Amisha's episode of TMLoAA should still appear whenever B&VDD 243 comes out, since that month's solicitations also contained the solicitation for Fernando Ruiz' last story in Archie Double Digest (he didn't know it at the time he got the assignment, only after he turned it in). That means Dan Parent's story should also have been written and drawn before any edicts to limit new stories to only 5 pages were decided upon. (Dan's been writing stories for Archie for more than 20 years, so I doubt he's just going to suddenly "run out of steam".)

I'm hoping that they're simply skipping a month because whatever the subject of the next episode's story is (which would feature either Archie and Betty, or Archie and Veronica), it didn't fit with the "Summer Annual" theme, and the editor felt they needed a "summer fun" story to match the cover and season.

At least, I HOPE that's all it is. It's only 3 more episodes to finish off this series which would then allow ACP to collect it into trade paperback - or more likely now, a digital exclusive - at some point in the future (which seems like a small investment of extra pages to make against future potential earnings). If money at ACP is SO tight right now that they can't even afford to spring for the cost of 15 or so additional pages, then there's probably little hope that the company will be in business a year or two from now.

Quote from: playtape on April 03, 2016, 09:38:43 AM
I'm really excited about this book! I'm hoping to talk to the folks involved on the podcast when it comes out. Both of the writers have a long history with Archie, I'm sure that they're going to do a great job.

Me TOO!! Some of the material has probably appeared in past issues of ALTER EGO and BACK ISSUE, published by TwoMorrows (I know, because up until now, I've been using those previous issues to as reference guides to navigate the public domain scans of early MLJ comics on The Digital Comic Museum website.)

But I know Rik Offenberger in particular was responsible for setting up The Mighty Crusaders Network website, which has the virtual online Who's Who of the MLJ/Mighty Comics/Archie superheroes universe. And of course Paul Castiglia has been working for ACP since at least the early 1990s, and knows everything there is to know about the company and its history.

So in the meantime, while you're waiting for August 2016 and the book to come out, might I suggest that you follow the two links I've provided above, Jonathan. Plenty of great reading about the Mighty Crusaders and Golden Age MLJ superheroes to be found on those links. I know they've both been a great help to me, and hey! Where else but at DCM can you actually READ all those Golden Age superheroes' adventures? (Oh, and Archie, Suzie, Ginger, and Wilbur... even Katy Keene and Super Duck.)

Quote
On a fateful trip to the beach, Betty and Veronica accidentally release a genie from her bottle, and she's willing to grant them three wishes. Will they get everything they want? Or will they wish they had never met her in the first place? Find out in "Sand-Wishes," the fun, new lead story to this summer annual—featuring even more pages of fun in the sun!


Script: Dan Parent
Art: Dan Parent
Cover: Dan Parent, Rich Koslowski, Rosario "Tito" Peña
On Sale Date: 6/15
192-page, full color comic
$5.99 U.S.

THIS from the ACP solicitations for June... Y'know, theoretically, this should be featuring Part 8 of "The Many Loves of Archie Andrews" as the new lead story. The previous issue, #243 would have been (and should still be) the episode featuring Archie with Amisha Mehta (swapped in the solicitations from issue 242, which - as published - featured Ginger Lopez [or at least Cinnamon Lopez, Ginger's cat] which was originally supposed to follow Amisha's episode, and had been slated for issue 243). That would have brought us up to episode #7 (out of the 10 chapters originally projected). As a reminder, each episode of "The Many Loves of Archie Andrews" (apart from the first and last ones) was supposed to feature ONE of the 8 girls who had nominated Archie for the "Boyfriend of the Year Award". With Amisha's chapter, that would have covered all the other girls except Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge, and left a final episode to wrap everything up. So, to reiterate, there should still be an episode forthcoming featuring Betty, another featuring Veronica, and a final episode to make a total of 10 episodes all together (going by what Dan Parent himself told me). But I don't know... the above digest doesn't sound like it's part of that series, and it makes no mention of the overall title, so I wonder now... because Fernando told us that all new stories in the digests are going to be limited to 5 pages (where "The Many Loves..." have typically all been 10 to 12 page stories) if they're not just abandoning the series now.


I'm pretty NOT happy about it.     

Quote from: irishmoxie on April 02, 2016, 11:04:44 PM
Glad to see the real DeCarlo Rules back. I missed your crazy long archival type posts that you obviously put a lot of work into. Are you a budding writer of sorts? Also I'm jealous of all the reading time you have if you actually finished all those comics above.

P.S. I didn't like Patsy Walker #4 either. Too superhero for me. Not enough girlie stuff.

Well, I had to kind of plan to get things read (and wouldn't have been able to read that much, if the forums had been up). When I added the comment about the "hellish" week, I was referring to (a) the forum being offline, and (b)the fact that the first three titles I read that Wednesday were all "hellish" (Bill & Ted Go To HELL, HELLboy & the B.P.R.D. 1953, and Patsy Walker HELLcat - it's weird that they all came out the same week)... not that I didn't enjoy that issue of PWakaH, I did.

I can see where Patsy Walker is rife with continuity references to Marvel Universe characters and events though, which would be completely lost on anyone unfamiliar with the Marvel Universe. It seems to be barely hanging on saleswise, so I expect it'll be a short run... the series  probably wouldn't have gotten green-lit to begin without the superhero stuff. It's just the way the business works in mainstream comics, I'm afraid.

"BETTY COOPER, BETTY COOPER!" -- Betty and Me, issues 79 (Oct 1976) through issue 86 (Aug 1977)

Notable as being an epic 8-part continued story that would not be exceeded in length until the 37-issue Life With Archie Magazine. The deliberate soap opera running subplots would not be used in an Archie story again until "The Married Life", along with a conglomeration of fantasy and science fictional tropes (vampires, magic genies, dimensional travel, spirit possession, mad scientists, shrinking potions, alien androids). Although ostensibly inspired by the then-current cult syndicated TV series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, that parodied soap-operatic melodramatics in an over-the-top fashion, it's hard to say, without having read this story, whether it was being told tongue-in-cheek, or in the fairly straightforward fashion of the then-current incarnation of Life With Archie's adventure/mystery stories. This story is definitely ripe for reprinting, serialized over several issues of one of the two B&V digest titles (probably Betty and Veronica Double Digest, since that's published 10 times per year). Possibly this story could even be attributed as a product of a teenage girl's imagination... one of Betty's exercises of her creative writing talents (?)

Each issue was told in four chapters of 5-6 pages each, continuing from issue 79 through issue 86.

Plot synopsis:

79.1 - Betty develops red skin blotches, her Uncle Drago is visiting but keeps odd hours and wails a lot, Archie is afraid of a secret his parents are hiding from him, and Jughead visits his father at the hospital.
79.2 - The Count's wails are due to an impacted fang. Betty and Archie go to Veronica's house, where they discover Veronica has red blotches too, just like Betty. The two girls conclude they must be sisters. And two thugs are casing the Lodge mansion.
79.3 - Mac and Beamish offer Betty a ride home only to end up kidnapping her, as they think she's Veronica. They have Betty call Mr. Lodge with their demands, but he hangs up on her after she calls him "Daddy."
79.4 - Betty calls Mr. Lodge again and delivers the kidnappers' demands. Betty is disgusted with the house whre the criminals live, and begins cleaning the place. She also sends Beamish to the store for groceries so she can cook them a decent meal. They discover she's not Veronica, but she continues to cook and clean for them, and starts working on plans to redecorate the place.

80.1 - Betty chases Mac and Beamish away with her good intentions, Archie finds that he's not adopted, Count Drago still has an impacted fang, and Forsythe is still working as the hospital elevator operator. Jughead gets a warning about the Limping Man, Betty's blemishes disappear and then she is possessed by Felicity Goodbody, an evil gypsy.
80.2 - Betty's possession by Felicity Goodbody comes and goes, so that when Felicity causes trouble no one believes that the cause is sweet, lovable Betty Cooper. Count Drago gets a call from Count Stabinsky.
80.3 - As Count Drago watches vampire movies, Felicity sends out anonymous poison pen letters accusing people of terrible things, like Veronica cheating on a history exam. She also causes Archie to become very sick.
80.4 - Jughead and Veronica compare notes and find that Jughead's note -- warning him to beware the Limping Man-- is not in the same handwriting. Count Drago races into the Cooper home after having dinner with Count Stabinsky, who ordered hickory stakes from the lumber yard, not steaks as the Count thought.

81.1 - The Limping Man almost catches up to Jughead, who ducks into the hospital only to be saved by his father. Count Drago is paranoid that Count Stabinsky plans to do him in. Archie's sickness is getting worse, and Felicity takes over Betty again.
81.2 - Felicity laughs as Archie goes deeper into a coma and then she tortures other creatures as well. The Limping Man corners Jughead with murder on his mind, but Jughead escapes thanks to his dad's intervention. A group of bats helps Count Drago -- while in his bat form -- escape from Count Stabinsky. Touched by the gesture, Count Drago vows to remain in his bat form forever and stay with his new family.
81.3 - Cornering Jughead, the Limping Man reveals he was injured by the elevator operator twelve years ago and decided to wreak vengeance on the operator's children. Forsythe tells the man he's targeting the wrong group of people, as the elevator that injured him was in another building. Humbled, Jughead offers the Limping Man a pepper sandwich -- one of Jughead's favorites. It is so hot that the man's limp is cured. Meanwhile, Betty and Veronica visit the Gypsy Lady, but Felicity possesses Betty at that moment, only to find that the Gypsy Lady has been possessed by the spirit of Felicity's mother.
81.4 - As Betty is again possessed by Felicity, the Gypsy Lady is possessed by the spirit of Felicity's mother, who spanks the spirit of the willful child out of Betty forever. With Felicity gone, Archie quickly recovers and Jughead tells the group about the end of the Limping Man mystery.

82.1 - Betty is traumatized when Archie is badly injured in a car accident. Concerned, the Lodges send Betty to their psychiatrist, Dr. Norick, who records all of his sessions. While looking for a new tape to record her sessions, she discovers that Dr. Norick has hypnotized Mr. Lodge into giving him $100,000.00 when Norick uses the post-hypnotic word "armadillo."
82.2 - Betty escapes from Dr. Norick by running into an antique store. She trips into an old mirror and is transported to another dimension. She watches through the mirror as Norick threatens the antiques dealer then leaves once he can't find Betty. Betty returns to her own dimension and the antiques dealer tells her of the mirror's power to protect the good ones. Wanting to see if Archie is well, the antique dealer switches on an old television that shows Archie is recovering very nicely. Overjoyed, Betty faints.
82.3 - Jughead finds Betty in the antique store and helps her to her feet. They decide to get the tape from Dr. Norick's office. Jughead tosses the tape to Betty as the police arrest him for trespassing. Betty races to the hospital where she hopes to find Mr. Lodge visiting Archie. Betty tosses the tape to Archie as Dr. Norick enters the room. Norick grabs Betty as Mr. Lodge and Veronica enter the room. Archie plays the tape implicating Norick as everyone listens.
82.4 - Betty is freed from Dr. Norick's grip by Mr. Lodge and the police, who were looking for Dr. Norick to report that his office had been broken into. Mr. Lodge presses charges against Dr. Norick and bails Jughead out of jail. Betty goes to thank the antiques dealer for his help, but he and his shop have mysteriously disappeared.

83.1 - When the kids go to visit Archie in the hospital, they learn he's never been at that hospital and his room is occupied by someone else for over a month. A nurse's aide then tells the kids in secret that Archie was kidnapped by Fatima Dezire, who offered the hospital $30 million dollars to take Archie and pretend he was never there.
83.2 - While Archie bemoans his new circumstances as a member of Fatima's male harem, Betty, Veronica and Jughead fly to his rescue. They hire a guide who secretly works for Fatima. He forces Jughead out into the desert alone without water, while taking Betty and Veronica to Fatima at gunpoint.
83.3 - Jughead's camel comes back for him while Archie sees that Fatima also has Betty and Veronica. The girls walk around the village when Betty recognizes the old man from the antique store who helped her. He sells Betty and Veronica a old lamp that holds a genie in it... one who is very attracted to Betty.
83.4 - Jughead and his camel get the upper hand on the lecherous genie and force him to use his magic to save Archie. the genie conjures a magic carpet that gets Archie and the kids back to the airport where the Lodge jet is ready for takeoff.

84.1 - After their adventures overseas, the kids are relaxing in Pop's shoppe when they discover that Veronica and Pop Tate have been replaced by wind up dolls. Meanwhile, the soda Jughead was drinking is causing him to shrink to the size of a mouse.
84.2 - Betty and Archie save Jughead from a dog and take him to State University. There they meet Dr. Jerkil, who's convinced the kids are dealing with aliens. They leave Jughead with the doctor, who discovers that the doctor can change via a potion into Mr. Clyde, a hideous man.
84.3 - Mr. Clyde reveals to Jughead that he is an alien sent to collect earth samples and replace them with andriods. Clyde turns back into Jerkil, and puts Jughead in his pocket to go meet the spaceship. The old man then convinces Ethel to look through a telescope as Jerkil walks by. With the telescope, she sees Jughead tied up and sitting in Jerkil's pocket.
84.4 - Dr. Jerkil convinces Ethel to go with him if she wants to see the Jughead figure. Archie and Betty come back to Jerkil's lab only to realize Jughead is in trouble and Jerkil is an alien. They track the alien android to a spaceship cleverly disguised as a diner. Ethel's scream destroys the alien android after realizing the figure in Jerkil's pocket really is Jughead. The shrinking solution then wears off of Jughead and the gang free Pop Tate and Veronica, who are tied up in the diner.

85.1 - An unnamed sea merchant sells Archie a jewel called "The Eye of Howja Du" and Archie starts talking in cryptic prose as long as he holds it. Albert, Betty and Veronica are walking when Betty says Veronica is getting fat, even though Betty swears she didn't say anything. And Jughead gets locked in a freezer when a couple of crooks steal all the frozen lasagna in the grocery store.
85.2 - 2 assassins who are after "the Eye" follow Archie to the Lodges' home and present themselves as representatives from the United Nations. Jughead's wallet is stolen by the 2 crooks who stole the frozen lasagna, and they plant it at the scene of a car crash, hoping the cops will blame him. And Albert causes more trouble with his ventriloquism.
85.3 - The 2 assassins become guests of the Lodges' home. Betty discovers Albert's power and figures out that he was the one that said the horrible things to Veronica, mimicking Betty's voice. Jughead manages to start a small fire in the freezer and uses it to keep warm and cook food, just as the police find him there and take him to jail.
85.4 - Betty gets revenge on Albert by throwing her voice as well. Sing Lho and Long Ghon decide to stay in America rather than kill Archie and return to poverty. Jughead is released from jail when the cops find the real crooks who are stealing all the frozen lasagna, and Archie throws away the "Eye of Howja Du" and starts talking normally again.

86.1 - Betty gets separated from the group as they arrive in Hollywood to take in the sights. She is then offered a ride by an eccentric actor named Conrad Kooke, who thinks Betty is his long lost love Beverly Hill. Archie, Jughead, and Veronica then split up to find Betty.
86.2 - While Betty is being forced to dress and act with Conrad Kooke -- who still thinks Betty is Beverly Hill -- Veronica finds a wax dummy of an cowboy actor she loved as a young girl named Steele Woole. Archie gets a lead on Betty's whereabouts and boards a tour bus to get there, talking to himself the entire time. After being thrown out of the wax museum, Veronica showers the owner with cash and takes the dummy with her.
86.3 - As Conrad has Betty dress in another of Beverly's costumes, Archie arrives at Conrad's house. But rather than rescue Betty, Archie gets caught up in Conrad's movie making, much to Betty's dismay. Jughead steals a bike after learning where Betty is, and the kid whose bike he stole tells Veronica -- still carting her Steele Woole wax dummy -- where Jughead is headed. Jughead, Veronica and Steele arrive at Conrad's house. Conrad is pleased that Steele -- an old friend of his -- has decided to join his film making.
86.4 - Archie takes over the director's role. Veronica kisses the dummy under some hot lights, which causes it to melt. Veronica of course thinks it's because of her. Jughead frees an annoyed Betty, who dumps Archie into a nearby pool. And they all lived happily ever after.

Here's an interesting little sub-series of another future tangent Archieverse (published well before ARCHIE 3000!)...

Future School Daze    Riverdale 2001 / 5 pages     Laugh Comics (1946 series) #328    July 1978
(In the era of video-teleconferencing, it's much harder to pretend to be sick.)

A Little Seedy    Riverdale 2001 / 5 pages     Archie's Pals 'n' Gals (1952 series) #125    August 1978
(Archie's flying car keeps messing up Mr. Lodge's newly seeded lawn.)

Mind Boggling    Riverdale 2001 / 5 pages     Laugh Comics (1946 series) #329    August 1978
(In the Riverdale High of 2001, even with futuristic inventions like the Mind Programmer, it's a struggle to get the students to learn anything.)

A Knockout    Riverdale 2001 / 5 pages     Pep (1960 series) #340        August 1978
(Set in the future, Veronica invites Archie over to try her new automated meal preparation device.)

Pushy        Riverdale 2001 / 4 pages     Laugh Comics (1946 series) #334    January 1979
(Archie has trouble with his space wagon.)

Spaced Out    Riverdale 2001 / 4 pages     Archie Comics Digest (1973 series) #86    October 1987
(Reggie borrows Dilton's robot so he can date Midge.)

Couldn't find out much info about these stories, apart from titles and issue appearances. Anyone familiar with these? There are perhaps more of these than I found listed on GCD, as there are many issues from 1978-1979 that remain un-indexed (although "Future School Daze" does appear to be the first of these, and the last one listed "Spaced Out" would presumably be a reprint).

http://schoolbites.net/d/20090817.html

I just discovered this, when I did some searching on Holly Golightly's name to see what she's been up to since her departure from ACP. Haven't really read it yet, so I don't know what it's rated. Definitely has that Amerimanga style going on.

Quote from: BettyReggie on April 03, 2016, 01:37:55 AM
Isn't she too old do that show?

Maybe's it's called "Sabrina the Soccer Mom Witch"? 

Quote from: daren on April 02, 2016, 06:36:36 PM

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on April 02, 2016, 06:43:50 AM
Wow, it just gets better in issue No. 2!  And hey, look! Dan brought back Assie from Dumb-Ass Express No. 1 (1998)... Could we possibly see an appearance by The Carneys (Linda-Louise being my favorite) in a future story? And they have superheroes lined up for issue No. 3, which I never would have expected (doesn't hurt to cover all the bases)! I'm loving it! Were the Bill Golliher single page strips brand new, or older material created some time ago but never seen before? It was nice to see Bill contribute something.

Can't believe nobody posted about this yet, it's been out for a few days now (I was just behind)!

PTF posted a review in the review section.

Pretty sure he was reviewing issue #1, although he never mentioned the issue number... I don't think he mentioned anything related  specifically to issue #2.

http://www.firstcomicsnews.com/?p=201087

Probably nothing. Don't know if it was mentioned before the meltdown...

New book coming out from TwoMorrows, on the history of Archie's superheroes.



288 page Trade Paperback with COLOR - by Rik Offenberger and Paul Castiglia

THE MLJ COMPANION documents the complete history of Archie Comics' super-hero characters known as the "Mighty Crusaders"—The Shield, Black Hood, Steel Sterling, Hangman, Mr. Justice, The Fly, and many others. It features in-depth examinations of each era of the characters' extensive history: The Golden Age (beginning with the Shield, the first patriotic super-hero, who pre-dated Captain America by a full year), the Silver Age (spotlighting those offbeat, campy Mighty Comics issues, and The Fly and Jaguar), the Bronze Age (with the Red Circle line, and the !mpact imprint published by DC Comics), up to the Modern Age, with its Dark Circle imprint (featuring such fan-favorites series as "The Fox" by Mark Waid and Dean Haspiel). Plus: Learn what "MLJ" stands for! Uncover such rarities as the Mighty Crusaders board game, and the Shadow's short-lived career as a spandex-clad superhero! Discover the ill-fated Spectrum line of comics, that was abruptly halted due to its violent content! See where the super-heroes crossed over into Archie, Betty, and Veronica's world! And read interviews with Irv Novick, Dick Ayers, Rich Buckler, Bill DuBay, Steve Englehart, Jim Valentino, Jimmy Palmiotti, Kelly Jones, Michael Uslan, and others who chronicled the Mighty Crusaders' exploits from the 1940s to today! By Rik Offenberger and Paul Castiglia, with a cover by Irv Novick and Joe Rubinstein. INCLUDES 64 FULL-COLOR PAGES OF KEY MLJ STORIES!

ISBN-13: 978-1-60549-067-0
ISBN-10: 1-60549-067-9

You can order HERE, or through your LCS (due in stores August 2016).

Found this in an ad banner on a comics site. Not sure if it's an original piece, or taken from that Xmas story in ARCHIE 639 ("The Naughty Clause"). I've been ordering ACP back issues from MyComicShop.com lately... spent $80 on an order for back issue digests (averaging $3 each, so not bad) -- mostly issues of Archie's Funhouse, Jughead and Archie, and Jughead & Friends Digests (trying to complete the sets), and then yesterday (about a week and half later) I ordered another $75 worth of back issues (floppy singles, this time). The prices aren't too bad, but I have SO much stuff on my Want List that's never going to be reprinted except randomly scattered through through digest issues. This could get expensive... it would be SO much easier if Archie Comics would just publish trade paperback collections, but that doesn't look like it's ever going to happen.

Read on Saturday 04-02:

KEVIN KELLER 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
CBLDF DEFENDER FCBD 2015 (Kevin Keller story, "Read Between the Lines!")
ARCHIE: HIS FIRST 50 YEARS by Charles Phillips (ABBEVILLE PRESS, 1991) (Not a very good book, sorry to say. Should have checked out some reviews before ordering this one.)

Wow, it just gets better in issue No. 2!  And hey, look! Dan brought back Assie from Dumb-Ass Express No. 1 (1998)... Could we possibly see an appearance by The Carneys (Linda-Louise being my favorite) in a future story? And they have superheroes lined up for issue No. 3, which I never would have expected (doesn't hurt to cover all the bases)! I'm loving it! Were the Bill Golliher single page strips brand new, or older material created some time ago but never seen before? It was nice to see Bill contribute something.

Can't believe nobody posted about this yet, it's been out for a few days now (I was just behind)!

P.S. Die Kitty Die #2 is awesome!