JIMMYS BASTARDS #9 (of 9)
VALIANT HIGH #3 (of 4) - Y'know, I NEVER read Valiant titles. I just never cared for any of the characters, or that universe. Decided to give this one a try because the artwork here is by Derek Charm, whose work on STARLEET ACADEMY, STAR WARS ADVENTURES (both IDW titles) and JUGHEAD I had previously admired. The story here is another one of those "Superhero High" kind of things -- I suspect it may not actually be part of the continuity of the "Valiant Universe", as it would seem a little far-fetched to suddenly reveal that all of their main lead characters are more or less the same age and had gone to the same high school together. It wasn't bad, even though these are teenaged versions of characters I essentially know nothing about. I missed the earlier issues, so I may just get the trade collection when that comes out.
DONALD & MICKEY QUARTERLY: TREASURE MENACE IN VENICE
GREEN LANTERNS #50; BATMAN #50; CATWOMAN #1 - I'm giving DC's latest "Creative Refresh" (as they're calling it in-house) a chance... just trying a few things I don't normally read. Didn't find any of these books to be particularly creative or refreshing, though.
XERXES: THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF DARIUS #4 (of 5)
ANT-MAN AND THE WASP #3 (of 5) - Ant-Man (in this case Ant-Man II, Scott Lang) is a character I'm predisposed to like, but 3 issues into this, I'm enjoying it less than I'd hoped to.
EMPOWERED & SISTAH SPOOKY'S HIGH SCHOOL HELL #5 (of 6)
[FROM THE WORLD OF BLACK HAMMER] THE QUANTUM AGE #1 (of 4) - I've enjoyed all of the series related to Jeff Lemire's BLACK HAMMER, and this one (which takes place in the 31st Century) was no exception.
RED SONJA/TARZAN #3
VAMPIRELLA: ROSES FOR THE DEAD #1 (of 5)
ELVIRA: MISTRESS OF DARK #1
PROJECT SUPERPOWERS #0
TAARNA #1 & 2
INFINITY 8 VOL 1 (of 8 ): LOVE AND MUMMIES #1-3 (of 3)
BY NIGHT #1 (Boom); UNNATURAL #1 (Image); NEW LIEUTENANTS OF METAL #1 (Image) - Again, just trying some new things to see if I like them. I liked each of these new series enough to at least read the next issues, and maybe more, we'll see.
ASSASSINISTAS #6 (of 6)
JUDGE DREDD: UNDER SIEGE #2 (of 4)
STAR TREK: NEW VISIONS #22 "AN UNEXPECTED YESTERDAY"

I find it ironic that VIXENS finally gets some decent interior artwork (by Sanya Anwar) with issue #8:
http://www.comicosity.com/first-look-betty-veronica-vixens-8/

Usually the industry thinking would be that you want to lead off in the first issue with the best artist you can (barely) afford to hire, in order to try to hook the maximum audience who are curious enough to give the new title a try to see if they like it. Only later, if sales drop off, might you resort to hiring a less-expensive (and less talented) artist, as a cost-saving measure to keep it going a little longer for a diminished audience.

I guess there's also the opposite approach, which is to try to inject some new interest into a title whose sales are floundering by introducing a new artist, in the hope that new readers will be willing to give it another try if they didn't like it before... but when you do something like that, you need to launch a new story direction (or at least begin a new arc) AND you need to hype the hell out of the new artists' taking over the art chores on the title. Since there's been no ballyhoo over the change in artists, and it's not even the launch of a new arc (issue #8 is Part 3 of "The Hunted", the arc which began with issue #6), there's obviously no point in changing artists now, because the fact that the title is ending with issue #10 has already been confirmed.

While the artwork in the issues published so far hasn't been up to professional standards in my opinion, a far more serious problem with VIXENS is the writing. Jamie Rotante's characterization and plotting are both VERY weak in this series, and I don't find myself sympathizing and wanting to root for the team when the girls are as prone to solving all their problems with violence as much as the antagonists.

June 30th:
KILL OR BE KILLED #20 (of 20) - An unfortunately unsatisfying conclusion to this otherwise excellently-written series.
THE SENTRY #1 (of 5) - I may read a couple more issues, but I found it slightly disappointing.
MULTIPLE MAN #1 (of 5) - One issue was enough. Not for me.
MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #7 - Doesn't seem to be really going anywhere, just spinning those wheels while awaiting the return of the Fantastic Four. This issue might be my last.
RICK & MORTY #39 - Always a fun read.
WONDER WOMAN #49 ("The Dark Gods" Part 4 of 5) - Not a bad story, but I'll be dropping this book when the creative team changes after issue 50.
THE FLASH #49 ("Flash War" Part 3 of 4) - Not too impressed with the story (it's just average), but I guess I'll finish reading it with #50.
THE TERRIFICS #5 - This might be the best DC Universe title right now.
SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP [with The Justice Society of America] #39 - Still my absolute favorite DC read every month, and I especially liked seeing the classic JSA in a story again.
ASTRO CITY #52

BETTY AND VERONICA JUMBO COMICS DIGEST #264
WONDER WOMAN: EARTH ONE OGN HC
ROM & THE MICRONAUTS #1-5 (of 5)
Marvel Masterworks: ANT-MAN/GIANT-MAN HC VOL 1-3 (of 3)
AVENGERS: THE MANY FACES OF HENRY PYM TP
Marvel Universe ANT-MAN DIGEST TP
ANT-MAN & THE WASP ADVENTURES DIGEST TP
MARVEL COMICS DIGEST #7 - ANT-MAN
ANT-MAN: SEASON ONE HC
Marvel's ANT-MAN PRELUDE TP
Marvel's ANT-MAN & THE WASP PRELUDE TP
ANT-MAN & WASP: SMALL WORLD TP
ANT-MAN: SCOTT LANG TP
AVENGERS: THE TRIAL OF YELLOWJACKET TP
Archie's Girls BETTY AND VERONICA #315

Ironically, the series finally gets some good interior artwork (by Sanya Anwar) in its final three issues, beginning with #8 in July. That's some kind of cockeyed thinking they've got at ACP. Usually, you want to lead off with the best artist you can (barely) afford to hire, and hopefully, once you've hooked a group of readers, then you can follow up with your lesser-talented artists (and pay them less). VIXENS saves the best interior artist it's had for the final three issues (which isn't even a complete story arc in itself), parts 3 through 5 of "The Hunted".

Of course, no amount of artistic talent is going to improve the writing. Come to think of it, that's just about the case of what happened with IDW's Jem and the Holograms. The final three issues (with artwork by Gisele) were the best-looking of the bunch, but too little too late.

Archie's Girls BETTY AND VERONICA #305, 310, 345
BETTY AND VERONICA (1987) #47, 56, 59, 61, 63, 72, 80, 104
CHERRY'S JUBILEE #1, 3, & 4 (of 4)
CHERRY DELUXE #1 (one-shot)
JUGHEAD #119 (Aug 1999)
FUTURE QUEST PRESENTS: THE HERCULOIDS #11 (of 12)
BATMAN: SINS OF THE FATHER #5 (of 6)
ANT-MAN AND THE WASP #2 (of 5)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #704
TONY STARK IRON MAN #1
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #801
AVENGERS #3
CABLE #158
THE BEEF #5 (of 5)
HIT-GIRL #5
MOONSHINE #11 (of 12)
KAIJUMAX SEASON 4 #1 (of 6)
TANK GIRL ALL-STARS #1 (of 4)
RICK & MORTY PRESENTS: KROMBOPULOUS MICHAEL #1 (one-shot)
GIDEON FALLS #4
EVIL, INC. AFTER DARK VOL 1: LIVE FAST, THWART HARD TP
THE RED HOOK VOL 01: NEW BROOKLYN TP by Dean Haspiel
DISNEY MASTERS VOL 02: DONALD DUCK & UNCLE SCROOGE'S MONEY ROCKET HC

ARCHIE'S SUPERTEENS VS CRUSADERS #1 (of 2) - Originally I was really disappointed to discover that Archie & friends would not be drawn in the traditional style. That aside, the artwork is some of the best I've seen on the characters since everything went "New Riverdale", and more importantly, the story has the saving grace of humor on its side. I guess I have to not think too much about stuff like Jughead carrying around an issue of MIGHTY CRUSADERS #1 from 1966 and handling it casually (it's not even bagged or boarded) like it was this week's issue or something (yet I know the story is taking place in the present time, because there are references to cell phones and videogames). The Crusaders, for their part, appear pretty much as they did back in 1966, costumes and all. I still think the story would have been funnier if they'd contrasted the styles of artwork between the Superteens (cartoon-style) and the Crusaders (adventure-style), but it looks like they went for a middle-ground modern (but still slightly retro) art style, which worked okay for what is was... all in all, taking into consideration what I've seen of the art styles in other recent Archie comics, I'd have to say things could have turned out a lot worse on the art front, so I was generally pretty happy with it. Ian Flynn's story is lighthearted, with some tongue-in-cheek dialogue, which seemed like a reasonable compromise. (I shudder to think of what it might have been like a couple of years ago when they were so editorially enamored with the whole "Dark Circle" approach.)

If I had one gripe about this, it's that it was all over with so fast. It seemed like the story had barely gotten started, when all of a sudden I'd reached the last page and "TO BE CONTINUED", leaving me hanging and frustrated until issue #2. Seeing as how it was only a 2-issue series, it would have been a lot more satisfying to see this as a double-sized one-shot special. I'm guessing those decisions all involve the marketing department, and questions like "How many variant covers can we squeeze out of this thing?". Not that I can really blame them, as variant covers seem to be the only thing keeping the floppy comic format afloat for ACP. I guess that neatly solved my dilemma of whether to file this with my Archie's Superteens comics or my Mighty Crusaders comics (they're in 2 different boxes), since I've now got 2 different covers and I can file one copy in each different box.

And there's a full page ad in the back of this comic for the upcoming ARCHIE 1941 series. Which I'm just going to pass on, unless when it comes out someone can convince me is actually funny.

Manga:
  Go Nagai's DEVILMAN VS HADES VOL 01 (of 3 tankobon) by Team Moon
  ASTRA: LOST IN SPACE VOL 03 (of 5 tankobon) by Kenta Shinohara
  Shotaro Ishinomori's KIKAIKER 02[CODE: ZERO TWO] VOLS 3-7 (of 7 tankobon) by Meimu
  CAPTAIN HARLOCK: THE CLASSIC COLLECTION VOL O1 HC by Leiji Matsumoto

Quote from: terrence12 on June 16, 2018, 11:16:54 AM

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on June 16, 2018, 08:54:55 AM
They don't need to go bankrupt or be sold (and I hardly think DC or Marvel would even be interested). They could simply stop publishing comics. It's not exactly the same thing. They can simply remain as owners of the intellectual property rights to a group of characters, licensing those characters to whomever is interested in using them... whether that be another comic book company (like IDW) that wants to publish reprints or new stories using those characters, or a television network (like CW) that wants to make a TV series like RIVERDALE, or any other company (like Rachel Antonoff or Funko) that wants to produce any kind of merchandise based on their characters.

You might have a good point there

To clarify further, bankruptcy would only be the result of having a company so deeply in debt that they were unable to pay their creditors. In such cases, it's necessary to liquidate the company's assets in order to satisfy at least a portion of that debt, and that can sometimes be done by selling the company (provided that they can find a willing buyer). No one here knows that ACP is in debt for a fact, only that their publishing efforts are not generating lots of money (as evidenced by the short-term nature of their attempts to start new ongoing series). If they're not making a decent profit in the publishing business, cutting their overhead costs (the money they have to pay to printers and distributors) would be logical, and they could do that by suspending publishing operations, while still maintaining the aspect of intellectual property ownership that's practically PURE profit -- licensing. ACP assumes no risk when another company licenses their characters -- the worst that can happen is that they won't MAKE a lot of money from the arrangement, but they can't LOSE any money, because the licensee assumes ALL the risk of financial investment in whatever product they're going to produce using the licensor's characters.

Quote from: terrence12 on June 16, 2018, 07:24:23 AM
And you know what my reaction is ,I think this could be a problem, It seems that Archie comics latest series are[/font]  mostly short lived or remain on hiatus even the Archie horror lineup like Afterlife with Archie and Chilling adventures of Sabrina remain on hiatus that Afterlife's possible upcoming (and likely final) storyarc Archie is Legends is not published yet. Especially that the main series Archie is currently on hiatus. And the company keeps changing the publishing lineup  while sales are likely on decline even though their hit series with CW Riverdale is a hit. And they are likely going to make more new series and miniseries which they call 'experimentation' to have Archie comic characters set in different settings, I mean I am okay with it but their series continue to be either on hiatus, short-lived series ,or be a miniseries.

I mean if they keep this up, Archie comics will likely go towards bankruptcy or  end up being sold to either DC, Marvel or IDW.

They don't need to go bankrupt or be sold (and I hardly think DC or Marvel would even be interested). They could simply stop publishing comics. It's not exactly the same thing. They can simply remain as owners of the intellectual property rights to a group of characters, licensing those characters to whomever is interested in using them... whether that be another comic book company (like IDW) that wants to publish reprints or new stories using those characters, or a television network (like CW) that wants to make a TV series like RIVERDALE, or any other company (like Rachel Antonoff or Funko) that wants to produce any kind of merchandise based on their characters.

Quote from: Vegan Jughead on June 15, 2018, 08:48:54 PM
I was never a fan of Betty and Veronica as biker chicks to begin with. I always thought of these ladies as too classy for that trash, so I'm not terribly disappointed that this title didn't work out.


https://www.cbr.com/betty-veronica-vixens-to-end-in-september-with-issue-10/

I think I predicted it wouldn't run more than 10 issues. Just enough to compile into 2 trade paperbacks.

The problem isn't so much the concept as the execution. It doesn't feel well thought-out, and the characters don't seem to behave in ways that are true to their characters as established in the classic Archie comics. Betty in particular seems to have some serious issues, and resorts to violence at the drop of a hat. There doesn't seem to be any room for lighthearted humor in this comic as it exists.

If you tossed the idea of "B&V as biker chicks" at Dan Parent, I have every confidence that he'd find lots of ways to have fun with that, while still keeping them recognizable in characterization to the B&V we're all familiar with.

06-13-18:
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #793-800
MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #1
TITANS SPECIAL #1
WONDER WOMAN #48
FLASH #48
HAWKMAN #1
PLASTIC MAN #1 (of 6)
KICK-ASS #5
WORLD OF TANKS: CITADEL #2 (of 5)
STELLAR #1
RED SONJA/TARZAN #2

THE CARNEYS #1 - Awesome find! I loved it! May do a more detailed review later, time permitting.
CHERYL BLOSSOM #27 - Cheryl is trapped in a hedge maze with Veronica! One of the fairly rare stories where it's just the two of them, without Betty or Archie. Cheryl and Jason crash a Halloween party wearing the same costumes as Veronica and Archie (oh yeah, it's NOT a coincidence).
ARCHIE & FRIENDS #11 - Chuck gets a pet iguana, but Nancy is NOT thrilled. Sabrina has problems taking care of Cleara's invisible dog.
LIFE WITH ARCHIE #281
JUGHEAD #53, 137
VERONICA #20, 21, 45, 70 - What was up with that weird "Whimsical Rich Girl" period (as it says over the cover logo masthead of #20 & 21) where the word "whimsy" is referred to often in dialogue, and oddball characters like Sassy Thrasher, Aerobic Liz, and New Age Crystal show up?
BETTY AND ME #119, 199, 200
BETTY #3, 59, 86
BETTY AND VERONICA SPECTACULAR #44 - Another one of those "Archie's Angels" stories. I've lost track of how many of these there are... at least four, I think, counting the one(s) from the 1970s. The most often reprinted one is that story "Melvin's Angels" from AGB&V #277 (Jan. 1979). That's the one where B&V go to investigate a health spa and really get worked over by the head masseuse, the muscle-y Olga (only to discover that Melvin sent them to the wrong spa by mistake). Then there's this one from B&V Spec 44, inspired by the movie remake of the old TV series, which was followed up by a direct sequel in B&V Spec 59 (in #44, Brigette Reilly is the 3rd "Angel"... in #59, she's replaced by a much more logical candidate for 3rd Angel... Ginger Lopez). I could swear that there's at least one more of these that had Tomoko Yoshida (or was it Kumi Tamura?) as the 3rd Angel. I also kind of vaguely recall another older story (not connected to the one-shot "Melvin's Angels") that parodied the original TV series.

...and on top of all those, I still have another 10 issues of BETTY AND VERONICA (from both series) that I haven't read yet! Conditions on these were mostly VG to Fine+, so not bad. Can't believe I found a copy of THE CARNEYS at last! All these for 50 cents each.

Bumping this thread because I updated the original post with comic shop release dates (scroll back to top of page).

I just pre-ordered all those "Archie Comics Presents..." TPs (well, up through LIFE WITH ARCHIE, which is as far ahead as Diamond Comics solicitations go so far) and Vol 4 of ARCHIE'S BIG BOOK. But that's the direct market comic shop ordering system. Meanwhile, the book trade obviously gets solicitations (which for typical trade collections is 3 to 4 months in advance of shipping dates in the direct market) far in advance of comic shops, so they are dangling products before our eyes that won't actually appear until January or February of 2019, seven or eight months from now. Presuming all human life on this planet isn't extinguished by a large asteroid collision in the the intervening time.

WEEK OF 06-06-18 (so far):
True Believers: ANT-MAN & THE WASP: THE BIRTH OF GIANT-MAN #1 [reprints Tales To Astonish #35 & 49]

ANT-MAN & THE WASP: LIVING LEGENDS #1 - The story turned out to be a sequel to Tales To Astonish #49! Pretty good old-school superhero one-shot.
-- Well, they gotta push Ant-Man & Wasp, 'cause they got a movie out now. The original Ant-Man (Hank Pym) & Wasp have long been among my favorite characters in the Marvel U, so it's nice to see them getting some attention, after decades of relative neglect. Even if most of it is focused on Scott Lang (Ant-Man II), who I also like, although not as much as Pym. Pym's history has taken so many twists and turns, and he wound up creating new heroes left and right. First he became Ant-Man; then he turned his girlfriend into the Wasp. Then he became GIAnt-Man, and then after getting stuck at 12' tall, changed his name to Goliath. Then he regained control of his size, and then he went a little split-personality and became the (normal-sized) superhero Yellowjacket. But then he couldn't decide which superhero identity he wanted, and became Ant-Man again... and then Goliath again. Along the way, he kept passing along his old identities and powers to other characters: for a while, Hawkeye became the new Goliath, and then Hank Pym's old lab partner Bill Foster became Black Goliath. Then Scott Lang became the second Ant-Man, and then Rita DeMara became the second Yellowjacket. When the original Wasp was thought dead after Secret Invasion, Hank Pym himself took on the Wasp identity to honor his dead wife's memory, and even teamed up with a third Ant-Man. And now it seems like Hank Pym is the one currently thought dead (yeah, like that'll ever last), and it was discovered that Pym has a Russian daughter by his previous marriage (his former wife was killed by "Commies"... it was a Cold War thing, you had to be there), and she (Nadia Pym) has become the new Wasp, who teams up with Scott Lang (Ant-Man II; it seems like the third one retired) in the following Mark Waid-written miniseries:

ANT-MAN & THE WASP #1 (of 5) - It was okay. Art was acceptable, nothing really special though. Hard to know where Waid is going with this story of Scott Lang (A-M 2) and Nadia Pym (Wasp 2). There wasn't really anything wrong with the story, about the two accidentally getting stuck in the Microverse (or one of the microverses, there seem to be several), but I guess I'll just have to see how it plays out, since it's only five issues. If I like it at the end, I'll buy the trade paperback as a keeper.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #703 - The penultimate issue of Waid's last arc on the series. At first I was overjoyed, having loved his previous run on Cap, plus his more recent, very long run on DAREDEVIL which ended a few years back. The first arc, which pitted Cap against the familiar Spider-Man foe Kraven the Hunter, was great. And then it all got weird in the second arc, with Captain American thrust into some dystopian future U.S. The third arc is similar to the second, but this time it's a seeming utopia, instead. Only... Captain America isn't IN the story. It supposedly about his future descendents, and there's no one in the future running around in a Captain America costume. The triumphant return of Waid just doesn't FEEL like a Cap story, so it's a kind of q big letdown after the first arc.

DOCTOR STRANGE #1 - Dr. Strange... without his magic. In outer space. Don't know what Waid's thinking on this one, but it seems like he's grasping at straws in an attempt to find something never done with the character before.

INFINITY COUNTDOWN #4 (of 5) - Okay, I'm KINDA following this with vagueish interest, because it involves a few of my long-time favorite 'cosmic' Marvel heroes. Probably a good idea that they left Thanos OUT of this one.

IMMORTAL HULK #1 - NO. Sorry, I'm done. They just can't stop trying to reinvent the wheel. Just leave it alone.

B & V FRIENDS JUMBO COMICS DIGEST #263 - Good stuff. Josie stories always welcome. I know I had mpre stuff to say about the stories, but now I've waited too long to write this, and thinking about some other comics I read just crowded it out of my head. Maybe if I have time, I'll flip through it again and revisit those thoughts.

WONDER WOMAN ANNUAL #2 - Okay. I've only got a couple more issues to go on the current WW story arc. then I'll drop it.

MAN OF STEEL #1 & 2 (of 6) - 2 out of 6 was all I needed to make a decision. At least it was a quick read. With the usual trademarked Bendis plot-hook gimmicks. I'll bail out before I start and save myself the frustration later.

DC NATION #1 - I had a rant about DC's recent line-wide shakeup all ready in my head, but now I'm too tired. I'll save it for next week or something.

FIGHTING AMERICAN: THE TIES THAT BIND #4 (of 4)
XERXES: THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF DARIUS #3 (of 5)
DOCTOR STAR & THE KINGDOM OF LOST TOMORROWS #4 (of 4)
SHEENA #9
KONG OF SKULL ISLAND 2018 SPECIAL #1

Still have a bunch of manga tankobon and some Ant-Man trade pb collections in my stack for later.