Quote from: SAGG on July 26, 2016, 04:04:19 PM

Quote from: The Downloader on July 20, 2016, 03:33:25 AM
Just read the issue.  it was great!

Maybe I missed something, but the only thing about this issue I didn't like was how did the girls become Best Buds in the first place? I'd like to have seen the evolution of that friendship. Archie or Jughead have not addressed it, and I figured B & V would have, you know...? Instead, they jump into the Pop's controversy. Maybe they'll do it later...?

Continuity in the New Archieverse remains as lackadaisical as it was in the Old Archieverse(s).

Quote from: Pop Tate on July 26, 2016, 08:43:40 AM
Quite surprising to see Betty's moms comment. It would be unthinkable in the old Archie series.



Pop

That's Betty's grandmother, or 'Mee-Maw".

Quote from: BettyReggie on July 25, 2016, 07:35:12 AM
Aren't those new books celebrating Archie's 75th year just like The Best of Archie: 75 Years 75 Stories & Archie 1000 Page Comics 75th Anniversary Bash!. I have those 2 books. So I won't buy those new ones.

75 Years 75 Stories had a lot of reprinted stories that hadn't appeared elsewhere before in previous paperback collections. I don't know what the 1000 Page 75th Anniversary Bash had in it for content, but I suspect that (apart from the title) it's no different than any of the other 1000 Page digests, in that all of the stories in it appeared in ongoing digest comics that had come out just a month or two earlier. I fully expect that to be the case with the Giant Comics 75th Anniversary Book! as well -- in that, apart from the title, the content would follow the same pattern as all of the prior Giant Comics collections.

Now the other new digest collections (numbered from #1-3) referred to as the "Archie Spotlight Digest series", but shown on the cover logo as Archie Jumbo Comics 75th Anniversary Celebration -- those are (possibly, at least) something new. A digest series that doesn't have an established pattern yet for what kind of reprints it might contain. So until I can determine otherwise by examining the contents myself, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and say that the new series might be more like 75 Years 75 Stories and contain a good percentage of reprinted stories that haven't appeared in other digests very recently.

EDIT - I just got an email yesterday from ACP, offering a subscription to all 12 of the Archie 75th Anniversary Digests (there will be only 12, or so they claim) for $29.99. That works out to $2.50 per issue (cover price is $6.99 US for these 224-page digests).

Finished reading BIG HERO 6, volumes 1 & 2 - a complete story which had an ending. Seemed like an origin story, but now I'm still a little confused (because of how the story ended) as to exactly how this related to the movie (which I haven't seen) so... I'm going to wait until I get the "Cinestory" photomanga adaptation to review all three. On to more manga...

BEN 10 ALIEN FORCE: DOOM DIMENSION Volumes 1 & 2 (Del Rey Manga, 2010) - Actually more of an "Amerimanga" (still in the B&W/small paperback format) by writer Peter David and artist Dan Hipp. Each of these was a slim book with only 80 pages of story, and together these two (like the two BIG HERO 6 volumes) make up a single complete story. Made me wonder why it wasn't just published as a single book of 160 story pages -- guess they were just trying to milk the consumer for the extra cash ($8 cover price each). I was familiar with Peter David's prior comics, and this story was typical of his usual good work. Dan Hipp was not an artist whom I was familiar with, but he has a very interesting style. While the characters remained recognizable as the same ones from the television series, he definitely put his own stylistic stamp on them. Somewhat manga-esque (and the tv series itself was obviously influenced by manga heroes and the manga style to begin with), but Hipp has his own 'independent-y' style. I'll be on the lookout for more of his work from now on. The story could have been a more-or-less typical episode (or two-part episode) of the tv series, which is a good thing I guess, because this doesn't seem like it wouldn't fit in with the type of adventures Ben 10 is usually involved in. I have to wonder what the genesis of this manga spinoff was though, and why only these 2 books were produced. The artwork has a lot of gray tones (much more than is the usual case for manga) so I wonder if it wasn't originally supposed to be printed in color, and going with the manga format was an afterthought. It could have worked either way, I suppose, as a standalone color graphic novel in the regular trade paperback format, but it still looks good in black & white and reduced to the tankobon (as it's called in Japan) format, too.

SPIDER-MAN J (Vol. 1) Japanese Knights & (Vol. 2) Japanese Daze by Akira Yamanaka (Marvel, 2008/2009) - This is an English-language adaptation (by Marc Sumerak & Zeb Wells) of a story that originally ran for about 6 months in the shonen manga Comic Bom Bom (published in Japan by Kodansha) in 2004-2005. The Americanized adaptation previously appeared as 11 chapter installments in the anthology comic (which was partially reprinted material) SPIDER-MAN FAMILY. It's also not the first manga version of Spider-Man to be produced in Japan -- an earlier version by Ryoichi Ikegama (later to be known for Mai the Psychic Girl, Crying Freeman, and Sanctuary in the U.S.) had appeared in Japan in 1970-71 (that version has also been partially reprinted by Marvel, in the standard floppy comic format, no collected edition so far). I bring it up only to point out the differences to Spider-Man J. While Ikegama's manga Spider-Man had been aimed at a slightly older readership, and took pains to be realistic and serious-minded, Spider-Man J is just the opposite, aimed at younger kids, and strictly for fun. I wasn't familiar with creator Yamanaka's work, but I really enjoyed his 'retro' style of manga art -- it looks to be influenced by that first generation of manga artists who began working in the 1950s and 1960s, like Osamu Tezuka, Mitsuteru Yokoyama, Shotaro Ishinomori, along with the somewhat younger Akira Toriyama (DragonBall Z). In this version, Spider-Man works with a Tokyo police detective partner (Detective Makoto in Japan/Detective Flynn in the Americanized translation). In Japan, Spider-Man J's true identity is Sho Amano (but in this version, he's just called "Peter Parker"). I found this kind of annoying, the adapters trying to translate the manga back into its American counterpart. Why is Peter Parker living in Tokyo, and working with a Tokyo Police detective named 'Flynn'? Why is his Aunt May (actually Mami) so young looking, and why is she dressed in a kimono, making a living in Tokyo as a dressmaker? His friends at school (because Spider-Man J is only 15 years old) are "Jane-Marie" (actually, Megumi) and "Harold" (actually, Densuke), and of course, they look nothing like Mary Jane Watson and Harry Osborn (even allowing considerable leeway for the artistic differences in American style comics and Japanese manga). Apart from that, this is a fun little tale, filled with the sort of tropes found in those henshin hero Japanese TV programs (think Power Rangers or Masked Rider), and again, I'll be looking out for more of creator Yamanaka's work in the future.

Quote from: flcomics on July 24, 2016, 10:26:49 AM
All the email addresses can be found in their regular monthly sized comics as well as their website:
http://archiecomics.com/about-us/

The "About Us" page actually only has email addresses for "Fan Art" (FanArt@ArchieComics.com), "Sonic Fan Mail & Art" (Sonic@ArchieComics.com), and "Afterlife With Archie Letters & Art" (Afterlife@ArchieComics.com). I haven't seen any fan letters or art printed in AWA.

Actually, I knew that all the Archie Action titles had lettercols/fan art pages, but I forgot to mention it because (since they cancelled Mega Man) I don't read any of those any more. As for the rest of their regular format floppy comics, I really don't have anything to say to the editor about them. "Stop publishing these and go back to publishing classic-style Archie stories." ?? Nah, probably wasting everyone's time, mine and theirs. 

Can you help me out by getting me an email address for letters to the digest editor/reprint collections editor?  Seems like that's the only place where opinions and suggestions could actually serve as valuable input to the editor.


PS -- Now I think they should have hired you to draw the Red Circle titles, before everything went all "Dark".
Hey, you missed the Jaguar's belt. He's gotta have the belt -- it's not a fashion choice, it's an ancient mystic belt that was found in a ruined Incan temple in Peru while on an archeological dig -- it's what Ralph Hardy gets his animal powers from. It has the inscription "He who loves the animal kingdom may wear this belt and be transformed into a human jaguar" on it, and Hardy added some "nucleon energy" rocket boosters to enable him to fly. Without the belt, he's just like Thor without his uru hammer Mjolnir - an ordinary mortal.

Quote from: irishmoxie on July 23, 2016, 05:15:35 PM
I don't think anyone's looking at the color of her shirt. Looks like they listened to your comments about the girls being drawn too flat chested by Fiona Staples.

I don't recall posting anything about how Fiona Staples drew B&V's chests, although I may have made a general comment that I don't find the way she drew B&V as particularly attractive or sexy. I just don't feel any connection with her style of artwork, which looks to me like some sort of fashion illustration (while ironically not being particularly fashionable or anything). It's slick but leaves me cold.

On the other hand, Adam Hughes' version of B&V looks positively subdued (for Adam Hughes) compared to the type of women he usually draws like Wonder Woman or Catwoman. Let's face it, they didn't hire the guy based on his reputation for writing incisive and witty teen comedies, they hired him because of his reputation for drawing sexy female characters.

Maybe you should leave an email or voicemail for Jonathan over at the Riverdale Podcast. This week while reviewing B&V #1 he was having some issues with the idea of B&V (being teenagers) being drawn in a way that he thinks seems too sexualized. He'd probably love to hear your perspective on this.

The cartoony style of artwork formerly associated with Archie Comics tends to disarm the overt sexyness of the drawings by making the characters look cute/innocent and appealing, and thus inoffensive (although in the past, Dan DeCarlo was known to push that envelope). When you remove the cartoony quality and switch to a more illustrative type of artwork, this is what you're left with -- it is what it is, and based on my familiarity with Adam Hughes' past work, I can assure you he is making a conscious effort to tone that aspect of his work down in B&V -- yet ironically, this is WHY he got hired for the job in the first place.

PS - They announced at SDCC 2016 that ReedPOP will be selling those #TEAMBETTY and #TEAM VERONICA t-shirts, along with a plain gray heather T sporting the new B&V logo.

Quote from: flcomics on July 23, 2016, 06:40:06 PM

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on July 23, 2016, 01:29:59 PM

Quote from: flcomics on July 23, 2016, 01:17:17 PM
DeCarlo Rules,


THANKS! *blush*
Tell the folks at Archie Comics that!
I'd LOVE to work on their comics.
Maybe if enough fans tell them they want me to draw Archie comics titles, it may actually happen.
*fingers crossed*

Sadly, they don't seem to want to be known as that company that publishes "COMICAL comics" any more... 
... which, to me, is the only thing they really HAD going for them. They want to be taken "seriously" now. Yeesh.

I'm certain, if enough fans voiced their opinions, they would listen.  Publishers want to sell comics. If fans don't like what they're doing, the fans should say so in their letters, fan mail and with their money(and lack of buying). The publishers WILL listen.

I wouldn't be TOO certain about that. I made the observation in a post not too long ago that while reading some of the older digests from 5-10 years ago, they had all sorts of pages in there, whether it be "Dear Betty & Veronica" or "Fan Art" or "Find Your Name In Print", or just a page with an email address to write to the digest editor. I can't find ANYTHING like that in the digests now (and I don't think I've even seen anything like that in the current floppy comics, either... which seems all the more puzzling, since they're obviously aimed at an older readership that would be likely to comment on the stories, not ask for dating advice). They're not only NOT encouraging people to write in with their comments, but I couldn't find an address to write to the editor printed anywhere in the digests (and while I'm not 100% sure about the regular-format comics, I don't recall seeing anything there either, though I didn't look as hard). Maybe it really doesn't matter anyway, as the vocal fans only make up a tiny percentage of the actual readers, at least as far as the traditional Archie Comics go.

Quote from: flcomics on July 23, 2016, 01:17:17 PM
DeCarlo Rules,


THANKS! *blush*
Tell the folks at Archie Comics that!
I'd LOVE to work on their comics.
Maybe if enough fans tell them they want me to draw Archie comics titles, it may actually happen.
*fingers crossed*

Sadly, they don't seem to want to be known as that company that publishes "COMICAL comics" any more...     
... which, to me, is the only thing they really HAD going for them. They want to be taken "seriously" now. Yeesh.

I like that they took the time to color Betty's t-shirt as "blue heather" (or is it "heather blue"?) -- I'm not sure if you can see the detail in this image, but in a larger image of the same cover, you can see the two different grains of interwoven threads (one a little lighter, and one a little darker) that make up her t-shirt. I also like what they (Betty) did with the little vignette image to the left of Betty's name in the title. Did anyone else notice it? (-- and yes, Veronica gets to add her own graphitti commentary on her solo cover).

Quote from: The Downloader on July 20, 2016, 03:11:08 AM
ARCHIE MEETS THE RAMONES #1 (main/Gisele cover & Dan Parent cover)
ARCHIE COMICS DOUBLE DIGEST #273
ARCHIE'S BIG BOOK VOL. 1: MAGIC, MUSIC & MISCHIEF (TR)
ARCHIE 75th ANNIVERSARY DIGEST #1
ARCHIE 75th ANNIVERSARY DIGEST #2
ARCHIE 75th ANNIVERSARY DIGEST #3
BETTY & VERONICA: FAIRY TALES (TR)
BETTY & VERONICA HOLIDAY ANNUAL #248
JUGHEAD AND ARCHIE JUMBO COMICS DIGEST #23

Well, those are the ones I'll be buying. Have they offered/will they be offering subscriptions to the entire series of 75th Anniversary digests?

As to the possible contents of those new digest collections (which are referred to in the solicitations as both the ARCHIE SPOTLIGHT DIGEST series, and as the ARCHIE JUMBO COMICS 75th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION digest series), I'll hazard a guess and say that the 75th Anniversary digests will reshuffle the same stories that were contained in the digital exclusive ARCHIE 75 SERIES (14 of which have been released so far) to make a tossed salad out of what were originally "best of" digital collections representing individual titles from the past. I say this because it's my belief that ACP is assuming that there's little or no overlap between print digest/trade paperback readers and digital readers. In page count, these 75th Anniversary digests (at 224 pages) are exactly halfway between a Comics Annual Digest (192 pages) and a Jumbo Comics Digest (256 pages) -- for the same cover price as the latter Jumbo digest. 32 pages more than a Comics Annual, and 32 pages less than a Jumbo Comics digest. I really HOPE (hope, hope) this is not just another reshuffling of the same stories that already appeared in the Best of Archie Comics/Archie's Favorite Stories collections.



Likewise, I believe that the contents of the ARCHIE'S BIG BOOK, which is composed exclusively of stories of MAGIC (Sabrina), MUSIC (Josie & the Pussycats), and MISCHIEF (Little Archie), will be the same stories that have previously appeared in digital exclusive collections devoted to those characters (plus a couple of trade collections now out of print), and the regularly-appearing digest sections devoted to those characters appearing in Betty and Veronica Double Digest (Sabrina), B & V Friends Double Digest (Josie), and other digests (Little Archie) from the past few years, although it does specifically state that the Sabrina and Josie stories are all written by George Gladir and Frank Doyle and drawn by Dan DeCarlo, and the Little Archie stories are all by Bob Bolling, so that would indicate all stories from the 1960s-1970s. But honestly, I don't think they want to go to the extra work of scanning previously-unavailable stories to reprint. I'm just trying to let myself down easy so I won't suffer a huge disappointment when these things finally come out, but I'd love for ACP to make a liar out of me (or at least a bad prognosticator). This looks to be the same page count/page size (480 pages, 4 ^7/8" x 6 ^9/16") as the Giant Comics Digests, but UNlike the Giant Comics Digests, which are priced at $7.99, the Big Book is priced at $19.99. Yikes. Hopefully that's on better quality, bright white paper. Or maybe the page dimensions listed in the solicitation are in error, since looking at the cover image, this would seem to have the relative dimensions of either a standard comicbook-sized trade paperback, or the "Archie & Friends All-Stars" series (5 ^1/4" x 8", same size as BETTY AND VERONICA FAIRY TALES).



The thing is, BETTY & VERONICA aside, it seems as though ACP has no confidence in selling any print collection of stories that doesn't have the word "ARCHIE" in big letters prominently in the title. Their thinking is that as long as you put the name ARCHIE on the cover, and mix up the contents, you can put stories in there that would otherwise prove unsaleable if they tried to just publish a thematic digest or trade collection with SABRINA, JOSIE, or LITTLE ARCHIE in big letters in the title. Unfortunately for me, this means that I have to purchase 160+/- pages of Little Archie stories (which I won't be reading) in order to get 320+/- pages of Sabrina and Josie stories. Personally, I'd rather have paid $6.99 for a 160-page trade paperback collection of either SABRINA or JOSIE, and skipped the Little Archie stories.

I would bet that about 100 pages of the contents of BETTY & VERONICA FAIRY TALES previously appeared in this digital exclusive collection, too:



I'm not complaining, though. If it actually gets published, I'll be glad to have it, as a companion volume to the two previous trade collections BETTY & VERONICA'S STORYBOOK, and BETTY & VERONICA'S PRINCESS STORYBOOK.

I wish ArchieCo had hired you to draw the New Riverdale comics. Those are all just great!

Quote from: irishmoxie on July 22, 2016, 05:01:14 PM

Quote from: BettyReggie on July 22, 2016, 04:33:10 PM
I preorder these
[media]853[/media][media]844[/media][media]843[/media][media]840[/media][media]841[/media][media]838[/media][media]837[/media][media]836[/media][media]854[/media][media]855[/media][media]856[/media]

There are so many good Ramones covers. I don't know which one or ones to get.

I'll probably just get the Gisele and Parent covers.

The Mary Sue had an interior preview page featuring Sabrina! AWESOME!!

Quote from: steveinthecity on July 22, 2016, 03:53:39 PM

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on July 21, 2016, 01:31:27 PM
ONE-PUNCH MAN VOL. 4, 5, 6, & 7 - One of the most enjoyable manga series I've read in a while. I intend to pick this up from now on as new volumes come out.

I'll look for this. Never heard if it.

Yeah, it's very interesting. Runs the gamut from silly comedy to heavier drama, with plenty of melodrama in the middle, but it's chiefly fascinating to me that the creators seem to like the superhero tropes, but at the same time don't have the kind of reverence (that's the best approximation, I think) for that genre that American comics do. That allows the creators to examine the themes of vigilante justice, fame and celebrity, what motivates someone to become a hero, etc. in ways that American comics seem to rarely (if ever) explore. A lot of Saitama's (he's the "One-Punch Man" of the title, but that's not an official hero name) colleagues in the Hero Association are revealed to be venal, and some truly heroic, some in-between, but there's a real spectrum of characters there. I was actually kind of surprised to find this series was nominated for an Eisner award last year. I didn't know that until after I'd read it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-Punch_Man

Since I caught up on most of the current volumes of One-Punch Man (still missing Vol. 2 at the moment, and it seems to be out-of stock currently with Diamond Distribution), I decided to catch up on a few more random manga things I'd bought and hadn't gotten to in the last year or two:

JACO THE GALACTIC PATROLMAN by Akira Toriyama - This is a series of short chapters that make up a single done-in-one volume. Jaco is a young Ultraman-type alien law-enforcer, who comes to Earth looking for a monster, and the monster, which he never does find, turns out to be the baby Saiyan warrior named Son Goku, in a tie-in to Toriyama's mega-popular DRAGON BALL series, which I've never read (or seen the anime). That's sort of a bonus feature to the main story of Jaco, though, as the plot here stood on its own. I enjoyed this quick, light-hearted read, and particularly liked the artist's drawing style. May have to look into reading Dragon Ball now, too.

Disney's BIG HERO 6 Volume 1 by Haruki Ueno - Still only partway through this one. Haven't seen the movie, by the way, although I'm aware of its origins as Marvel Comics' Japanese counterpart to nationalistic superhero teams like Canada's Alpha Flight. There's a Volume 2 in this series, not sure if there are any more to come. Will review after I've read both. There's also a "Cinestory" color comic adaptation taken from frame grabs of the movie, and it occurred to me I should actually read that -- as these other B&W volumes are prequels, I think -- so I ordered a copy.

Quote from: steveinthecity on July 22, 2016, 03:48:52 PM

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on July 22, 2016, 03:12:42 AM

Quote from: steveinthecity on July 21, 2016, 03:57:12 PM

Quote from: SAGG on July 21, 2016, 08:46:10 AM
Setting aside Archie (if they ever did it right), I'd go for Archer, or better yet, The Herculoids. The CGI alone could be cool. Zok, Igoo, Tundro, and the biggest challenge, Gloop and Gleep, would be awesome. Get a great script, of course. Space Ghost and (not Harvey) Birdman could have potential. Mightor? Possible. Jonny Quest should have been had a movie a while back. Discuss!

Yeah! Why hasn't there been a Jonny Quest movie? That cartoon with Sherman and Peabody would be pretty cool as a movie.  I guess you could give the dog peanut butter to make its mouth move.  Sorry Peta.

There already was a Mr. Peabody & Sherman movie (and a Dudley Do-Right movie, an Adventures of Bullwinkle & Rocky movie, and even a Boris & Natasha movie). Mr. Peabody & Sherman was all-CGI, Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle was live-action with CGI characters, and the others strictly live-action. Be careful what you wish for, though -- let's not forget they turned Speed Racer into a live-action movie (I actually saw that one in a theater, and it felt like being trapped inside a pinball game). I can't help but think Hollywood would completely mess up something like Jonny Quest, losing absolutely everything that made it cool as a cartoon in the first place. The Scooby-Doo movies weren't bad (for what they were), but for the most part that's more the exception than the rule. Most movies based on cartoons seem to turn out really badly. I guess if I had to pick one, I'd say Dynomutt.

Ok, sorry.  Not a movie person.  Didn't know Sherman and Peabody were already a movie.  What about that Penguin and walrus? How about that old dude who spins a globe and tells tall tales of his adventures? I think he might be a tippler. 

Tennessee Tuxedo & Chumly (Tennessee, the penguin, was voiced by Don Adams of "Get Smart" fame), and The World of Commander McBragg was the old dude who spins a globe -- "In his world, he's a king! He can do anything! Or so says the brag of McBragg". I think the only "insert" cartoons you missed were Klondike Kat ("I'll make mince-meat out of that mouse!") and the Go-Go Gophers, all of which have remained untouched by feature films. The exception to that bunch was the live-action UNDERDOG feature (made by Disney no less), which apart from filching some of the original character names (Polly Purebread and Simon Bar Sinister), had little to do with the cartoon. All of those original cartoons (along with The King Leonardo and Odie Show, which had as insert cartoons The Hunter and Tudor Turtle) were Total Television productions, and often get confused with the Jay Ward productions like Rocky & Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right, and George of the Jungle (who also had a live action movie) -- chiefly because both companies used the same Mexican animation studio to do the actual animation (scripts, storyboards, character design, music and voice acting were all handled by Jay Ward and Total Television, respectively).

Quote from: steveinthecity on July 21, 2016, 03:57:12 PM

Quote from: SAGG on July 21, 2016, 08:46:10 AM
Setting aside Archie (if they ever did it right), I'd go for Archer, or better yet, The Herculoids. The CGI alone could be cool. Zok, Igoo, Tundro, and the biggest challenge, Gloop and Gleep, would be awesome. Get a great script, of course. Space Ghost and (not Harvey) Birdman could have potential. Mightor? Possible. Jonny Quest should have been had a movie a while back. Discuss!

Yeah! Why hasn't there been a Jonny Quest movie? That cartoon with Sherman and Peabody would be pretty cool as a movie.  I guess you could give the dog peanut butter to make its mouth move.  Sorry Peta.

There already was a Mr. Peabody & Sherman movie (and a Dudley Do-Right movie, an Adventures of Bullwinkle & Rocky movie, and even a Boris & Natasha movie). Mr. Peabody & Sherman was all-CGI, Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle was live-action with CGI characters, and the others strictly live-action. Be careful what you wish for, though -- let's not forget they turned Speed Racer into a live-action movie (I actually saw that one in a theater, and it felt like being trapped inside a pinball game). I can't help but think Hollywood would completely mess up something like Jonny Quest, losing absolutely everything that made it cool as a cartoon in the first place. The Scooby-Doo movies weren't bad (for what they were), but for the most part that's more the exception than the rule. Most movies based on cartoons seem to turn out really badly. I guess if I had to pick one, I'd say Dynomutt.