WEEK OF 10-04-17:
PUNISHER: PLATOON #1 (of 6)
SPIRITS OF VENGEANCE #1 (of 5)
PROJECT SUPERPOWERS: HERO KILLERS #5 (of 5)
HACK/SLASH VS VAMPIRELLA #1 (of 5)
THE SHADOW/BATMAN #1 (of 6)
BATMAN THE MURDER MACHINE #1 (one-shot)
BATMAN THE DAWNBREAKER #1 (one-shot)
HILLBILLY #8
THREE STOOGES HALLOWEEN STOOGETACULAR (one-shot)
PINK PANTHER PINK ANNIVERSARY (one-shot)
THE DAMNED #4
BLACK MAGICK #8
SOUTHERN BASTARDS #18
RICK & MORTY #30
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA: OLD MAN JACK #1
CAPTAIN KRONOS, VAMPIRE HUNTER #1
SAUCER STATE #4 (OF 6)
SKULL ISLAND BIRTH OF KONG #3

Looks like they brought everything in paperback but those 1000 Page Comics digests. 

... AND you need tickets just to buy some designer collectible vinyl toys?? ?? ?? ?? What's up with that?

I'm athletic and like to keep in shape.

My best gal-pal is Veronica Lodge.

I have blond hair and people say I'm good looking.

I'm a good student.

I love my sister and we get along great.

I believe in social justice and getting involved with my community.

My best guy-pal is Jughead.

I have a positive outlook, and people like me.

Even though I have a boyfriend, sometimes I can get distracted by a hunky guy.

I like journalism, and I might want to make it my career after graduation.

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
[If your answer ended in Keller or Cooper, you are absolutely correct!]

YOUR PAL ARCHIE #3 is out next week (along with the reprint ARCHIE'S HALLOWEEN SPECIAL)!

And for Halloween ComicFest coming up the week of Halloween, another ARCHIE'S MADHOUSE minicomic! 

Quote from: irishmoxie on October 04, 2017, 07:58:11 PM
I'm still trying to figure out whether PEP or Pals n Gals had any unique Josie or Sabrina stories.

Josie stories began appearing in both PEP and LAUGH Comics the same month that JOSIE #1 came out (from March 1963 through May 1965). After that, Josie shorts began appearing in ARCHIE'S TV LAUGH-OUT, then back to PEP for a 3 issues in 1974, 3 issues in 1975, 1 in 1982 and 1 in 1986. After that, back to LAUGH Comics for #400 (the final issue) and then in LAUGH (Vol. 2) #1-29, then to ARCHIE & FRIENDS.

Sabrina shorts began in ARCHIE'S MADHOUSE, moved to ARCHIE'S TV LAUGH-OUT with its first issue, then when it ended to LAUGH (Vol. 2) #1-29, and when that ended to ARCHIE & FRIENDS #2-15. Sabrina's appearances in PEP were very irregular -- she appeared in issues #345 (1/2-page gag), 382, 389, 398 (1-page gag), 407, & 411 (the final issue). Prior to Vol. 2 of LAUGH, she had appeared in issues #380 (1/2-page gag), 394 & 399 of LAUGH Comics, before it ended.

That covers all of their runs as regularly reoccurring features in the anthology titles. Josie appeared in ARCHIE'S PALS 'n GALS #23 (Winter 1962-63) in the 6-page "Tongue Twister" and in ARCHIE'S PALS 'n' GALS #194 (in the 1-page "Say Cheese!"). Sabrina's appearances in ARCHIE'S PALS 'n' GALS were limited to 1/2-page gags in #189, 193, 202, 213, 217, & 224 (and a 1-pager in #214). Both Josie and Sabrina could show up in any of the anthology titles, but it was as a very occasional feature, or more likely as a 1/2 to 2-page gag filler. To be honest, either of them were more likely to show up in a 1-page Hostess advertisement, or a house ad. I'm working up an index of Josie and Sabrina stories in the anthology titles. TV LAUGH-OUT is the only anthology title to have both Josie and Sabrina stories for the majority of its 106-issue run, although it varies issue by issue as to whether the stories are 5-6 pagers or 1/2-page to 1-page gags (issues #1-17 were the only ones to have any Sabrina stories longer than 6 pages).

Judging by the Harley & Ivy Meet B&V thing, I'm going to say... no.

"New Riverdale-izing" these crossover stories just sucks every last potential iota of fun out of them for me.

Quote from: rusty on October 03, 2017, 04:34:13 PM
If you're thinking of Archie Giant Series which ran from 1954-1992  (38 years), it actually produced fewer issues than Pep.  It ended with issue #632, but there were two gaps.


It skipped from #35 (Oct 65) to #136 (Dec 65)


and it skipped from #251 (Oct 76) to #452 (Dec 76)


I'm not sure why they skipped these numbers, but it means that there were only 332 issues in the series as opposed to 632.


I find it interesting, though, that Archie Giant Series actually continued a variety of canceled titles, including Pep (5 issues) and other titles such as Josie, Little Archie, Archie's Pals n Gals and Archie and Me.

You're right. I knew about the gap of 200 missing issues between 251 and 452, but I didn't know that was the second time they skipped ahead!

Which really makes me wonder what the deal was with that. I can see it happening once, because someone just goofed, and then once the issue was published, rather than try to correct it, they just went on with the mis-numbering as if nothing had happened. If it happened twice, then it seems like it was done deliberately somehow -- but for what possible purpose or to what advantage? It isn't like some of those cases where a comic book series continued on from the numbering of a previously-published cancelled series, for the purpose of saving the company from having to file with the PO for special mailing rates for subscriptions.

And I just bought 3 of those Archie Giant Series issues of PEP. Josie hung around for nearly the complete run of AGS, but Sabrina only got 2 issues shortly after her own title was cancelled (almost like they were using up inventory stories), and other series like the Madhouse Glads, That Wilkin Boy, and Reggie & Me got no issues at all in the AGS run. In the mid-to-late 1980s AGS was used to to test the waters for later series like Betty's Diary, Archie's Explorers of the Unknown, and Jughead's Time Police.

What strikes me as particularly weird about making PEP part of the AGS series is that there was nothing that appeared in PEP when it was still being published that was unique to that particular title. Those stories could have appeared in any of the Archie-related titles. Then again, AGS had some rotating issues like Betty & Veronica Spectacular, World of Archie and World of Jughead which didn't have any particular theme to them, unlike the seasonal ones. Sometimes I suspect the whole point of AGS was to make it look like the company published a dozen more titles than they really did, because apart from things like Josie, Christmas Stocking, or Summer Fun, most of the contents were indistinguishable from what you'd find in any random issue of Archie, B&V, or Jughead.

Quote from: Purgatori on September 30, 2017, 06:32:56 AM
I'll offer

1 - Pep
2 - 47 years
3 - 411

PEP would be the correct answer only if we were going by the number of years it was published, because PEP was published for the longest time (apart from ARCHIE) without being reset to a new volume #1. What I'm looking for is the series that was published continuously and produced the most issues without duplicate issue numbers.

One more clue: The series that produced the most issues in its run before being cancelled began after PEP, but continued to be published after PEP was cancelled, and wound up with more issues published than 411, even though it was only in continuous publication for less than 47 years. LAUGH is another series that was cancelled with its 400th issue, and then renumbered to a new volume #1, which ran for an additional 29 issues, so if I were allowing that, LAUGH would have beat PEP (as would JUGHEAD and BETTY AND VERONICA). But the answer here is a series which ran continously for more issues than PEP without being reset to a new volume #1.

Quote from: ASS-P on October 02, 2017, 12:50:21 PM
...ACP's " guide ", back at their Web site, said that Archie was 17/18, and a junior in HS??, as were all. He may have been 15/16 before?? (I do believe B&V went, likewise, in the official guide from being 15 (16) to 16 (17) - presumably make them closer to
" fully legal " - and " Sweet Sixteen " .)
  This was the pre-2015 Archie, and furthermore, not the itself-seperate I suppose YPA version, I guess..." A boo-boo on the writer's part", is about the only real explanation!

Well, I'm sure if they'd been thinking far enough ahead they would have made them all 18 to address the Riverdale gang's burning desire to purchase lottery tickets in the prescribed "fully legal" fashion. I mean clearly they are of legal age to obtain their drivers' licenses, but beyond that and a need to support the state-run gambling franchise, I can't imagine what they'd be needing to be old enough to do "fully legally". I am not a lawyer, but perhaps someone better versed in the law can explain to me the exact distinction between the "fully" type of legality and the other kind.

Quote from: ASS-P on October 02, 2017, 01:04:18 PM
  As for Veronics, it appears that the Lodges have live-in servants on-site at all times...But has that ever been absolutely spelled out ?

They do get vacations and days off, since that's an occasional plot device in stories. But I think you can take it as given that there's always a domenstic staff at the Lodge Mansion. There was a story I read just recently where Mr. & Mrs. Lodge took an overseas trip with Veronica, and Veronica asked Betty to come over to the mansion and pet-sit her little dog, since she couldn't bear to leave it at a kennel. At first Betty is excited thinking it's going to be like a vacation for her being waited on hand and foot by the Lodge household servants, but she quickly tires of it after they're constantly asking her if she wants or needs this or that, and by the time the Lodges return home, she can't wait to get back to her normal life at the Coopers' house. Then there was another story where she was house-sitting the mansion for some reason, and she felt sorry for the household staff because they just seemed so subservient, so servile, and she winds up thanking them for every little thing they do for her, and eventually she feels sorry for them since it seems like they're constantly working so hard to please, and she winds up giving them all a few days off. When the service staff come back just before the Lodges return and Betty has to go home, they throw a little farewell thank-you party for Betty because they aren't used to being treated so nicely!

ARCHIE'S WEIRD MYSTERIES - Watched 12 episodes (out of 40 total) of this show, and it's the first time I've really seen it.

THE BAD: The character designs, the animation, the voice acting, and the horrible opening theme song. I might have rated it as typical of its time had it been made in 1989 as opposed to 1999, and even though I've owned this DVD set for years now, this is the first time I've been able to force myself to watch through an entire episode. In addition to that, there's a little over 4 hours of video (10 episodes + 1 "bonus" Sabrina episode) squeezed onto each of the 4 discs in this set, so the poor video quality due to compression doesn't help. It's no real surprise that this show wound up being dumped onto the Fox Family channel, since I'm sure none of the networks or major basic cable channels wanted to touch it with a 10-foot pole. It's pretty embarrassing by turn-of-the-millennium animated series standards.

THE GOOD: Once I managed to get past all of the above and force myself through watching a few episodes, I noticed that (given the basic atypically-Archie Comics premise) the writing is actually not half-bad, certainly far better than most previous Archie Comics cartoon adaptations. The single exception would probably be the original Hanna-Barbera JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS season, but who knows, if the animation and voice acting here were better, maybe it would be up to that standard. The best thing that can be said about it is that the writers obviously bothered to actually read some Archie comics, so that the characters at least somewhat resemble the personalities that readers of the comics are familiar with. The quality of the individual episodes' plots vary somewhat, but the better ones (such as the few that focus on Veronica as a main character) actually manage to get the characters' dynamics right. In fact, I'd say a fair number of the episodes were better plotted and written than many of the issues of the comic book series spawned from the show, and on average it's no more badly-plotted or written than something like ARCHIE'S EXPLORERS OF THE UNKNOWN or JUGHEAD'S TIME POLICE, to mention a couple of "atypical" Archie series which it might be comparable to. I guess we could still wish for a show that was closer to a mainstream classic Archie series, but for what it is, it's okay. I just wish the acting was a little less hokey-sounding and that they had bothered to model the characters more closely on their comic book appearance.

Oh, and if I recall correctly, I think I spent about $8 (new/sealed) for the set, so I guess I can say that I about got my money's worth at least.

Quote from: rusty on October 01, 2017, 01:52:37 PM

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on October 01, 2017, 12:05:39 AM

Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on September 30, 2017, 06:46:39 PM
How do you know Archie's not 18 in this story?

Because he's still in high school? Nothing has changed in that respect. I guess the Archieverse just has different laws regarding playing the lottery.

There are plenty of high school students who are 18.  I turned 18 in January of my senior year, but I've had students who turned 18 before their senior year even started.


I haven't read the story in question and he probably isn't supposed  to be 18, but not just because he is still in high school.

It rarely seems to be mentioned in most stories, but the few times I can recall seeing it, Archie (and his friends) are mentioned as being 16.

But then, inconsistency is sort of the hallmark of Archie Comics stories, as in a story from earlier this year in one of the digests where Jellybean looks (and talks and acts) like she's 5 or 6 years old, as opposed to the baby or toddler she's usually portrayed as. This particular story had Archie and Jughead at a summer camp as counselors, and Jellybean as one of the campers, and she gets in trouble by running a money-making scam (selling the other campers snack foods on the sly at high markup cost) which she learned by imitating Jughead.

Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on September 30, 2017, 06:46:39 PM

Quote from: ASS-P on September 29, 2017, 12:53:42 PM
Sixteen-year-olds are not allowed to play the lottery!

How do you know Archie's not 18 in this story?

Because he's still in high school? Nothing has changed in that respect. I guess the Archieverse just has different laws regarding playing the lottery.

Quote from: ASS-P on September 30, 2017, 07:46:05 AM
Okay - HOW MANY FLIPPING VERSIONS, ALREADY, HAVE their been of the " serious " super-heroes published by ACP have there been? I was tending to call them " the MLJ heroes, yes, evem[size=78%] including the ones who originated after the MLJ name was given up, but I saw a Wikipedia entry saying " Red Circle " was the prefered generic phrase. Which one?[/size]

The MLJ era = 1939-1948 (Pep, Zip, Top-Notch, Blue Ribbon, Jackpot. Black Hood and Shield are the last holdouts in Laugh and Pep after 1946.

"Archie Adventure Series" era = 1959-1964 Adventures of the Fly #1-30, Double Life of Pvt. Strong #1-2, Adventures of the Jaguar #1-15, The Shadow #1-3. Jaguar, Fly, and Fly-Girl also appear briefly as a regular short feature of both Laugh and Pep.

Mighty Comics Group era = 1965-1967 The Shadow #4-8, Fly-Man #31-39, The Mighty Crusaders #1-7, Mighty Comics Presents #40-50.

Red Circle (1) imprint = 1972-1974 Horror/mystery stories, no supers. Chilling Tales of Sorcery, Madhouse.

Red Circle (2) era = 1983-1985 Brief revival years of The Mighty Crusaders #1-13, plus several other heroes in their own titles. All short-lived. Final year dispenses with Red Circle imprint (originally direct-sales only) in favor of "Archie Adventure Series" corner box and newsstand distribution again.

*Spectrum Comics* (circa 1989-1990)  Intended "edgy" ACP superhero imprint which would have rebooted The Fly and The Hangman; others in various stages of treatment. Cancelled after over a year in development plus advance publicity in The Comics Buyers' Guide, when Michael Silberkleit finally sees Kelley Jones' pencilled pages for The Hangman #1, is utterly revolted, and pulls the plug on the entire project.

Impact! Comics era = 1991-1992 (licensed by DC Comics) Numerous titles, rebooted heroes. Lighter tone than current DC mainstream titles, for an intended audience a few years younger (not unlike Marvel's "Ultimate" universe, a decade later).

Red Circle (3) era = 2009-2010 (licensed by DC Comics) The Shield, The Web, Hangman, Mighty Crusaders

Red Circle (4) era = 2012-2014 Back at Archie Comics: New Crusaders: Rise of the Heroes #1-6; The Fox #1-5

Dark Circle era = 2015-2017  Black Hood, The Fox, Hangman, The Shield, The Mighty Crusaders #1 (Dec. 2017)

Just for fun, let's see if anyone knows the answer to this.


Question 1)  Other than ARCHIE, what is the name of the longest-running (according to total number of issues) ongoing title which Archie Comic Publications has had in its entire history?

Question 2)  How many years did that title run (+/- 6 months)?

Question 3)  How many issues of that title were published before it was cancelled?



Important Note:  Any title that was cancelled, but then restarted again immediately with a new #1 issue is ineligible for inclusion by adding up the number or issues in more than one volume of the title. This leaves out such obvious contenders as JUGHEAD and BETTY AND VERONICA. Good luck! If no one gets it, I'll reveal the answer next week.