happen would be... nothing at all.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1619889463/ref=pe_11480_217674830_emwa_email_title_1

Watching Season 2 of the new Mickey Mouse shorts on YouTube. They are awesome! Funny, funny, FUNNY. Archie Comics should start thinking about stuff like that again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EorJ8cEzsZo

Quote from: PTF on December 03, 2016, 04:58:16 PM
Maybe I'm talking crazy...but instead of creating new characters...why not try and make Chuck and Nancy interesting? I mean, back in the day, Chuck was pretty great as this guy who had a bit of a chip on his shoulder. Problem became the art angle took over and it became "Chuck is drawing something" and that was it for him. I think in one of the old Archie titles he was Archie's sidekick because I have digests with the two and they were actually pretty fun.

And as for Nancy...Nancy...

...

Fine. Toni Topaz might be better because of the hat.

And yeah, I don't get why you ditch the entire classic line. Why not bring back Pep Comics and have them star the classic characters and either bring in the classic artists or just do what a lot of companies are doing...just go on deviant art and find talent for cheap.

Totally disagree about Chuck. He's way more interesting as "aspiring young comic artist Chuck" than he ever was a "sports guy (whose father is also the coach) Chuck". And before that, nobody at Archie Comics knew WHO the heck Chuck was, apart from "oh yeah, isn't he the black guy?" So some stories he's "hypochondriac Chuck", or "superstitious Chuck", or "nervous around girls Chuck", or any number of character traits that come and go. For a few stories there, he's almost treated as "the black Archie" (a.k.a "Klutz Chuck"). Then slowly he becomes "the ARCHIE AT RIVERDALE HIGH Chuck" (a.k.a. "No Way Are We Going to Put the Black Guy's Name in the Title of the Comic"), which is sort of like the G.I. Joe Adventure Team version of the Hardy Boys, starring Archie & Chuck. Then for a while, it's all stories about "Chuck just can't seem to do anything right when it comes to pleasing his girlfriend Nancy". Yeeesh. Talk about sloppy characterization. Nobody had a clue.

YES.  What about Nancy?  Today I read a reprint in ARCHIE JUMBO DIGEST that had a Christmas party story where Archie kisses Valerie underneath the mistletoe. Thing is, this story was written by Mike Pellowski, and he stopped writing Archie stories before the whole Dan Parent Archie/Valerie romance thing came into play. And the way the story was drawn, "Valerie" sure looked like Nancy. And Josie and Melody weren't at this party, either. So I suspect the word balloons had been re-lettered (nothing that looked obvious, though) to replace "Nancy" with "Valerie". Why, I couldn't say.

But the whole point is, most of the time you wouldn't be able to tell Nancy and Valerie apart, unless Nancy is hanging around with Chuck, or Valerie is hanging around with the Pussycats. They both have the same upturned "inverted-U" nose, and neither one of them ever had any consistent hairstyle to identify them. Nor did either of them have any personality traits distinctive enough to tell them apart (before Val became part of the whole Betty/Veronica/Cheryl five-way love-fest with Archie).

There already is a Pep comics. PEP DIGITAL, the digital-exclusive reprint collections. I'm surprised they didn't just retire the word "Pep", though, because let's face it, that's about as 21st century as "Boola-Boola Comics" or "Woo-Woo!" or "23 Skidoo". No kid today is going to buy a floppy comic book called "Pep Comics". But forget about the kids already, because you need to sell floppy comics to 20-to-40 year-olds that make up the mainstream comic shop consumer demographic.

Somehow I never managed to read much of Charles' Burns work, and I never seem to see his books on the shelves at my LCS, but I'll have to check him out some time.

What's LAST LOOK about?

Today I read part of ARCHIE JUMBO COMICS #274 - Man, they could fill ten of those 1000 Page Comics Digests with just Mike Pellowski stories. Sometimes I think he must have written more stories than Frank Doyle and George Gladir combined in the 1990s and 2000s. There's another lead story in here by the Kennedy brothers. I guess those guys must have been fast, and they really stockpiled a backlog of stories from them, because it seems like every new lead story that isn't a Dan Parent story is one that's been drawn by the Kennedys (not a bad thing, though). Y'know, I never noticed this before, but some of the figure drawings and panel compositions in the Kennedy brothers' stories remind me a little of Samm Schwartz. It's a little hard to recognize his influence at first, because Schwartz would never have drawn the characters with the styles of clothing that the K-bros give them, and they put a ton of background details in, while Schwartz' backgrounds were so sparse that they're austere. But a couple of the panels in this new lead story, "In Olden Days" (written by James Gartler, who was pretty new to ACP as a writer, even before they stopped buying new stories from anyone but Dan Parent) really have the look of a Samm Schwartz drawing, if you ignore the backgrounds.

Also today, I read ASTRO BOY "The Greatest Robot In The World". It's a 180-page epic (takes up almost an entire paperback volume of the series) about a giant robot named Pluto who appears and goes around challenging all the most powerful robots from different countries, destroying them one by one, just to prove that he's "the greatest robot in the world". He turns out to be not all bad, though, because he's been built only for the purpose of fighting other robots and has to obey the orders of his master, but eventually he turns against him and refuses to obey him any more. He battles Astro several times during the course of the story, but there's always something that happens to cut the battle short before the winner is decided. Then there's a big epic showdown at the end where a new mystery robot called Bora shows up, who is twice as powerful as even Pluto. It's a fun story, and there's a moral in there about robots not being created to fight, but to help humans (and each other), and that the true greatness of a robot isn't judged by the amount of horsepower he has or who he can beat in a fight.

Started to read Gisele's webcomic MA3 again, from the beginning. I think I got as far as partway through February 2009.

Only another 1,200 pages to go.

Hard to say if I'll be able to make it that far, as I can't really read these during my idle moments at work.

also read:
TARZAN ON THE PLANET OF THE APES #3 (of 5)
Edgar Rice Burroughs' THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT #3

Here's a list of all the Jughead/Trula Twyst stories I've been able to identify so far (I've intentionally left out several minor or cameo appearances). All stories originally appeared JUGHEAD (2nd series, 1987-2012), with a few exceptions at the end of the list -- appearances of stories in digests that I haven't been able to confirm the original first appearances of.

JUGHEAD VS. TRULA TWYST

   #89   "Target: Jughead (Part 1)"   A new threat emerges to disrupt Jughead's way of life, in the person of Trula Twyst and the girls of J.U.S.T. (Jug Under Surveillance Team).

   #90   "Target: Jughead (Part 2)"   The Machiavellian machinations of Trula Twyst force Jughead to begin dating. In the backup story, "Steady As She Goes!", he attempts to make Ethel his steady girl, but things don't turn out as planned. So he begins to date other girls casually -- but what Jughead doesn't know is that his dates Aimee, Beebee, and Celia are actually Agents A, B, and C, of J.U.S.T.!

   #91   "Target: Jughead (Part 3)"   Jughead has finally found a steady girlfriend, and her name is Trula Twyst! It appears as though Jughead has never been happier, but has he fallen into the brainy beauty's tender trap? Meanwhile, all is not happy with the members of J.U.S.T., and Trula begins attracting attention from the boys at Riverdale High.

   #93   "Target: Trula (Part 1)"   Jughead plans his revenge on Trula. (Part 1)
   #94   "Target: Trula (Part 2)"   Jughead plans his revenge on Trula. (Part 2)

   #99   "Mint Condition"   Archie and the gang try to trick unromantic Jughead into kissing Trula Twyst by suggesting to Jughead her kisses taste like peppermint.

#100   "The Homebody"   After the Jones family moves to a new house, Jughead takes a wrong turn and ends up at Trula Twyst's house.

#105   "Notes to You"     Trula Twyst leaves Jughead a series of leading notes.

#112   "Snow Brainer"   Trula demonstrates an ability to discern character traits from the way people construct a snowman.

#120   "That Sinking Feeling"   Jughead is so relaxed at the beach that he starts sinking into the sand. Until he sees Trula Twyst.

#125   "Fit to Be (Yule)Tied"   Jughead, and his sworn nemesis Trula Twyst engage in their latest battle of wits -- what kind of Christmas present to surprise each other with!

#129   "Embracing the Inner Moose"   Jughead's most feared nemesis, Trula Twyst is back, and there's only one thing he can do: emulate Moose to throw her off the trail! Trula has studied every thought, every movement of Jughead, but will she be able to keep up with him now that he thinks and acts like Moose?

#132   "The Case of the Real-Gone Pest"   It's a Jughead story of a different stripe when he learns his epidemic sneezing fits are caused by the mere thought of being in Trula Twyst's presence! But when Trula's mom reports her missing, Jughead feels responsible. He sets out to clear his conscious by finding his nemesis, even if it means clearing his sinuses in the process.

#134   "Do the Write Thing"   When Jughead thinks he spots Trula Twyst reading a book on graphology (the analysis of people's handwriting) he immediately destroys every piece of paper he's scribbled on! But what if he's mistaken? The handwriting is sure to be on the high-school walls!

#139   "No Fear"   Be afraid... be very afraid.... because Jughead is out to prove to Trula Twyst that he's not afraid of girls!

#147   "Disguise the Limit"   The challenge of the day: find a Halloween costume that will conceal Jughead from Trula Tywst!

#148   "De-Lighted I'm Sure!"   Jughead enjoys Trula's company as long as she is watching the Christmas light decorations but she returns to her normal aggravating self when the lights go out.

#153   "The Trula Trap!"   Jughead is bound and gagging when an unfortunate encounter with finger cuffs leaves him stuck to Trula Twyst! Will this commingled condition confound Jughead all summer?!

#159   "The Pooch Plot"   Jughead has gone to the dogs... or at least his name has, when Trula Twyst names her dog after the crowned one!

#160   "The Triple-Threat Kiss of Trula Twyst!"   Trula closes her file on Jughead. The end result of her research is the conclusion that if Jughead were to kiss any girl 3 times, he would fall irrevocably in love with her... but Jughead is skeptical.

#164   "T-Trouble"   Tongues start wagging when Jug is spotted wearing a T-shirt featuring a picture of his nemesis, Trula Twyst!

#165   "Luck, Flee A Lady"   When Jughead pits the bane of his existence, Trula Twyst, against the bad luck-dispensing Jinx Molloy, how can he not end up getting caught in the middle?

#175   "We Meet Again!"   It's a "Twyst" of fate when Trula Twyst returns! Can she and Jughead finally put aside their differences, or will this latest encounter become an outsmarting contest, too?

#176   "The Opinion Maker"   Trula Twyst decides to make some comments about Betty and Veronica to see what the students at Riverdale do about it. Angered by the comments, Jughead takes matters into his own hands.

#187   "Advice Times Twice"   Archie is always coming to Jughead for advice, but now that he needs advice on winning over a certain girl, Jughead is shocked to find he's consulting Trula Twyst! Will Trula's advice on the girl prove successful - or will Jughead's unheeded warnings about Trula end in disaster?

#191   "The Show-Stopper!"   Jughead has been bitten by the acting bug, but will Trula's appearance in the play make him break character?

#199   "(Jug)Head Game"   Jughead's nemesis Trula Twyst sets out to prove her thesis that there's only room for one Jughead in Riverdale - by becoming another Jughead! Who will be the last Jug standing? Trula's unique fascination with and conflicted feelings toward Jughead come to the fore in this tale that threatens to spin the Jughead mythos on its crowned beanie!

#210   "Psyche Out"   Jughead continues his search for a place to call home (at least temporarily). After yet another living situation goes awry, Jughead finds shelter with Riverdale High's resident pop psychologist, Trula Twyst! Jughead hopes to use the opportunity for Trula to analyze him and sort out his family issues before he overstays his welcome! However, Jug may not be the only one taking advantage of his stay.

DIGEST appearances - original source unknown   

"Quirk For Hire!"    JUGHEAD & FRIENDS #11 (digest original?); JUGHEAD DOUBLE DIGEST #170 (July 2011). Archie helps Jughead get a job at the local movie theater, but when Jughead learns his boss is Trula Twyst, he's looking for a fast-fadeout!

"It Takes Two to Tangle"   JUGHEAD DOUBLE DIGEST#191 (June 2013). Trula tricks Jughead into taking her to the school dance.

"Til Debt Do Us Part"   JUGHEAD & ARCHIE JUMBO COMICS #5 (Oct. 2014). After inadvertantly accepting a loan from Trula Twyst, Jughead is desperate to pay her back so as not to be beholden to her.

"Seat of Power"   JUGHEAD AND ARCHIE JUMBO COMICS #23 (Nov. 2016). Jughead definitely has territorial issues when he enters Pop's only to discover "his" accustomed stool at the counter being occupied by Trula Twyst.

REVOLUTION #5 (of 5)
M.A.S.K. #1
RICK AND MORTY #20
SPOOK HOUSE #2
TALES FROM THE CRYPT #1 (Supergenius Comics, 2016)
JUGHEAD AND ARCHIE JUMBO COMICS #23
TANK GIRL: GOLD #2 (of 4)

Quote from: BettyReggie on November 30, 2016, 06:09:01 AM
I just read my digital copy of Jughead #11. I liked it & I didn't liked it. The reason I liked is the art . Derek's Jughead & Reggie are adorable. I think they both look so cute. The colors in the book are amazing . I didn't think I like North's style of writing. It's very strange. It doesn't fit the Jughead I used to know. What he writes is hard to understand.  I don't care for the quotes at the bottom of page. I would give this comic a B if I was grading it. I miss Chip Zdarsky's writing the book.

They have the same names, but they are not the same characters. They talk differently (Betty even swears) and they act differently. And they are certainly drawn differently. That's not just Ryan North. That's ALL the New Riverdale comics, and all the characters in them. Oh, they do have a few similar characteristics, but it's only a vague-ish resemblance.

Quote from: irishmoxie on November 30, 2016, 09:54:50 AM
Yay for more Trula Twyst. I'm still looking for a copy or reprints of her original appearance.
Edit: Read the Elevenaire stories. Loved it! It's actually funny and I love the whimsical style. Did Craig Boldman only write for the Jughead series?

Well, if you read the Elevenaire stories, you know the answer. Here's where the Elevenaire quadrilogy first appeared:

ARCHIE #545 - "The Elevenaire"
JUGHEAD #157 - "The Elevenaire II"
VERONICA #180 - "The Return Of the Elevenaire"
WORLD OF ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #18 - (Reggie in) "Alias: The Elevenaire"

On his blog, Boldman noted that what's really missing there is a story in which Betty encounters the Elevenaire, and he already has a title for the story should he ever get the opportunity to write it - "Bride of the Elevenaire". (Seems doubtful that will ever happen it this point in time.)

Once he took over as the regular writer on JUGHEAD (which coincides, more or less, with the first appearance of Trula), that became his main regular assignment -- apart from the Archie newspaper strip, which he also wrote, beginning in the mid-1990s. When Boldman took over as writer on the newspaper strip, Henry Scarpelli was the artist. Later, Fernando Ruiz took over as penciller, and Boldman continued to write it until June 2011, when the strip went into reprints -- the point which Fernando considers in retrospect as 'the beginning of his end' at ACP, by which he meant the end of his ability to make a full-time living working for ACP. (As a side note, Fernando also drew a number of Jughead shorts, many of which he wrote as well, that mostly appeared in the digest titles - although a few showed up in the regular Jughead title - in the late 1990s/early 2000s, and I'd judge those as quite good, among the best of the stories he wrote himself.)

Unfortunately, there's been no JUGHEAD VS. TRULA TWYST collection as of yet, and, when you look at the collections ACP has done so far, there are very few classic Archie collections centered around Jughead. Only ONE in print form (The Best of JUGHEAD - Crowning Achievements, Archie & Friends All-Stars Vol. 9), and though there are a few more Jughead collections in the Pep Digital series, that's only a tiny fraction compared to the Pep Digital series as a whole. The original Trula trilogy appeared in JUGHEAD #89-91, with a followup where Jughead attempts to get revenge on Trula in #93-94. To the best of my knowledge those stories haven't been reprinted in any collections so far. Those stories, along with most of the remaining key Jughead/Trula stories, would fit into a 200-page or so collection. Virtually all of Trula's significant appearances have been written by Craig Boldman, and most of them were drawn by Rex Lindsey (although there are a few, like "The Show Stopper", drawn by Stan Goldberg). The two other thematic collections of Jughead stories deserving of a collection are the Jughead/Jellybean stories (written by various writers), and Craig Boldman's last epic multi-part Jughead story, "A Jughead in the Family", from JUGHEAD #207-212 (a.k.a. "Movin' In", on the covers), #210 of which is a feature-length appearance by Trula, her last. Boldman often wrote Jughead stories based on some new eccentricity that Jughead fixated on for that one story, and a collection of those stories would be greatly appreciated, as well.

In my opinion, one thing that LIFE WITH ARCHIE's "The Married Life" series got all wrong is that if Jughead were ever to get married, it would be to Trula Twyst. Unless she somehow decided otherwise, she would be the only one to make that happen, regardless of what Jughead might think of the idea at first. The existing Trula stories offer ample proof of her interest in him, and her ability to use her comprehensive knowledge of his character to maneuver him into doing whatever she wants. Despite his protests of her being his arch-enemy, on an unconscious level Jughead has a great respect for her cleverness and is actually flattered that Trula has taken such a keen interest in him that she knows him better than he knows himself, and that fatal attraction is what allows him to fall into her traps. Outwardly he couldn't be more resistant to the idea, but inwardly it's another story. Jughead had never met a girl like Trula before, who is both more intelligent and more self-confident in her ability than he is. Apart from their "girliness", there are things that Jughead respects about Betty's character or values, just as there are things that disgust him about Veronica's character or values. IMO what Jughead detests is not females per se, but the social conventions of "dating" and "romance" - those are things he doesn't respect or value. Trula is both a little scary and attractive to him at the same time, because she doesn't "follow the rules", just like him, but he can't relinquish his male pride and admit to anything like that. There's nothing in Jughead's playbook that gives him any hints on how to deal with a girl like that, so it's easier to just demonize her as the source of all evil.

JUGHEAD AND ARCHIE JUMBO COMICS #23 - Why am I reviewing this now, when it came out a whole month ago? Well, the subscription department at ACP never sent me my copy, so I was forced to reorder it through my LCS. ACP says they'll credit me for the issue, as three weeks past the release date they were out of copies (but I bet the credited issue added to my subscription won't turn out to be a Jumbo Comics edition). Not the first time I've had to complain about missing an issue, but the first time they didn't mail out a copy in response. Grr.

Now this turns out to be a very good issue, with a surfeit of Craig Boldman stories in it. Among them, "The Elevenaire II" (6 pages), "Command Performance" (6), "Seat of Power" (5 pages, mis-credited as by George Gladir/Stan Goldberg, but really Boldman/Lindsey), "The Show Stopper" (11), "Go For the Juggler" (5), "All Dressed Up" (5), and "Will the Real Jughead Please Stand Up?" (5).

The Elevenaire stories are a lot of fun, and Boldman wrote four of them. The first one starred Archie, then "The Elevenaire II" starring Jughead, the third part was a Veronica story, and the fourth a Reggie story (I haven't read that one, but it's in WORLD OF ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #18, "Alias: The Elevenaire"). If you're interested in these stories, Craig Boldman wrote a piece about them on his blog (which you should really check out anyway, to see some of his artwork): http://www.craigboldman.com/2016/10/09/the-elevenaire/#more-896

But what I really want to talk about here is the two Trula Twyst stories in this issue. In the first one, "Seat of Power", Jughead enters Pop's and goes into a tizzy when he sees Trula Twyst sitting at the counter on what he considers "his" stool. Oh Jughead, when will you ever learn that you can't outwit Trula? For all his vaunted cleverness, Trula is the one girl Jughead just can't out-clever. The smart thing to do here, regardless of whether or not he considers any particular counter stool at Pop's to be his, personally... would be just to ignore it. I mean, did Jughead think she just sat on that particular stool by random chance? Of course not. She knows him better that that, and he should know that she knows him better than that. Therefore, if he really does dislike her and want to avoid her, the smart thing to do would be for him to feign disinterest, and ignore her occupying that particular stool as if it were no big deal to him -- but he doesn't, instead he insists on making a big deal out of it. Jughead declares that she's always looking for "cracks in his armor" to exploit, and he won't stand for it, that Trula's trying to "encroach on his turf". Oh, brother! Pop, being a normal human being, says that it's a public seat, first come first served, and refuses to arbitrate any dispute between the two. Betty at one point declares that she always thought Trula was kind of interested in Jughead, but Archie remarks that all taking his stool is going to do is make him MAD. Trula, of course, refuses to give up the stool, and Jughead's insistence that it's HIS seat only makes her more determined. She insists that when she finally leaves, she'll be back to take the same stool again the next day, five minutes BEFORE Jughead gets there. Of course Jughead counters that he'll arrive five minutes before THAT, but Trula replies that she already anticipated that, so she'll be there five minutes sooner than THAT. It becomes pretty heated, and there's some finger-pointing, boldified wording, and exclamation points!! And one of those famous panels in which Juggy and Trula are shown facing off in profile, nose-to-nose (they look cute, like angry Eskimos). It devolves to "Oh, yeah?!" -- "YEAH!" and "What are you gonna DO about it?!" -- "I'll SHOW you!" Then Reggie happens to show up, wondering what's going on. Archie says they're just watching Jug deal with his enemy. Reggie looks over and sees Jughead, with a satisfied smirk on his face, sitting on Trula's lap while she's still sitting on his stool (also looking pretty satisfied). "They don't look like ENEMIES to me!" says Reggie.

And that's the brilliance of Trula. She always gets what she wants. Even when she makes Jughead think that he's winning. And if Jughead truly had no interest in her... well, he doesn't NEED to have an arch-enemy. That's all him there, whether he wants to admit it or not. Jughead insisting that she's his nemesis, and thinking of her that way, forces him into her little psychological beartraps more than anything Trula herself can do. But of course, she knows this, and knows exactly how he will always react, like a huntress stalking her wily prey. You do have to wonder whether Jughead doth protest too much, and his own subconscious is betraying him and letting him fall into Trula's trap (and lap). "Seat of Power" is by no means an atypical example of Jughead's interactions with Trula.

It also occurs to me that Betty ought to be taking note of what's going on here, and maybe get a little friendlier with Trula. She could use Trula's help in studying some psychology tips to give her an edge over Veronica with Archie. It stands to reason that Archie would be less resistant to begin with, and even easier to manipulate than Jughead, not being as smart (but then again, it's Jughead's own contrariness that's his Achilles' heel). If Betty really understood how Archie would react in any given situation, and could predict his reactions in advance and plan her counter-moves several steps ahead, like a chess player, then she could learn to wrap him around her little finger with greater ease than Veronica does, and without resorting to Veronica's monetary resources and playing hard-to-get.

Wow, I can't believe I wrote all that on a 5 page story. And I haven't even talked about the other Trula story in here, the 11-page "The Show Stopper". That's enough for now though, I'll edit this later with more.

SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU? #75
GREAT LAKES AVENGERS #2
JUGHEAD #11 - More to say about this later, on my reviews thread.

ASTRO BOY - "Space Parasites", "Robot Land", "Astro vs. Garon", "White Planet", "Demon Bees", and "The Robot Spaceship" (stories from 1962-1963).
TRANSFORMERS: 'TIL ALL ARE ONE # 1-5

Quote from: Fernando Ruiz on November 28, 2016, 01:08:59 AM
At New York Comic con this year, I had my very first conversation with Archie president Mike Pellerito. To his credit, the conversation came about at his suggestion and as an attempt to repair the relationship between Archie Comics and myself. (Rest assured nothing came of this.) In the course of this exchange, I'd suggestion that one of the reasons why my "dismissal" had been unnecessary was because I easily could've drawn any one of the reboot titles. He responded very quickly with, "It wouldn't have sold."


I have no illusions that a reboot title drawn by myself would've sold in the same numbers as the Fiona Staples drawn issues, but we would have seen a boost in sales simply from the reboot alone. We also would have seen that boost be far more sustainable since I would have stayed with the title far longer than Staples' three issues. (The book has been bleeding readers since she left!) Plus, with a more moderate modification, they would've had material that could more seamlessly be used in the digests further on down the line.


Unfortunately, Pellerito was fixated on using (however temporarily) "big names" and trying to use the "news" of a total stylistic overhaul both in terms of story and art to further bolster the "splash" they were looking to make. Admittedly, they did make a bit of a splash, but the ripples of that splash are very evidently waning now.

When you come down to it, it's all marketing in the comic book business these days. What comic book fans call a reboot, is really all about what marketing refers to as "rebranding", and what rebranding in this case is, is the response to the question "How do we sell Archie Comics to people who don't like Archie Comics?" How do they change the perception of potential consumers from negative or neutral to positive or at least open-minded? The answer to that question almost always involves some sort of radical, sweeping change. And in order to effect that change, they often wind up throwing the baby out with the bathwater. They'll do nearly anything to create an awareness, curiosity or interest in an "all-new, all-different" product. Having seen it happen any number of times, however, the revolving turnstyle of 'out with the old, in with the new' becomes tiresome after a while. They would like to sell you on the idea that the employment of marketing techniques is, in itself, a form of creativity, but it's not.

Quote from: Fernando Ruiz on November 28, 2016, 01:08:59 AMI may have to tell the wonderful, heart-warming story about how us "classic guys" first learned of the reboot. It's a beautiful story that is very pertinent to the Holiday season, but its a story for another time...

I'd love to hear this sometime, if and when it feels appropriate and you're up to it.