So I just happened to be looking at Betty and Veronica Digest # 92 (dated Dec. 1997), and I came across this mail-order ACP house ad (variations on which I'd seen before) selling single copies of specific digest issues. In this case, the titles and issue numbers being sold were:

ARCHIE ANDREWS WHERE ARE YOU DIGEST #112 [On Sale Now!]
ARCHIE'S STORY & GAME DIGEST #39 [On Sale Mid-November]
VERONICA'S DIGEST #6 [Available Through This Ad Only]
LITTLE ARCHIE DIGEST #20  [Available Through This Ad Only]
BETTY'S DIGEST #2  [Available Through This Ad Only]

So I'm wondering about this "Available Through This Ad Only" business, since I'm not really sure how to interpret that. Those happened to be the last issues of both VERONICA'S DIGEST and BETTY'S DIGEST, and doing some checking, I see that those two digests only came out once a year. I'm not sure how often LITTLE ARCHIE DIGEST came out, but it seems like #20 (Sept. 1997) was the next-to-last issue, with the final issue being published six months later, in March 1998.

So the question is, were these just issues that ACP had some kind of short print run of, and then they sold them exclusively through mail-order sales? I ask because it seems like maybe they were trying some kind of experiment to see whether that was worthwhile for them. The rationale would be, these are characters that aren't as popular as the main digest titles, so sales through traditional distribution methods might result in a lot of returns-for-credit. However, if ACP just distributed the issues themselves, that meant that they got to keep ALL of the cover price (which was $1.79 for a regular 96-page digest in 1997), minus the cost of postage. Through the normal distribution methods, ACP got to keep less than half the cover price (probably closer to a third, actually).

-- OR, were these distributed through the normal channels, but they just sold poorly, and the mail-order ad just represents whole bunches of copies that they had left over in their warehouse afterwards, that they needed to get rid of? I know for a fact that they must have had tons of copies of BETTY'S DIGEST #1 and VERONICA'S DIGEST #5, because when I ordered a random digest sampler pack from ACP about a year and a half ago, they still had copies! But this isn't the first time I've seen mail-order ads featuring those titles (if not the exact same issue numbers) that claimed "Available Through This Ad Only". I've seen a similar ad (presumably from a year earlier) that mentioned those same two issues (BETTY'S DIGEST #1 and VERONICA'S DIGEST #5) as "Available Through This Ad Only".

Quote from: SAGG on November 10, 2016, 09:17:47 AM
Just remember that you Trumpians own everything. If this Great Experiment of Trump fails, it's on YOU....

I question the math on that one. So theoretically then, the other 99% didn't vote?

Here is the cover of the long-delayed ARCHIE COMICS SUPER SPECIAL #7, on sale the week of 11-16-2016.

QuoteARCHIE COMIC SUPER SPECIAL #7
ARCHIE COMIC PUBLICATIONS
(W/A) Various (CA) Dan Parent

Join in on the fun and adventure in the the town of Riverdale! Follow the hilarious antics of the lovable goofball, Archie Andrews, and the rest of his pals and gals! This magazine features the greatest stories from the Archie vault, plus creator spotlights, the latest news and much, much more!

[EDIT (11-25-16): updated to include contents listing.]

ARCHIE in "Christmas Socking!"¹ - 6 pages
ARCHIE in "Christmas Spirit" - 5 pages
ARCHIE in ""More Pull Than Talent!"² - 1 page
BETTY & VERONICA in "Nursery Rhyme Time" - 5 pages (non-Xmas)
JOSIE in "All For the Birds!" - 6 pages (non-Xmas)
LITTLE ARCHIE in "Spread the Cheer" - 5 pages
ARCHIE Pin-Up - 1 page
ARCHIE in "Snow Mistake"² - 6 pages (non-Xmas)
BETTY & VERONICA in "Do No Evil"² - 6 pages (non-Xmas [takes place at Xmastime, but really has nothing to do with the holiday])
CHERYL BLOSSOM in "Hot Stuff" - 5 pages (non-Xmas)
MOOSE in "Snow Drifting" - 5 pages
SABRINA in "The Fruit Cake" - 5 pages
VERONICA in "A Symbol Problem" - 5 pages (non-Xmas)
ARCHIE AND ME (Mr. Weatherbee) in "Wanted: Santa Claus"² - 12 pages
ETHEL in "Guile Style" - 1 page
BETTY in "Wrap Flap" - 1 page
JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS in "Gift Rapped" - 6 pages
SABRINA in "Ice Folly" - 6 pages (non-Xmas)
BETTY'S DIARY "Red and Green Blues" - 5 pages
MR. WEATHERBEE Pin-Up² - 1 page
REGGIE in "Seasonal Smootch"¹ - 6 pages
ARCHIE in "Ho-Ho-Humm" - 5 pages
LITTLE ARCHIE in "Santa Spirit" - 5 pages
ETHEL in "Appeal Zeal" - 1/2 page
MOOSE in "Yule Fool" - 1/2 page
ARCHIE in "Close Shave" - 5 pages
+plus 14 pages of advertisements (mostly for New Riverdale comics)

Notes:
1 - previously reprinted in ARCHIE'S CLASSIC CHRISTMAS STORIES, VOL. 1 (2002)
2 - previously reprinted in ARCHIE CLASSICS SERIES VOL. 1: CHRISTMAS CLASSICS (2011)

Comments: I'd read most of these before, and there's some duplication of material from earlier ACP Christmas TP collections, but not too bad. Overall percentage of Xmas stories to non- is still pretty high, and the mix between older and more recent stories is varied (a good thing). As well, they managed to include a variety of characters represented, not just Archie but B&V, Josie, Sabrina, Reggie, Mr. Weatherbee, and Moose (and of course, a couple of Little Archie stories, but OK, it's Christmas). No Jughead stories, though? Overall I'd rate this pretty well, say about 8 out of 10.

Quote from: steveinthecity on November 09, 2016, 09:58:11 PM
A boy and his dog.   

Here Jughead is apparently using a Dove Pink Beauty Bar. 

That's odd, since most of the gags seem to involve how difficult it is for Jughead to get Hot Dog to take a bath!

It's pretty weird to see a story where Cheryl Blossom just happily does whatever Veronica wants her to, even if it means washing cars in a bikini in 50-degree weather. It's the sort of thing that makes you question whether Adam Hughes had ever actually read an Archie comic book before getting the B&V assignment.

Well, you knew it was not going to end well when the choice came down to Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. I'm not convinced that he isn't the lesser of two evils.

More comics I found in the 50-cent boxes at my LCS...

ARCHIE & FRIENDS #6, 10, & 12
BETTY & VERONICA SPECTACULAR #13 & 20
(I'm noticing that most issues of A&F and B&V Spec. have Dan Parent stories, so I always look out for those titles in particular. Those books seem to have been mostly his ongoing assignment in the '90s, along with VERONICA and SABRINA...)
BETTY & VERONICA #72, 74, 79, 101,106, 107, 217

I picked up a bunch of issues of VERONICA, and some issues of BETTY, too. I'll be reading those sometime later this week.

BETTY AND VERONICA FAIRY TALES TP (Archie & Friends All Stars Vol. 27)

Contents listing:
I.  Snow White & the Riverdale Dwarfs² (from: B&V 266)
II.  A Tale of Two Cinderellas¹ (from: B&V Double Digest 184)
III.  Betty & the Beast² (from: B&V 265)
IV.  Sleeping Betty¹ (from: B&V Digest 207)
V.  The Little Mermaids² (from: B&V 267)
VI.  There's No Place Like Riverdale¹ (from: B&V Digest 188)
VII.  The Story of the Rapunzels² (from: B&V 264)
VIII.  Betty in Wonderland¹ (from: B&V Digest 195)
IX.  Reggiestiltskin² (from: B&V 268)
X.  What's the Story? - Part 1 (from: Archie 637)
XI.  What's the Story? - Part 2 (from: Archie 638)

¹ = Previously collected in BETTY & VERONICA STORYBOOK (Archie & Friends All Stars Vol. 7, 2010)
² = Previously collected in BETTY & VERONICA PRINCESS STORYBOOK (Archie & Friends All Stars Vol. 21, 2013)

Comments:  Instead of combing the vaults for older stories not reprinted in TP collections from the last decade, what we have here is essentially an omnibus edition of two previously-released volumes in the Archie & Friends All Stars series. Unlike most of the earlier volumes in the series, this one is now in the smaller page-format (5" x 7") used for ACP's last couple of TP releases - Archie's Campfire Stories (2015), and Betty & Veronica Girls Rule! (2016), rather than the earlier standard size used for most of the Archie & Friends All Star series (6" x 8.75"). The only story uncollected from the prior B&V Storybook TP releases is the 2-part "What's the Story" from Archie 637-638 (which I wouldn't be surprised to see appearing in a couple of upcoming WORLD OF ARCHIE digests, since they've been reprinting continued stories from just about this same time period).  While I am forced to admit that overall this is one of the best collections of B&V stories (indeed, one of the very best collections, content-wise, of ANY that ACP has done so far), it's sort of a pointless purchase for anyone who bought the earlier Archie & Friends All Stars B&V Storybook collections, even if it's nice to see the addition of that Dan Parent 2-parter from Archie 637-638. If they'd decided to do it as a Deluxe Edition hardcover, at the larger page size (7" x 10") instead of reducing the page size, maybe it would have been a lot less pointless.

Once again, ACP runs true to form in RE-recycling reprints easily available elsewhere, rather than doing the work to dig up UNreprinted stories not recently collected. They continue to disappoint. Maybe I should just give up on expecting any better from a company that recently re-issued the same stories collected in the earlier BEST OF ARCHIE COMICS (Book 1) TP in not just one, but two different formats - as a Deluxe Edition hardcover, and as the ARCHIE 75th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION JUMBO COMICS DIGEST. Pure greed or pure laziness, or a 50/50 mixture, what's the difference??  And if they are going to just reprint stuff from the last decade, can't they at least reprint something that ISN'T easily available, like those four digests that contained Fernando Ruiz's Memory Lane stories ("Archie Meets Archie", "Betty & Veronica Meet Betty & Veronica", "Jughead Meets Jughead", and "Reggie Meets Reggie", and the associated classic reprints)??

BETTY AND VERONICA #2
Overall grade:  C-
ART = Good. Adam Hughes is a good comic book artist.
COLORING = Bad. What's up with the de-saturated, washed-out colors?
STORY/SCRIPT = MEH. It's slightly more straightforward than #1, but not much more interesting. AH hasn't really made me care much about these characters or what's going on here.

The bottom line is this: Would I even be bothering with reading this issue #2 (despite the fact that it was borrowed as opposed to paid for with my own money) after reading issue #1, if this comic were published by any company other than ACP, if it had the exact same artwork and script, with the exception of changing all the characters' names? NO. There are numerous examples of comics out there that have been published, written and drawn by some Big Name Artist, that hold zero intrinsic interest (that is to say, interest based on the sum of the writing and artwork) to me, and this is just one more of those.

BETTY & VERONICA SUMMER FUN #3 (1996) - This has a lead story, "Lakeside Larceny" by Frank Doyle and Dan DeCarlo, that seemed familiar to me, but I don't think I'd actually read it before. In it, B&V want get away from the crowds at the seashore and go to a secluded little beach at Crystal Lake that they know of. When they get there, they're rudely turned away by Cheryl, whose school has purchased the beach and turned it into a private beach exclusively for use by Pembrooke students. Mr. Lodge takes a hand and is the hero of the story, using his Hollywood connections to get a famous SFX technician to create a lake monster to drive the snooty Pembrooke students away. Also, we learn that one of Smithers' former occupations was lion tamer with a traveling circus, when he uses his steely-eyed glare to stare down one of Pembrooke's attack dogs into submission. Mr. Lodge didn't even know this -- didn't he read Smithers' resume before hiring him? Smithers bemoans the fact that the one creature his dominating stare won't affect is the teenager.

The most interesting story in here (with 20/20 hindsight) is entitled "Summer Fun 2016 A.D." and takes B&V into the near-flung future 20 years hence. B&V, of course, are still sixteen (and why not, since they'd been sixteen for 55 years by the time this story was published in 1996). As is fairly typical of this sort of 'what if' story in Archie Comics, no setup or explanation is offered for the shift in chronological setting. It's merely an excuse to showcase some technological innovations of the typical B&V summer fun experience as foreseen by writer George Gladir.  To begin, B&V are on their way to Wonder Beach for an afternoon of summer fun, and Veronica stops by Betty's house to pick her up in her 3-wheeled electric car. Veronica decides to let the car's computer drive via the pre-programmed route while she and Betty don a couple of those big hair salon domes (plugged into a socket in the car seat's headrest) to automatically change their hair styles on the way. Veronica decides to stop at a gas station (she doesn't need gas for her electric car, but fortunately, since the ubiquitous electric car has made the need to fill up unneccesary, the fuel pumps have all been converted into soda dispensers and they fill up a couple of 2-gallon jugs with "Whoopsie Cola"). They're back on their way, but the weather's beginning to cloud over. Veronica says "Who cares? Our new artificial beach is temperature and light controlled!" as they come into view of a mall-sized dome labelled WONDER BEACH, surrounded by a huge parking lot. As the girls enter the indoor beach in their swimsuits, Ronnie gives us the lowdown on all the advantages of the indoor beach - "These days the water at the real beaches is so filthy! Ocean bathers also run the risk of getting zapped by harmful ultraviolet rays! Here we never even need to use sunblock to get a safe tan!" Then Archie shows up to the beach, carrying his surfboard with him. They decide to get some ice cream, and Archie uses his remote to call the Mobile Vendo machine (which has tank treads to navigate the beach sand right to the customer). He inserts his money card into the machine, but he's embarassed when it rejects his card, displaying the message "TILT - Funds Depleted". Fortunately, Veronica loans him her money card to buy the ice cream. Archie wants to go surfing, but he's disappointed with the puny 3-foot high artificial waves generated here. He craves the excitement of 50-foot monster waves, so he attaches his surfboard to the giant spring posts of the VR Surfing station and dons his virtual reality helmet, but the VR experience turns out to be a little too realistic, and he's thrown from the board into the water. Veronica continues as our tour guide: "I can't get over how everything here is so improved! The sand here is so clean... and the water is temperature controlled and salt free! But there's one thing they'll never improve on - the handsome lifeguards!"  THE END. Just a typical day at the beach in 2016. Well, at least George Gladir got the part about vending machines taking debit cards, and having your debit card rejected for insufficient funds right.

As is the case with most of the B&V Summer Fun comics, every story has at least one opportunity for B&V to appear in their swimsuits, and there were three pinup/fashion pages as well. It's also neat to find those stories like "Summer Fun 2016 A.D.", that you know will never be reprinted again. 

Just some random old Archie comics I found in the 50-cent boxes.

(ARCHIE GIANT SERIES) SABRINA'S CHRISTMAS MAGIC # 243 - Xmas 1975

(ARCHIE GIANT SERIES) BETTY & VERONICA SPECTACULAR # 548 - June 1985

ARCHIE'S GIRLS BETTY & VERONICA #264 - Dec. 1977

BETTY AND ME  #78 - Sept. 1976

JUGHEAD #293 - Oct. 1979

ARCHIE'S JOKE BOOK #221 - June 1976

LIFE WITH ARCHIE #148 - Aug. 1974

ARCHIE AND ME #113 - Sept. 1979

EVERYTHING'S ARCHIE #33 - June 1974

Quote from: irishmoxie on November 06, 2016, 07:50:32 AM
What's in the Cartoon Network Special?

Christmas stories featuring H-B characters SCOOBY-DOO, THE FLINTSTONES, THE JETSONS, and the HANNA-BARBERA ALL-STARS (a.k.a. "some or all of the following:" Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Top Cat, Hokey Wolf, Magilla Gorilla, Snagglepuss, Quick Draw McGraw, Secret Squirrel, Atom Ant, Wacky Racers, Dastardly & Muttley, etc.)

Archie Comics had licensed all of those titles from Cartoon Network from September 1995 through June 1997. SCOOBY-DOO and FLINTSTONES ran the longest, at 21 and 22 issues, respectively. JETSONS and HANNA-BARBERA PRESENTS both ran 8 issues, and HANNA-BARBERA ALL-STARS ran 4. YOGI BEAR and the Christmas Spectacular were the only others, both one-shots. Come to think of it, though GCD gives 1997 as the date of publication, ACP Xmas specials were often dated in the indicia as January of the following year, so actually the HB Christmas issue would have been Xmas 1996.

The timing of ACP's licensing was roughly concurrent with the merger of Turner Broadcasting (the previous owner of the HB library) with Time Warner (the deal was finalized in October of 1996), which explains why the titles didn't go to Warner's subsidiary, DC Comics, until after ACP's original contract with Turner expired. At the time, Turner (apparantly somewhat of an animation fan himself) had ownership of both the pre-1948 Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies cartoons and the Hanna-Barbera television library, and merged them into his cable station Cartoon Network (still largely dependent on classic animated reruns at the time). Waner still owned the 1948 and onwards Looney Tunes, and controlled all the merchandising. After ACP's license expired, DC Comics lost no time in taking over comic book production of the now-merged company's character library, and two of the first titles they launched were SCOOBY-DOO and LOONEY TUNES, and in fact, both titles are still being published. They are the two highest numbered comic book series that DC publishes that have no breaks in their numbering sequence. DC's oldest legacy titles, DETECTIVE COMICS and ACTION COMICS, respectively, were renumbered as new #1 issues in 2011, and did not revert to their original legacy numbering until earlier this year, so nearly five years worth of sequentially-numbered issues of those titles do not actually exist.

ARCHIE GIANT SIZE 48-PAGE SPECIALS (1993 - 2000):

It occurs to me that I should write a little bit about these specials, since I'm going to be reviewing a few of them. The Giant Size 48-Page format floppy comic specials first appeared in the Fall of 1993. The first two to be released were JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS #1 (in a tie-in to the animated Josie series then appearing in heavy rotation on Cartoon Network, the cover bore the CN logo) [NOTE:  This was previously a rotating title in Archie Giant Series Magazine (issues #528, 540, 551, 562, 571, 584, 597, 610.]), and SABRINA'S HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR #1 NOTE:  Sabrina's Christmas Magic was  previously a rotating title in Archie Giant Series Magazine (issues #207, 231, 220, 243, 455, 467, 479, 491, 503, 515.  Sabrina the Teenage Witch also appeared in issues #533, 544. Bold #s are giant-sized issues). The JOSIE 48-Page Giant was all-reprint, but SABRINA'S special was a mix of new and reprinted stories, and that is the format that virtually all subsequent 48-Page Giants through Summer 2000 would follow. In 1994 and 1995, many, if not most of them also featured a pull-out mini-poster or calendar (if you're buying a graded comic, make sure it includes this -- the cover always announced when one was included). SABRINA'S HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR #1 also contains a 10-page (2 part) story of Dan Parent and Bill Golliher's THE CARNEYS, who would go on to appear in their own self-titled 48-Page Giant the following summer (1994). This was almost (but not quite) the first appearance in print of The Carneys -- they had previously appeared in a 1-page feature, "Sabrina and her friends Meet THE CARNEYS" (the final panel of which mentions their upcoming appearance in Sabrina's Halloween Spooktacular #1 "On sale in September") that ran in ARCHIE & FRIENDS #6.

Following the Josie and Sabrina 48-Page Giant #1's came the first issue of ARCHIE'S CHRISTMAS STOCKING (Winter 1993). This was highly appropriate, since in a way the 1990s 48-Page Giants were sort of reviving the legacy of the old ARCHIE GIANT SERIES MAGAZINE title, which had ceased publication in 1992, more than a year earlier. However, it's important to note that the Archie Giant Series had ceased to be an actual giant-sized comic book back in 1975, when it had reduced its page count from 52 pages (itself representing a shrinkage from 64 pages only a few years prior) to 36 pages (at the standard price) with the June-dated issues of that year. So by 1993 it had been almost 19 years since ACP had published an actual giant-sized title in the floppy comic book (with a couple of one-shot exceptions in 1990).  [NOTE: ARCHIE'S CHRISTMAS STOCKING was previously a rotating title in Archie Giant Series Magazine (issues #1-6, 10, 15, 20, 25, 31, 137, 144, 150, 158, 167, 179, 190, 203, 216, 228, 240, 452, 464, 476, 488, 500, 512, 524, 535, 546, 557, 567, 579, 592, 605, 617, 630. Numbers in bold indicate an actual giant-sized issue.) ]

Following the re-introduction of Archie's Christmas Stocking (which would turn out to be one of the most succesful in this format, running every year from Christmas 1993 until 1999 -- 7 issues, until finally being replaced in the 2000s by ARCHIE'S HOLIDAY DIGEST) came more 48-Page Giants in the Spring of 1994: JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS #2 (the final issue), JUGHEAD'S BABY TALES #1 (of 2, the second issue published in Winter 1994), REGGIE'S REVENGE! #1 (of 3, ending in Spring of 1995), and ARCHIE'S LOVE SHOWDOWN SPECIAL #1 (and only, although functionally this could be thought of as a precursor to CHERYL BLOSSOM SPECIAL, which would launch the first of four such specials beginning in Spring 1995).

Following this, in the Summer of 1994, four new 48-Page Giants were published: ARCHIE'S VACATION SPECIAL #1 (which would go on to become the longest-running of the 48-Page titles, ending with #8 in the Summer of 2000, and the final 48-Page Giant to be published by ACP); the aforementioned one-shot all-new special THE CARNEYS #1; the bizarre crossover ARCHIE MEETS THE PUNISHER #1 (again all-new); and BETTY AND VERONICA SUMMER FUN #1 - again a resurrection of an old favorite title from the Archie Giant Series Magazine rotation (in Archie Giant Series Magazine issues #8, 18, 23, 28, 34, 140, 147, 155, 164, 175, 187, 199, 212, 224, 236, 248, 460, 472, 484, 496, 508, 520, 529, 539, 561, 572, 585, 598, 611, 621.) Again, numbers in bold indicate an actual giant-sized issue.

In the Fall of 1994, one more new title appeared, ARCHIE'S SUPER TEENS #1 (of 4, ending in Spring 1996). Also in the Fall of '94 were #2 issues of REGGIE'S REVENGE! and SABRINA'S HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR, replacing the previous Fall's all-Halloween Sabrina special with a broader-themed story that included all the holidays between Halloween and New Year's Day, which had a final issue (#3) in the Fall of 1995. That would complete the line-up of titles for the rest of the 1990s, with the exception of the one-and-only issue of CARTOON NETWORK CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR #1 in Winter 1996. Wrapping up 1994 in the Winter season were second issues of JUGHEAD'S BABY TALES, ARCHIE'S CHRISTMAS STOCKING, and the single Winter-themed issue of ARCHIE'S VACATION SPECIAL (that would be replaced by an ongoing separate title in the Spring of 1996, entitled ARCHIE'S SPRING BREAK. All in all, fourteen of the 48-Page Giant Size issues were published in 1994, which was the biggest year for this format.

Subsequent years would see a gradual reduction in the number of 48-Page Giants produced each year: ten in 1995, six in 1996, five in 1997, four in 1998 and 1999, and only two (ARCHIE'S SPRING BREAK #5 in the Spring, and ARCHIE'S VACATION SPECIAL #8 in the Summer) in 2000. [ . . . ] And that was the end of the Giant-Size floppy comic book format for ACP, at least so far as classic reprint material was concerned. Anomalies like the all-new material ARCHIE MEETS THE PUNISHER, ARCHIE VS. SHARKNADO, and ARCHIE MEETS RAMONES, that cross over the ACP characters with existing known properties are the only exception, because those are the only classic Archie stories that independent comic shop retailers will order. And why won't they order them? After all, doesn't the success and increasing number of Annuals, Jumbo Comics, Giant Comics, and 1000-Page Comics digests prove that classic Archie readers want more stories, more pages? Yes, it does. BUT, it also proves that the vast majority of those classic Archie comics readers are NOT buying their Archie comics from independent comic book retailers. They are getting them at Barnes & Noble, Walmart, and some other supermarket and department store chains. That's why they don't sell in comic book shops. 

(See... you learn things. NOW you know why that REGGIE'S 80-PAGE GIANT COMIC #1 got cancelled.)

Here's a handy checklist (most of these are well worth searching for, if you can find them):

ARCHIE'S CHRISTMAS STOCKING #1   Winter   1993
ARCHIE'S CHRISTMAS STOCKING #2   Winter   1994
ARCHIE'S CHRISTMAS STOCKING #3   Winter   1995
ARCHIE'S CHRISTMAS STOCKING #4   Winter   1996
ARCHIE'S CHRISTMAS STOCKING #5   Winter   1997
ARCHIE'S CHRISTMAS STOCKING #6   Winter   1998
ARCHIE'S CHRISTMAS STOCKING #7   Winter   1999

ARCHIE'S SPRING BREAK! #1   Spring   1996
ARCHIE'S SPRING BREAK! #2   Spring   1997
ARCHIE'S SPRING BREAK! #3   Spring   1998
ARCHIE'S SPRING BREAK! #4   Spring   1999
ARCHIE'S SPRING BREAK! #5   Spring   2000

BETTY & VERONICA SUMMER FUN #1   Summer   1994
BETTY & VERONICA SUMMER FUN #2   Summer   1995
BETTY & VERONICA SUMMER FUN #3   Summer   1996
BETTY & VERONICA SUMMER FUN #4   Summer   1997
BETTY & VERONICA SUMMER FUN #5   Summer   1998
BETTY & VERONICA SUMMER FUN #6   Summer   1999

ARCHIE'S VACATION SPECIAL #1   Summer   1994
ARCHIE'S VACATION SPECIAL #2   Winter   1994
ARCHIE'S VACATION SPECIAL #3   Summer   1995
ARCHIE'S VACATION SPECIAL #4   Summer   1996
ARCHIE'S VACATION SPECIAL #5   Summer   1997
ARCHIE'S VACATION SPECIAL #6   Summer   1998
ARCHIE'S VACATION SPECIAL #7   Summer   1999
ARCHIE'S VACATION SPECIAL #8   Summer   2000

SABRINA'S HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR #1   Fall   1993
SABRINA'S HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR #2   Fall   1994
SABRINA'S HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR #3   Fall   1995

ARCHIE'S SUPER TEENS #1   Fall   1994
ARCHIE'S SUPER TEENS #2   Spring   1995
ARCHIE'S SUPER TEENS #3   Fall   1995
ARCHIE'S SUPER TEENS #4   Spring   1996

ARCHIE'S LOVE SHOWDOWN SPECIAL #1   Winter   1994
CHERYL BLOSSOM SPECIAL #1   Spring   1995
CHERYL BLOSSOM SPECIAL #2   Summer   1995
CHERYL BLOSSOM SPECIAL #3   Fall   1995
CHERYL BLOSSOM SPECIAL #4   Spring   1996

JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS #1   Fall   1993
JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS #2   Spring   1994

JUGHEAD'S BABY TALES #1   Spring   1994
JUGHEAD'S BABY TALES #2   Winter   1994

REGGIE'S REVENGE! #1   Spring   1994
REGGIE'S REVENGE! #2   Fall   1994
REGGIE'S REVENGE! #3   Spring   1995

All-New 48-Page Giants:
ARCHIE MEETS THE PUNISHER   August   1994

THE CARNEYS #1   Summer   1994

CARTOON NETWORK CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR #1   Winter   1996

BLACK JACK, VOL. 2 by Osamu Tezuka
THE THREE STOOGES: CURSE OF FRANKENSTOOGE (cover says #1, but indicia states that it's Vol. 1, #4) - There's an 8-page story, "Scaredy Stooge" (written by S.A. Check) with artwork by former Archie creator Bill Galvan in this one (there was a Bill Galvan story in the first issue, as well).


Found a stack of older Archie comics (variable condition, mostly "uncollectable") in the 50-cent boxes this week, and I'll be commenting on some of those over in my "Some reviews..." thread as I have the time. Here's a few that I've read so far. Let's start with a few of those Giant Size 48-Page Specials that they published a dozen or so of, back about 20 years ago. These are all mixtures of new stories and reprints (proportions of each vary with the specific issues).

REGGIE'S REVENGE #3 (1995) - This one's actually in decent enough condition to warrant checking it off my Want List. Now if I can just find #2 (same for SABRINA'S HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR) I'll have the complete set of three. Some minor discoloration on the mostly white background of the cover, but I can live with that. Nothing particularly notable about this one, and most of the stories have been reprinted again later, since I'd already read several of them.
BETTY AND VERONICA SUMMER FUN #3 (1996) - It's just too bad the cover had tears at the top and bottom of the spine and about 2 inches into the logo (no pieces missing, but writing on some of the ad page coupons and checklists). Not too obvious, looks OK at first glance. I'll be reviewing this one.
ARCHIE'S CHRISTMAS STOCKING #3 (1995) - I'd previously read most of the reprinted stories in this one, but there are a couple of key stories (one featuring Jingles, the other featuring Sugar Plum) that I just have to comment on (see my "Some reviews..." thread).

Quote from: steveinthecity on November 03, 2016, 07:23:42 PM
In addition to it's longevity as a comic, I don't believe he's ever been shown without his helmet after all these years. 

Not directly... but we DO know what his face looks like. Both Joe Dredd and his brother Rico were cloned from the cells of former Chief Justice Eustace Fargo.