Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on September 25, 2016, 05:36:51 AM

Quote from: SAGG on September 25, 2016, 01:34:58 AM

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on September 25, 2016, 12:22:09 AM
From the new lead story in the latest ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST (#272), entitled "Giving Up the Ghost", Veronica's great uncle Jacob Lodge is mentioned, and a wing of the Lodge mansion had been closed off because Jacob is said to have been the victim of a grisly murder that was never solved. In the story, Veronica has re-opened the disused wing of the mansion to host a Halloween haunted house for underprivileged kids, and a party for her friends.

Yeah that was a pretty good story, I thought. Are the Kennedy brothers still doing new stories in the digests, or is it just Parent now (or anybody else)?

I always enjoy the visual bits of business that the Kennedy brothers stick in their stories, especially ones like this where it's some excuse to get a big cast of regulars together.  You can always count on scenes where there's a whole pack of characters all running away (sort of a visual homage to both the Scooby-Doo and Josie cartoon chase scenes), and panels where characters go tumbling through space in slapstick physical action. They usually stick some small visual gags into the backgrounds too, even though it has nothing to do with the plot or the script.

Like in this story, Reggie is wearing a Zorro costume (specifically colored by Digikore to obscure any too-similar appearance, by using orange, red, and navy blue), Archie is costumed as Pureheart the Powerful, Veronica as Cleopatra, Dilton dressed as the Hunchback of Notre Dame, Kevin in an Air Force officer,'s uniform,  Moose as a caveman, Midge as a cute pixie or fairy wearing a little pink dress, with pointy ears and insect wings, Jughead as some kind of Renaissance-era portly fellow (in various hues of green) -- perhaps Henry VIII, or was it Henry VI? In the opening splash panel, Ms. Grundy shows up in a witch's costume, and except for her white hair, she looks almost exactly like the classic version of Sabrina's Aunt Hilda! They always did have similar facial features, so that made me chuckle. All of the ACP artists seem to enjoy drawing Chunk (one of the New Kids), as he frequently shows up in crowd scenes in the background, and he's in half-a-dozen panels in this story, but doesn't seem to be wearing any sort of costume. I couldn't figure out what Betty and Cheryl (at least, I think it was supposed to be Cheryl, as she was the only one there with cherry-red hair) were supposed to be costumed as.

I think these are all inventory stories that are being used up.

I think Betty is supposed to be a zombie and Cheryl a schoolgirl.

Yeah it's sad because I've seen lots of posts about this digest series. It's obvious people are interested in classic Archie and old stories particularly pre 1990. Yet ACP keeps reprinting the same stories over and over and taking advantage of consumers. Dan DeCarlo and others from ACP's past would be rolling in the graves at how terrible of a 75th anniversary celebration this all is.

Quote from: BettyReggie on September 23, 2016, 05:57:06 PM
I preordered my comics from Midtown Comics
After Life With Archie #12
Archie #15-Eisma & Zullo. That other one is ugly.
Reggie's
A Blank one
Hack
Charm
Pitilli
Caldwell
Jarell

I like that other one. It's like Cheryl's possessed by the devil.

Don't get it unless you already have 75 years, 75 stories or Best of Archie. It's reprints of these. You would think they could find another stories....

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on September 23, 2016, 10:07:57 AM
December is a good month for the digests. My three favorite digests all come out in December a week apart.

12/07


12/14


12/21

Hopefully chock full of Christmas stories. I bought some Christmas themed Giant issues over the summer and I'm saving them to read around Christmas.

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on September 23, 2016, 05:32:17 AM

Quote from: BettyReggie on September 22, 2016, 05:29:18 PM
He did do the cover Archie #10 of them dancing at the beach.

Okay, I just checked that out. I don't know... he made Veronica look pretty weird, all tall and skinny with these huge feet. It's almost like he stuck Veronica's head on Big Ethel's body.

I love Archie beach scenes but this one was so bad I couldn't buy it.

Speaking of bad art, does anyone know what constitutes breakdowns versus finishes as listed in the most recent Archie issue. The inking was so bad on it. Comparing this to Fiona Staples... Wow

I think the Reggie 80 pager is essentially an ad to get people to buy th new Reggie as he's kind of a character most people haven't heard of. While almost everyone knows who the core 4 are.

The variant covers are reprinted in the back of each issue but tiny size. Yes the covers book is nice to look at but you can't display it like a variant cover. Commissions are interesting but with the use of markets to color them they don't look polished to me. I don't like the black and white sketches either. They just look rough to me. Though digital commissions is something I'm getting into now.

Quote from: 60sBettyandReggie on September 19, 2016, 11:43:04 PM
I voted 60's. That decade, to me, had the funniest stories and the best artwork. The 60's were the golden age of Archie comics.

Makes me wonder why they didn't release an archive of the 60s like they did for the 70s on those cd-roms.

They're really pushing Cheryl. Hopefully she makes more than just a mini appearance. I wonder if she will get her own series. Seems like everyone is.

DeCarlo Rules was right about Adam Hughes pushing back Betty and Veronica #2 infinitely it seems. I don't understand the archaic comic system. They make you order 3 months in advance and then delay delay delay. It seems so out of touch with the modern consumer. I used to buy tons of novels when I had more time to read and they were never delayed like comics are. Comics are seated almost as much as music albums.

Anybody ever order any Archie shirts off Threadless? I never got mine.

80s/90s for me but I think it's mostly due to nostalgia. Plus I love all the pop cultural references in those.

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on September 15, 2016, 04:39:16 PM

Quote from: irishmoxie on September 15, 2016, 12:50:32 PM
I like comics that I would categorize as "girlie" that have female protagonists.

So basically, what you like is the equivalent of shojo manga for American young women, without actually being shojo manga translated into English. But most comics having female protagonists are not girlie -- although the mainstream ones are a lot girlier in the last couple of years than they used to be, in an attempt to grab hold of a rising demographic of readers. The problem with most of those mainstream comics is that it's hard to do a comic with a female protagonist that appeals equally to both a strong male and a strong female demographic of readers. For the most part, Japanese publishers have accepted that their comics genres need to be targeted specifically to age and gender, and although there's always some slight overlap, what appeals to younger readers generally doesn't appeal to older readers, and what appeals to male readers generally doesn't appeal to female readers. There are a few exceptions, of course.

Well I do like manga a lot....


Yeah I hate being fooled by a female protag with beautiful art in a comic and when I go to read the story it isn't what I thought at all.

Not super old but here are my oldest items:

Quote from: SAGG on September 15, 2016, 10:09:01 AM

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on September 14, 2016, 11:50:18 PM
CIVIL WAR II: GODS OF WAR #4 (of 4)
DOOM PATROL #1
DETECTIVE COMICS #940
ACTION COMICS #963
WONDER WOMAN #6
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #4
SUPERWOMAN #2
ASTRO CITY #38
POWER RANGERS: PINK #3 (of 6)
THE SHADOW: THE DEATH OF MARGO LANE #4 (of 5)
BATMAN '66 MEETS STEED AND MRS PEEL #3 (of 6)
ROCHELLE #2 (of 3)
ONE-PUNCH MAN GN VOL 08
SPIRIT OF WONDER #1-5 (Dark Horse, 1996)

One Punch Man is awesome,dude!! Have you seen the anime yet? Hmmm--no Future Quest, buddy. I thought it was your favorite DC comic....

How's Spirit of Wonder? I picked these up for cheap based on your recommendation and the fact that I loved his recent graphic novel Wandering Island despite the non ending. Haven't had time to read them yet.

I like comics that I would categorize as "girlie" that have female protagonists. Most of these are probably categorized as slice of life or romance but not the traditional romance comics. I like humor but besides Archie most humor comics these days consistent of badly drawn web comics.