More K-pop:
Gugudan
KARA
Crayon Pop
TINY-G
Girls' Generation
OH MY GIRL BANHANA
Brown-Eyed Girls
T-ara
Wonder Girls
AOA (Ace of Angels)

and some J-Pop too:
Aya Matsuura (also DEF.DIVA and GAM, two groups Aya was part of)
Mana Ashida
Star Flower
Shugo Chara Egg!
Tempura Kidz
Takoyaki Rainbow
SUPER☆GIRLS (Korea has Wonder Girls; Japan has Super☆Girls!)
Momoiro Clover Z
TWICE
℃-ute
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu
i☆Ris
Tommy february6
Dream5
S/mileage
Lil Puri
Kusumi Koharu (also Milky Way, a group Kusumi was part of)

And of course...
BABYMETAL (not sure if this even still qualifies as J-Pop, it's more like :Kawaii-Metal:  )

Do vocaloids like Mika Mika or anime MVs like NonSugar count? Probably not then.

The point is that Orange Caramel (whom I stumbled across by way of their cover of Lum's Love Song [theme song from URUSEI YATSURA]) turned out to be my 'gateway drug' to the world of Asian pop music videos.

Quote from: rusty on December 21, 2018, 02:37:11 PM

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on December 21, 2018, 01:16:51 AM
The thing that makes me laugh is that DC's stated reasoning for the original Crisis on Infinite Earths was something like "the DC multiverse is too confusing". It was NEVER confusing. It was simplicity itself -- if you wanted to create a new variant DC Universe within the old multiverse, you could do it with a snap of your fingers (or if you were DC editor Murray Boltinoff, have your stories retroactively assigned to an alternate universe). It's everything else SINCE then that has grown increasingly, compoundedly confusing. And that includes Marvel, too -- everything since at least Heroes Reborn, but especially since Secret War.

I agree.  While Crisis on Infinite Earths was a pretty good story, I had no trouble undertanding the pre-Crisis DC Universe and wish that they had left it intact.  The John Byrne reboot could have been taking place on Earth 86 or whatever.   They've constantly been trying to 'fix' things ever since.

This isn't to say that I haven't enjoyed many of the stories since Crisis, but the simplification premise was kind of dumb.

Y'know, I think it was Mark Waid (although it might possibly have been Grant Morrison) who came up with the back-pedalling concept of Hypertime -- which is a nutshell, can be described as "Was it printed in a comic book somewhere once? Then it really happened, and still exists, somewhere." Apparently, a subsequent DC editorial fiat deemed that as too apologist and wishy-washy, and by someone's mandated decree, it was ruled that "We shall never speak of this again."

And while I can't now recall if the ugly H-word ever reared its head again within the confines of Grant Morrison's MULTIVERSITY, that's certainly what I had in the back of my mind as I was reading it. A multiplicity of multiverses that come into existence, unfolding kaleidoscope-like, but can never really be erased or merged with any others... it only seems that way if you stop looking at them.

Quote from: rusty on December 20, 2018, 08:23:11 PM
I am all caught up with the Superman family of titles now.  I wasn't as far behind with them as with most other books.

I used to love the Superman comics. I'm not sure what happened exactly... I guess "reboot-itis". So many aspects of Superman's history and associated cast (and villains) have been rebooted, partially rebooted, and partially UNrebooted (or 'blenderized' with some pre-reboot version),  that I feel like I can never be sure of any particular character's status or the details of his or her backstory (Supergirl is probably the most problematic of all). Obviously, that was happening as far back as 1986 with the John Byrne reboot, and various "re-adjustments" that took place even before Flashpoint, but the worst of all was that thing a couple years back where somehow it's the old, pre-New52 Superman in the post-Flashpoint DCU, but then... they're actually one and the same, or the universes become (or somehow always were) one and the same? Or something like that... can't say I understood it. Something to do with Mxyzptlk? Or maybe it's Dr. Manhattan who's to blame, a possibility that seems to have been hinted at. It makes my brain hurt. Whatever; it's stuff that just won't go away magically by giving Supes back his red underpants and handing him over to Marvel's formerly biggest architect. I miss the Legion of Super-Heroes. Not really a fan of Jon Kent (or Damian Wayne), either. (Hard to say why exactly, since I was a big fan of the original, Pre-Crisis version of the Super-Sons.) Oh well, it's someone else's Superman now. The only one I'm currently buying is the hardcover newspaper strip reprints from IDW's Library of American Comics, and an occasional trade collection of older material from DC here and there.

The thing that makes me laugh is that DC's stated reasoning for the original Crisis on Infinite Earths was something like "the DC multiverse is too confusing". It was NEVER confusing. It was simplicity itself -- if you wanted to create a new variant DC Universe within the old multiverse, you could do it with a snap of your fingers (or if you were DC editor Murray Boltinoff, have your stories retroactively assigned to an alternate universe). It's everything else SINCE then that has grown increasingly, compoundedly confusing. And that includes Marvel, too -- everything since at least Heroes Reborn, but especially since Secret War.

My point here is that all this "wiggly continuity" undermines any suspension of disbelief I can mount to allow me to care about the characters or "get into" the story. The constant pulling out of rugs from beneath my feet destroys any sense that stories are building upon anything that came before; it's like being dumped on with a bucket of cold water, or a constant slap in the face, reminding you "it's not real, it's just a story, none of this matters, whether you like it or not -- it'll change again".

Quote from: archiecomicscollector on December 15, 2018, 11:29:44 PM
I bought (4) Josie and the Pussycats Frame-Tray Puzzles by Whitman, c. 1971 and The U.S. of Archie Vinyl Record by Peter Pan Records, c. 1975 at a local antique store today.

Wow, that's a find!  Usually all you find in those stores is junk. What I mean is, people are sharper these days in terms of recognizing that old stuff (particularly character merchandise) has collectible value due to an awareness of eBay, etc.

Especially something like puzzles, because finding those completely intact with the original box and all the pieces still there is hard.

Skipping over a ton of stuff, because I haven't posted anything here in a while and I don't have time to write much now.  I'll catch up (on 3 weeks or so of comics reading) later.

Right now, I'll just mention a couple of recent (this week's) Archie Comics.



B & V FRIENDS DOUBLE DIGEST #266 - See if you can recognize this plot from some prior story. Mr. Lodge is angry with Veronica for charging up a storm in credit card bills, so he clamps down and forbids her from using her cards until she can find a way to contribute some money (like getting a job) to help pay for what she's already bought. Veronica's solution to this particular problem causes Mr. Lodge's well-intended attempt to teach her some responsibility to boomerang and he throws in the towel in frustration and gives Veronica her credit cards back, because ultimately that winds up costing him far less money. That's the lead story in a nutshell. The only problem with the 5-page shorts is that you can't get plots or situations too complex, and that limits the possibilities for uniqueness, or even the more interesting twists or variations on old standards. That, and the fact that Dan P. has to generate 48 of these 5-pagers a year, means that they can't all be absolute gems. Well, the artwork was nice, up to Dan's usual high standards. The usual good reprints, especially JOSIE.





ARCHIE'S BIG BOOK VOLUME 5: ACTION ADVENTURE TP - Basically this is a 2-in-1 collection of ARCHIE'S CYBER ADVENTURES (under its longer, interior story title "Adventures in the Wonder Realm") and ARCHIE'S EXPLORERS OF THE UNKNOWN. Both series are reprinted complete, respectively, from ARCHIE & FRIENDS DOUBLE DIGEST #1-5 (Feb-Jul 2011) [and later released in December of that year as a TPB collection], and ARCHIE GIANT SERIES #587 & EXPLORERS OF THE UNKNOWN! #1-6. There are two undistiguished shorter adventure-ish stories filling out the rest of the page count. Personally, I already owned the CYBER ADVENTURES TP, so I'd have rather had just the complete ARCHIE'S EXPLORERS OF THE UNKNOWN in the "Archie Comics Presents ..." format, just like they did with JUGHEAD'S TIME POLICE. At least now I have all the stories (I only had about half of the original issues), so that's nice I guess.

ARCHIE & FRIENDS DOUBLE DIGEST #1-5 (Feb-Jul 2011)

ARCHIE CYBER ADVENTURES TPB (Dec. 2011)


ARCHIE GIANT SERIES #587

ARCHIE'S EXPLORERS OF THE UNKNOWN! #1-6

Orange Caramel (K-pop group) videos on YouTube.

THE UNSTOPPABLE WASP #2 - One of the very few Marvel comics that interests me at the moment. Maybe the only one (haven't made up my mind about the whole INFINITY WARS thing), apart from the Thanos original graphic novels of Jim Starlin. I like that it's a comic featuring a teenage character, but that it's essentially upbeat and positive (none of the teenage angst traditionally associated with Marvel since Spider-Man and the X-Men). Also that it's promoting STEM (science/technology/engineering/math) for girls -- good for them! I almost missed out on this character (the first series went by without me reading it until it came out in TP). The new Wasp is Nadia Pym (daughter of the original Ant-Man/Giant-Man/Goliath/Yellowjacket, Henry Pym - who just happens to be one of my favorite Marvel characters), who was raised in secret in Russia by "The Red Room", a covert intel/black ops division left over from the Soviet days (where the Black Widow was previously trained). I automatically assumed from this brief sketchy info that the character would be angst-y (when she was initially introduced in AVENGERS), but as it turned out, nothing could be further from the case. For the sake of any kind of logic or realism, it's getting harder and harder to justify the Cold War origins of some Marvel adversaries. After all, the Cold War ended officially with the fall of the Berlin Wall, so we're now going on almost 3 decades without an 'evil Soviet regime' to justify the origins of characters (especially Iron Man villains) like Titanium Man, Crimson Dynamo, and of course, the Black Widow (who defected from the Communist Bloc to become a SHIELD agent and an Avenger). As far as how this relates to the current teenage version of the Wasp, supposedly Maria Pym (the first wife of the hero who would become the original Ant-Man) was kidnapped while the married couple were visiting her homeland (an un-named nation under Communist rule) and was never seen alive again. Details were sketchy, but this is the supposed motivation for Pym becoming a hero. How Nadia Pym was born in Russia without Henry Pym ever having been aware his that wife was pregnant at the time of her kidnapping is a mystery, as is how long she survived after her abduction and what eventually became of her. But since Nadia Pym is merely a teenager, these events could not have occurred more than about a decade and a half ago (since she is now about 15 or 16). Communist agents kidnapped Pym's first wife circa 2002-2003?? Best not to think too hard about it, I guess.

ELECTRIC WARRIORS #1 (of 6)
DETECTIVE COMICS #992
HAWKMAN #6
PLASTIC MAN #6 (of 6)
- Not really feeling anything for the DCs, either. I'll probably stick with Detective Comics at least until it reaches issue #1000 (under incoming writer Peter Tomasi, whose previous Batman stories I've liked); after that, we'll see. Other than Detective, let's see... There's DOOMSDAY CLOCK, which I'll see through to the end (#12), and I'll probably check out the new Geoff Johns SHAZAM series too (despite not being really keen on the initial backup miniseries from JUSTICE LEAGUE a few years back); the new GREEN LANTERN by Grant Morrison (the first issue wasn't bad), and FREEDOM FIGHTERS (a 12-issue limited series) sounds like it might be interesting, so I'll be checking that one out. I think that's about it, except for SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP and LOONEY TUNES.

WILLIAM GIBSON'S ALIEN 3 #1 - Sunk by pedestrian artwork. I'll pass on the rest of the story, which wasn't bad as far as it went.
DR. HORRIBLE BEST FRIENDS FOREVER #0 (one-shot) - An unexpected sequel to a previous one-shot from 2009!
BLACK HAMMER: THE QUANTUM AGE #4
BLACK HAMMER: AGE OF DOOM #7
DICK TRACY: DEAD OR ALIVE #2 (of 4) - Now here's the kind of reboot I actually like.
LONE RANGER VOL 3 #2 - It's just okay. Not as good as the previous version.
MARS ATTACKS #2 - I may actually like Dynamite's version better than the previous (IDW) version, or the original (1990s) Topps Comics version.
PROJECT SUPERPOWERS #4 - Sorry, I'm just not into it. For one thing, this seems to ignore the original PSP series' revelation that when released from their imprisonment in Pandora's urn, the 1940s superheroes had been transformed into the avatars of the mythical Greek pantheon. This version of the story gives an entirely different explanation for the origin of the urn, and its source of power. I'll probably ride it out though, unless it goes beyond 12 issues with no sign of improvement.
THE THREE STOOGES: MATINEE MADNESS #1 - Now in black & white (just like the original Stooges shorts!), and set in the 1930s/40s. It's an improvement, as is the more cartoon-style artwork by Eric Shanower (!!)
STELLAR #6 (of 6) - It was interesting at first, but it just seemed to... stop. Not sure I understood the ending, or if they were just leaving things hanging in hopes of a possible sequel.
LIGHTSTEP #1 (of 5) - Incomprehensible... at least to me.
GO-BOTS #1 - Only picked it up because I've enjoyed Tom Scioli's previous work (GØDLAND, AMERICAN BARBARIAN, G.I. JOE vs TRANSFORMERS). I don't even like Transformers that much, and this is just a pale knockoff of that. So... no.
SAVAGE DRAGON #240
CRIMSON LOTUS #1 (of 5) - It was okay. A little hard to get into because I wasn't totally familiar with the historical context of what (exactly) was happening in China at the time of the story. I'll probably wait and just pick up the trade collection later.
SUKEBAN TURBO #1 (of 4) - Just an ugly, terrible story about gang girls whom I couldn't possibly care about. Nice artwork fooled me into reading it.
RICK & MORTY PRESENT: PICKLE RICK #1 (one-shot)
EXORSISTERS #2 - Not quite as funny as the first issue (more backstory-ish), but I enjoyed it.
HEDY LAMARR: AN INCREDIBLE LIFE OGN TP - Interesting, but I felt like I was missing something. I wish there was more in it about Hedy Lamarr's inventions and technical interests; it feels like they just scratched the surface of that aspect of her personality.
COMICS COMICS QUARTERLY #1 - Graphic stories written by comedians. Not as good as it sounds. Can't win 'em all.
HELLBOY & THE B.P.R.D. 1956 #1 (of 5)
VAMPIRELLA/DEJAH THORIS #3
SCOOBY DOO TEAM UP #44
LOONEY TUNES #246
THE TERRIFICS #10
TITANS #29 & 30 - Essentially DC tricked me into reading these by using a retro/flashback-y type misleading cover on issue #30. Cheap trick, DC.
DC NUCLEAR WINTER SPECIAL #1
DETECTIVE COMICS #993

Quote from: rusty on November 29, 2018, 09:59:48 AM
I was disappointed with the new reprint lines since they are essentially 'best of' collections rather than being a complete reprint series.  When  they were announced, I thought that they would be starting a comprehensive reprint line with perhaps Archie and Me #1-10 in volume 1, 11-20 in volume 2 and so on, but I must have misunderstood them somewhere.  I'll just stick to my complete runs of all those titles.  If they had done it the other way, I probably would have purchased them to support the line anyway.  The few books that I don't already have were mostly covered in the Dark Horse Archives, at least for the Archie stories.

I'm convinced it's less a function of "best of" than of "what we have on hand already digitized". If people just scratched their heads wondering why SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH Complete Collection v1 was in black & white (the only such "Archie Complete Comics Collection" b&w collection that ACP has produced to date), it's because it was an experiment. That required them to do some actual work in terms of locating older Sabrina stories that hadn't yet been digitized, and the trade-off of the cost of that production work in digitizing previously undigitized stories for the first time was that the whole thing was printed in black & white to save ACP the cost of paying for full-color printing. The same economics applied to the trade paperback collection CHILLING TALES IN SORCERY VOL. 1.

Wow, when you save them up for a year or more like that, it almost seems like ACP has a full-fledged publishing operation going on, while the reality if you look at the solicitations is more like 1 or 2 (at most 3) floppy format comic books in any given month, 3 or 4 digest titles, and 2 or 3 trade collections.

Recently, I read these -

BETTY & VERONICA JUMBO COMICS DIGEST #268
B & V FRIENDS JUMBO COMICS DIGEST #265 -- These are the only regular digest titles I'm getting at this point. Recently I picked up a couple of the more recent Giant Comics digest collections, and ARCHIE 1000 PAGE COMICS ROMP, but haven't done more that read a couple hundred pages of the 1000 Page collection.

ARCHIE #700 - Theoretically, I'd say it's an improvement on the original reboot by Waid and Staples, but that doesn't mean I'll be buying it now. I only purchased this one because of the Mike Allred variant cover. It's still about as pointless to me as doing a reboot of Dilbert or Zippy using the same writer and artist.

ARCHIE AND ME TP VOL 01 - Issue 1 has artwork by Harry Lucey; 3 through 9 by Bob Bolling, the balance of the stories are written and drawn by Joe Edwards. It astounds me that this title managed to run for 161 issues. None of the stories are worse than average, but they could have appeared in almost any Archie-centric comic title. Was Mr. Weatherbee, as a character, that big of a draw? Why not Ms. Grundy? Or for that matter, what would have seemed to make much more sense to me (well I thought he was funnier, anyway) would have been Mr. Lodge.
EVERYTHING'S ARCHIE TP VOL 01 - Not as many Archies (the band) stories as you might expect. This one's all over the place in terms of artists, but the latter half of the book is heavy with Al Hartley written-&-drawn stories, which you hardly ever see much of a concentration of in random collections.

On the whole, the "Archie Comics Presents..." series of trade collections seems like a good idea, and I guess it's better than spending the same money on digest issues. It's just that the Archie-centric titles like the above (and the previous trade collections of ARCHIE AT RIVERDALE HIGH and LIFE WITH ARCHIE) don't seem all that distinctive in any way. Like you could have put the same stories into any random issue of World of Archie or Archie Jumbo Comics Digest and nobody would really have noticed that much, apart from the suspicious nature of them obviously being very close in vintage to each other. So once again, ACP continues to zig in mirror-reflection to my zag, frustrating me by not giving me what I really want. Maybe it's because they led off with unusual collections like JUGHEAD'S TIME POLICE and COSMO THE MERRY MARTIAN, which might have given me the impression we'd be seeing a much more eclectic selection, concentrating stories which had been thinly-distributed as reprints through the digests in the past. And now I'm stuck with them working their way through a long list of fairly long-running but otherwise unremarkable titles. **Deep sigh**

For the record, here's my "most wanted" wish list of titles that would fit in this series:

She's JOSIE (from #1, 1963)
THAT WILKIN BOY (from #1, 1969)
The MADHOUSE GLADS (from their 1st appearance in Madhouse Ma-ad #67, into #73-93 of their own title)
Tales Calculated to Drive You BATS (all 8 issues, complete)
Archie's MADHOUSE (from the earliest issues)
BETTY AND ME (from #1, 1965)
REGGIE AND ME (from #19, 1966)
CHERYL BLOSSOM (from the beginning)
JUGHEAD'S FANTASY (#1-3 complete + JUGHEAD'S FOLLY, the 1957 one-shot that served as a prototype)
The New WILBUR (#80-87, by Doyle & DeCarlo, 1958-59, complete)
BETTY'S DIARY (including the AGS one-shot that preceded the regular run)
VERONICA (#1-17, the "Veronica Around the World" issues)

I'd say Sabrina, but they've really already done exactly the collection I want, except that it's in black & white. Now that Sabrina's profile has been raised due to the Netfilx series, let's work on getting a deluxe hardcover edition of the exact same stories in color now, m'kay, ACP?


Just some random older floppies I found in the back issue bins:
THAT WILKIN BOY #11 (Oct-78)
ARCHIE'S T.V. LAUGH-OUT #63 (Dec-78), #67 (Jun-79)
PEP #342 (Oct-78), #345 (Jan-79)
REGGIE AND ME #342 (Dec-77)
LIFE WITH ARCHIE #45 (Jan 66), #85 (May-69), #188 (Dec-77)
ARCHIE'S CHRISTMAS LOVE-IN [AGS] #478 (Jan-79)
JUGHEAD #282 (Nov-78), #285 (Feb-79)

It's gotten to the point where some of the run-of-the-mill issues of Archie titles from the 70s or 80s, if it's a title that doesn't feature B&V, Josie, Sabrina, Bingo Wilkin, or Madhouse Glads (-- those are the ones I'll actually collect) I'll just give it a quick flip-through, and unless I see something out of the ordinary, I won't even bother to read it.

Quote from: rusty on November 26, 2018, 09:53:36 AM

I am all caught up with Dark Horse now.

Aliens Dead Orbit 1-4 - This was a rather pedestrian Aliens series.  It wasn't bad, but it wasn't all that great either.

I liked it simply because of the superior artwork of James Stokoe. Too often the Aliens and Predator miniseries are decent enough stories, but the lackluster, pedestrian artwork is what drags them down.

Quote from: rusty on November 26, 2018, 09:53:36 AMMignola books - These make up a large part of Dark Horse's books and are pretty good

Hellboy Krampusnacht

Koschei the Deathless 1-6 - A man in the 1400s is adopted by a dragon, gains powers and near immortality.  Pretty good.

Lobster Johnson Mangekyo - An ongoing Lobster Johnson series would be nice, but I'll take the one shots and miniseries if that is all we can get.

Rasputin the Voice of the Dragon 1-5 - Rasputin is recruited by the Nazis for occult purposes, though much of this story deals with a younger Trevor Bruttenholm in 1941 before he starts working for the special branch that deals with weird bollocks.

The Visitor How and Why He Stayed 1-5 - An alien was sent to assassinate Hellboy when he arrived on Earth because of the danger he posed, but couldn't because Hellboy was an innocent child at arrival.  He stays on Earth and observes Hellboy's growth to make sure he does not become a threat and the Visitor also builds a life for himself, too.

I don't get every single one of them by any means, but I do enjoy Mignola's Hellboy-verse. My favorites are (by far) LOBSTER JOHNSON, and HELLBOY & THE B.P.R.D. (starting with 1952, now up to 1956), although I'll usually try to read any of the one-shots (some of those, like Krampusnacht, are among the best stories). Sometimes I'll read the first issue of a stand-alone miniseries like KOSCHEI or RASPUTIN and decide I like it, but to wait for the trade paperback collection to read the whole thing. I read at least part of all the ones you mentioned above, and liked them all. I have all of the main HELLBOY story arcs in trade collections now, although I didn't read any of the BPRD ongoing series up to this point, or any of the more peripheral ones like Witchfinder or Jenny Finn. The Lobster Johnson one-shot you mentioned is over a year old (and the last miniseries, over a year-and-a-half old), and I'm chomping at the bit for more of Tonci Zonjic's version of LJ. There's a peripherally-related spinoff miniseries of the LJ one-shot Mangekyo, THE CRIMSON LOTUS, that just came out last week, but it's not actually a Lobster Johnson story, so it's not quite the same.

Quote from: rusty on November 26, 2018, 09:53:36 AMDoctor Star and the Kingdom of Lost Tomorrows 1-4 - Jeff Lemire explores a scientist who discovers how to tap a new form of energy and which allows him to become a superhero.  He spends all his time with this and neglects his family.

Jeff Lemire's BLACK HAMMER universe is one of the best things to come along in years. I've enjoyed every single one of the related miniseries.

Quote from: rusty on November 26, 2018, 09:53:36 AMResident Alien An Alien in New York 1-4 - The doctor sees images of artwork from a New York artist who went missing 20 years earlier.  The artwork is excellent, but it is the phone number in alien script that draws his attention and he follows the lead to New York.  I have really enjoyed the various Resident Alien books.  I guess the series concludes with the next miniseries.

I've loved Peter Hogan's RESIDENT ALIEN from the beginning. Such a good concept, and excellently executed. The last few of them I've just waited for the trade collection, since they read much better that way. I just picked up the An Alien In New York trade last week, but haven't gotten to it yet.

Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on November 15, 2018, 02:34:37 PM
Wasn't there a Sabrina one-shot or miniseries announced around two years ago and then cancelled? Is this a resurrection of that?

You're thinking of the one-shot originally solicited for March 2017, which would have been written by Katie Cook (My Little Pony) and Franco (Tiny Titans, Little Archie one-shot), and drawn by Andy Price. The plan was to have three different covers available from artists Sandra Lanz, Adam Hughes, and Paul Renaud. Here's the original solicitation description:

QuoteBrand New One-Shot Special! Sabrina is off to college for her first foray into 'the real world.' After years of being protectively home schooled by her aunts, she is ready to experience friends, boys, and parties-but a shocking revelation will rock her world in a way she never expected!

A sample of Andy Price's artwork for that one-shot, and the Adam Hughes cover variant:


The new miniseries by Kelly Thompson (w) and Veronica & Andy Fish (a) is described simply as:

Quote... A new Archie Comics mini-series launching in 2019 that will modernize the classic Sabrina character we all love, sans the Dark Baptism and Satanic imagery of more recent incarnations. Readers will follow Sabrina as she moves to Greendale with her aunts, Hilda and Zelda, and attempts to navigate high school while her magical powers emerge.

Sample character designs by the Fishs for the new miniseries, and a cover image:


It's funny that it took a television (if that's really the right word for Netflix) adaptation of the Archie Horror version of Sabrina to bump-start an updated version of the classic Sabrina premise. I would have thought that would have been the very next thing on the list after the rebooted version of Josie and the Pussycats (if not before) -- not REGGIE & ME (a title which hadn't had a comic book published since 1980). Now, with the success of the Netflix series, it would be incredibly stupid of ACP not to try to capitalize on the Sabrina brand by launching some sort of new product -- it's pretty clear that Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa's priorities lie with RIVERDALE, and not with writing issues of some horror comics that sell a measly few thousand copies each.

So to answer your original question, NO -- no relation to the previous one-shot solicited and cancelled in 2017. Personally, I would have loved to have seen the previously-solicited one-shot. The Andy Price interpretation of Sabrina seems much more in line with "classic Sabrina", while the Fishs' version seems much more "New Riverdale Sabrina" (although not the same version of the character which appeared in Ryan North & Derek Charm's JUGHEAD). I suppose I will read the new version of Sabrina (I'm sure I can borrow a copy), but I'm not particularly excited about it, as compared with the previous Derek Charm and Andy Price interpretations. Visually, the Fishs' version of Sabrina seems barely distinguishable from Robert Hack's ChAoS version -- but that might be a very deliberate decision on ACP's part.

There are a few quotes from Stan Lee in The Best of Archie Comics. He also had nothing but high praise for working with Dan DeCarlo.

Quote from: rusty on November 12, 2018, 12:08:07 PM

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on November 12, 2018, 08:54:30 AM
Well, if you are retired I guess it explains how you have so much time to read all those comics.

Given that you're saying you might check out Exorsisters in trade, I wonder (based on your reading habits of waiting months to read 5 issues or so of any given title) why you're not just getting the trade collections of all those other titles to begin with. I mean I can see it where some people just want (theoretically at least, presuming that they can find the time) to read things while they're still "fresh", and not wait on a gap of several months until the trade collection is released, but it seems like by the time you're getting around to those particular issue numbers, the TP collection must already be available or at least imminent within the next month or so. It seems like next to nothing (getting to the real fringe publishers otherwise) that isn't getting that trade collection, almost like clockwork in today's comic publishing world.

I have been reading/collecting a lot of titles since since my early teens.  It increased when I started working at a comic book store when I was 16 (in 1986) and has stayed that way even after the store closed in 2005.  I also read 100-200 books each year, though more have them have been audiobooks in recent years.
I like the individual comic format more than the trade is one of the main reasons that I stick with it.  I will often save up a bunch of issues to read early in the run, but then will read them as they come out (assuming that I have the time) after that.  I don't mind reading trades for series that I didn't buy as individual issues, but will usually just check them out of the library instead of buying them.

I've largely gone the other way. If I can stand to wait until it's released, I prefer reading (and collecting, and owning) the trade collection. All of that bagging/boarding and (if we're talking about something older that I'm re-reading after a long time) UN-bagging or RE-bagging/boarding (depending on age) gets tedious after a while and the trades just seem much more convenient, more durable, and less susceptible to damage through routine handling. That's truer than ever of comic stories published in the last couple of decades, because the stories are being designed to fit the collected edition format.

As a side note, I'll make the observation that manga stories, whose individual chapters as anthologized in various Japanese manga periodicals (mostly weekly or bi-weekly, sometimes monthly) are basically analogous to an American floppy comic book, could be (and used to be) published first in English translation in the U.S. standard popular periodical format, but now they're going straight to collected editions of 200 or more pages, and they read much better that way. I really think U.S. comic publishing would have been much better off if it stuck to a disposable first-publication format (CHEAP! ... as MAD Magazine used to say...) instead of making an expensive, computer-colored, slick-paper 'disposable' comic that no one is ever going to dispose of, but which requires post-publication protection (in the form of bags and boards) from normal handling.

Quote from: rusty on November 12, 2018, 08:29:47 AM
I remember debating picking up Exorsisters, but ultimately decided to pass based on the preview.  Since you are recommending it, I will plan on checking the trade out when it eventually is released.  Even if I was collecting it, though, I wouldn't be reading it.  My policy on many new series, especially from Image and smaller companies or miniseries, is to keep the books in a box as they are released and to read the title when it is complete or when four or five issues are out. 

Well, if you are retired I guess it explains how you have so much time to read all those comics.

Given that you're saying you might check out Exorsisters in trade, I wonder (based on your reading habits of waiting months to read 5 issues or so of any given title) why you're not just getting the trade collections of all those other titles to begin with. I mean I can see it where some people just want (theoretically at least, presuming that they can find the time) to read things while they're still "fresh", and not wait on a gap of several months until the trade collection is released, but it seems like by the time you're getting around to those particular issue numbers, the TP collection must already be available or at least imminent within the next month or so. It seems like next to nothing (getting to the real fringe publishers otherwise) that isn't getting that trade collection, almost like clockwork in today's comic publishing world.

For myself, I know there are a few titles where I'd start off buying the individual issues, then for one reason or another, never get around to catching up on the title until the trade collection was out or due out soon. When that happens I just sort of scratch my head and wonder what I was thinking. If I was going to wait that long to read those comics, then why didn't I just wait for the trade in the first place?