WEEK OF 06-28-17:
ARCHIE'S PALS 'N' GALS DOUBLE DIGEST #81, 82, 98, 126
JUGHEAD #16 (of 16) "...and thus ends my reading of 'The New Riverdale'..."
UNCLE SCROOGE #27
X-MEN BLUE #6
WONDER WOMAN #25
DETECTIVE COMICS #959
BATMAN/THE SHADOW #3 (of 6) - This is frankly pretty bad. Basically just getting it for the interesting variant covers now.
BATMAN '66 MEETS WONDER WOMAN '77 #6 (of 6) - This was possibly the most highly enjoyable Batman '66 crossover miniseries so far.
WONDER WOMAN '77 MEETS THE BIONIC WOMAN #5 (of 6) - Another great crossover which utilized villains who appeared in various episodes of both TV series. Lots of nice attention given to various details.
SCOOBY DOO TEAM UP #27 (with PLASTIC MAN) - I just love Plastic Man.
WONDER WOMAN 100 PROJECT TP - Another in a series, showcasing 100 pieces of artwork donated by various pros (drawn on blank variant covers), and later auctioned off (after photographing) to benefit The Hero Initiative, an organization which lends aid to comic creators in need.
AMERICA VS. THE JUSTICE SOCIETY TP
KAMANDI CHALLENGE #6 (of 12)
JONAH HEX/YOSEMITE SAM SPECIAL #1
BATMAN/ELMER FUDD SPECIAL #1

Quote from: Tokyo on June 28, 2017, 12:37:06 AM

Quote from: SAGG on June 26, 2017, 05:32:37 PM

Quote from: Tokyo on June 26, 2017, 12:55:56 PM
Have to cut down my Archie collection from 250 to 90. I've been trying to scan some stories from old digests and the pages always look so yellow and God forbid that the binding causes the pages to crease. Been trying to clean them up in Photoshop but I oversaturate the colors too much...any tips on scanning would be appreciated!

Hello, and welcome. Heck, I just use my snipping tool (thanks again, DR), and then scan them. I really don't think too much about the yellowing of the page or such. To me, it's the aging effect that naturally occurs to old comics. I don't worry about it myself...

Yeah, you're probably right. A lot of my older Archies are so dirty though lol.

You can use image manipulation software to change brightness, contrast and color balances in a program like MS Office Picture Manager. If you don't have it in your version of MS Office, you can download it for free here (just follow the instructions on the page):
https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Where-is-Picture-Manager-58837c3e-34db-4904-95e8-4eca7b7c5730

You can further manipulate your scanned images using Paint, and even erase spots of dirt in the white areas.

One tip would be to always save a copy of the original scan before you start to play around with it. Then if you're not satisfied with the end results of your tinkering, you can always make another copy and try again, until you figure out a combination of adjustments that seem to work. Sometimes you need to adjust several things, brightness AND contrast AND color balance. Some people think it's all one thing or the other, and push it to an extreme range in one thing, but it's better to make smaller adjustments on several different things -- you just need to figure out the right combination.

Another tip would be to try and figure out what the absolute minimum resolution scan that would be acceptable to you is. Try scanning once that way, and once at a much higher resolution, and see if one or the other gets better results after manipulating a copy. Even if the scanned resolution is far too high to be practical, you can always reduce the resolution later, after you've manipulated it to your satisfaction.

If you try and straighten a crooked image, you lose resolution, so try to scan it straight in the first place. Another good reason for that is that if the panel borders and gutters are ruled absolutely straight, as they should be in most cases, you can drop a rectangular strip of white along the top, bottom and sides, and even in the gutters -- if there's not a lot of uncolored space inside the panels, that would take care of most of the page yellowing. Of course you still have to deal with word balloons.

You also can't get rid of wrinkles in the pages, so you need to flatten those out as much as possible when scanning, even if it means putting something on top of the book to hold the page flat.

A lot of the questions boil down to how much time do you want to spend manipulating each page? However, in the beginning you need to spend a lot of time on a few pages, just to figure out what sort of general adjustments get the best results. Once you do that, later pages will go faster.

Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on June 26, 2017, 12:31:17 PM

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on June 22, 2017, 01:31:47 PM
Additional layers of confusion are merely added by the fact that all the New Riverdale titles seem to look like they belong to the same universe, and vague cross-references have appeared here and there, along with some commonalities. Yet there is nothing distinctly pointing to the titles NOT being in the same universe, either. It's only when the stories are closely examined that we can discover that things just don't line up between them, but it's subtle and non-obvious unless you dig deeper.

I just read #2 and was surprised to see Cheryl there. I guess, if it's supposed to take place in the same universe as the "Archie" title, it occurs only after Veronica's return to Riverdale. It occurs in autumn of 2016, so I guess it's supposed to be the following school year, placing those Veronica-in-Switzerland issues in the 2015-2016 school year.

That's exactly what I mean. They're sort of the same, yet they're not, either. You can only discover the latter by dissecting the stories and trying to figure out if they can possibly inhabit the same universe, but at the same time, there's nothing obviously signalling the reader that they're NOT part of the same universe, until you examine all the little details.

Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on June 26, 2017, 12:31:17 PM
But Cheryl is working for Veronica (washing cars) and calling her "coach". I can't imagine the Cheryl of the "Archie" title (or any version of Cheryl, actually) doing that.

Fair enough. And _I_ can't imagine any version of Betty I'm familiar with that's like the social justice warrior (what a drag!) portrayed in JUGHEAD.

So now it's like a murky question of which is it:

A) "Well, we just decided to go a different way here with the New Riverdale comics. OUR version of Jughead is self-identifying as asexual."

B) No, it's just plain BAD charaterization. The writers don't really know the classic versions of the characters beyond a superficial familiarity, so they're making up new characterizations for them as they go along.

C) "Hey, whatever works for the story. Let's not get hung up on details." Refer back to B.

D) "Well, obviously... DUH. Because it's a different universe. Oh, excuse me, I meant to say they're ALL different universes. Every single title. But we're not exactly going to come right out and say THAT, just in case some people might not like the idea."

I'm okay with it either way, as long as they don't start doing stories that cross over from one title to another. What I'm NOT okay with is having to guess at their intentions. I could live with some changes in art and storytelling style (presuming I LIKE those in the first place) if the characterizations stayed the same, but they seem to want to have that leeway for "interpretation" as well.

Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on June 26, 2017, 12:15:03 PM
I just read #2, and I have a few questions:

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on June 22, 2017, 03:47:23 AM
It did feel as though the conclusion to Hughes' B&V arc was rewritten on the fly -- as if to specifically address criticisms of the earlier issues in the series. Specifically: Betty swearing

When, exactly, did Betty swear in either of the first two issues?

Comic book swearing. Where it's indicated by a bunch of unintelligible symbols, not spelled out. Betty feels embarrassed about it in issue #3 when the truth  about the big "feud" comes out.

Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on June 26, 2017, 12:15:03 PM

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on June 22, 2017, 03:47:23 AM
Veronica's "ultrabitch" attitude

Why would this even be criticized? Veronica has often been an "ultrabitch" through the decades.

Not this bad since at least the mid-'80s, and it's never been sustained over so many pages for a single story. It's just beyond the pale.

Which is why Hughes feels compelled to pointedly reveal that both Betty's swearing and Veronica's over-the-top bitchiness are, in fact, part of an elaborately-staged, long-sustained role-playing scheme. Spoiler for those who haven't read it. Sorry.

Which explains why it's easy to fool the readers, because we don't know if we really know THIS B&V. It's the very first story of a rebooted continuity for the characters, and we have no idea which way the writer's going with these parallel-universe counterparts to the B&V we're familiar with. If it's not the way they'd normally act though, why didn't any of their closest friends have the slightest clue?

Quote from: SAGG on June 25, 2017, 04:11:55 PM

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on June 25, 2017, 02:23:08 PM
Templeton did a really nice job with the inking. Gives it a slightly different look.

I hate Betty's hair. Makes her less attractive.

Hm. She needs bangs...?

That swept straight back, plastered-down skullcap look isn't doing anything for Reggie, either.

Templeton did a really nice job with the inking. Gives it a slightly different look.

I hate Betty's hair. Makes her less attractive.

The short version is that it's the BEST trade paperback ACP has released yet, because it's exactly the sort of thing comic collectors want -- ALL Sabrina stories reprinted in chronological order of their original appearance. ALL the stories are credited, and the source of the original publication is noted in each case (there are a few errors that I caught). There's even a table of contents listing all the stories by title, and which page they're found on (something frustratingly lacking in most Archie Comics trade collections). The actual book design is very attractive as well. Here you get to see Sabrina's character develop over the early years in the same order readers of the time did, but in a highly focused and concentrated form. This collection is basically following the same blueprint as Marvel's Essential series, or DC Comics' Showcase Presents series: 500+ pages of comics on cheap paper, in black & white, at a bargain-basement price ($10), but the size is identical to that used for ACP's Best of Archie Comics or Archie's Favorite Comics collections.

How complete is it? ALL of Sabrina's stories (and a single cover appearance) from ARCHIE'S MADHOUSE/MADHOUSE MA-AD JOKES (before the title changed to THE MADHOUSE GLADS) are included, even the one-page and 1/2 page gags (plus you get a bonus 1/2 page gag featuring Fran the Fan and Bippy the Hippy). In a couple of those, Sabrina shared a story with other Madhouse regulars, like Ronald the Rubber Boy and Professor Transistor. ALL of Sabrina's early appearances from ARCHIE'S T.V. LAUGH-OUT (through issue #10), and issues #1 through 4 of SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH (all Archie Giant issues), plus the Sabrina stories from ARCHIE'S CHRISTMAS STOCKING and the very first Archie Giant Series SABRINA'S CHRISTMAS MAGIC issue (technically dated Jan. 1972). Many of those early stories have Sabrina interacting with Archie and the gang. ALL of the covers on which Sabrina appeared are also reproduced -- down to those on which Sabrina made only a cameo appearance as part of the crowd, including random issues of ARCHIE and JUGHEAD.

Don't let the black & white format put you off. It's even on cheaper, thinner paper (this applies to the cover stock as well) than previous books in the "Best of Archie Comics/Archie's Favorite Comics" series, which is a detraction, but the content of the book trumps all of those drawbacks. The fact of the matter is that once you begin reading the book, your awareness of "no color" quickly fades, because you become engrossed in the stories, and watching the evolution of Sabrina and her supporting cast unfold. I'm hoping that if people support this, it will someday get the same Deluxe Edition treatment as THE BEST OF ARCHIE COMICS - BOOK ONE. But the catch is, if no one supports this version of the book, that's never going to happen.

Here's Jughead "coming out of the closet"...

Makes you wonder, don't it? Exactly what DOES go on in the Supply Room closet at Riverdale High School???

SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH COMPLETE COLLECTION v1 (1962-1971) TP 
reviewed: https://www.archiefans.com/reviews/some-reviews/?message=11203

Quote from: irishmoxie on June 19, 2017, 06:28:35 PM

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on June 19, 2017, 03:40:17 AM

LOONEY TUNES GREATEST HITS VOL. 01 TP
LOONEY TUNES GREATEST HITS VOL. 02 TP

How was Looney Tunes?

They're good stories. Most are shorts, like Archie Comics. The artists stayed on-model, and the writers stayed true to the characterization with all the characters, although some of the incidental characters are more modern-looking in design than what you'd see in classic Looney Tunes cartoons. The gags tried to stay true to the spirit of the original cartoons, even though some more modern-day humor appears. Not quite as effective as the actual cartoons in terms of the humor, but that's only because they lack the slapstick timing only possible in animation, and the character voices, sound effects, and BG music score of the original Looney Tunes cartoons -- but, to the extent that you can supply these yourself, these stories actually work pretty well. I haven't read a lot of the old Dell/Gold Key/Whitman Warner Brothers animated comics, but I'd guess the DC version is probably far superior.

Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on June 22, 2017, 10:25:15 AM

As for B&V being friends, I think we're supposed to disregard the "Archie" title (after all, Veronica hasn't been shipped off); each New Riverdale title seems to be its own continuity. It's basically like they went "Here are Betty and Veronica; you know who they are; LET'S GO!"

But DO we know who they are? That seems to be the very thrust of the storyline, what it's playing on, that sort of rebootish uncertainty of "You only THINK you know B&V!" It seems they're playing on the "anything could happen" aspect of a reboot to set up the B VERSUS V situation, which wouldn't be the least bit believable (or fool anyone) in a classic Archie story -- not with the tone taken in this story -- but in the New Riverdale? Who knows?? So the 3rd issue revelation/reversal of "Fooled ya! They were/are/and will always be BFFs Forever!" comes across as a cheap theatrical trick.

Additional layers of confusion are merely added by the fact that all the New Riverdale titles seem to look like they belong to the same universe, and vague cross-references have appeared here and there, along with some commonalities. Yet there is nothing distinctly pointing to the titles NOT being in the same universe, either. It's only when the stories are closely examined that we can discover that things just don't line up between them, but it's subtle and non-obvious unless you dig deeper. Just because the stories don't take place at the same TIME as each other, doesn't necessarily imply that they don't share the same universe... (how could they even possibly, with ACP's infamous delays in scheduling?) Yet it's difficult to pin down exactly what is the distinction between the characters in one title, and another in the New Riverdale line.

It did feel as though the conclusion to Hughes' B&V arc was rewritten on the fly -- as if to specifically address criticisms of the earlier issues in the series. Specifically: Betty swearing, Veronica's "ultrabitch" attitude, even Hot Dog's unnecessary garrulous ramblings (severely curtailed in this final issue of the arc). Let's just say I'm a little disingenuous about the idea that this is what Adam Hughes had in mind from the very start. And we STILL have no explanation of how the two girls (rivals from the point of Veronica's introduction in ARCHIE, and his breakup with Betty as the ex-gf) became such solid friends. They just ARE in the New Riverdale universe, as if we're supposed to import that information as "given" from the classic Archie stories. The whole conclusion had a very stinky deus ex machina taint to it.

Also I'm not happy about the characterization of Hiram Lodge as a King Midas or Ebeneezer Scrooge-like heartless/moneygrubbing CEO (which may well be in continuity with how he's being portrayed in ARCHIE for all I know). Mr. Lodge is ultimately cast as the villain of this story, which doesn't sit right with me. In classic Archie stories, Mr. Lodge (despite whatever his personal feeling are towards Archie) always came off as a more worldly, enlightened/progressive, and mainly philanthropic businessman who actually cared about his community, and wasn't bound to class distinctions. In direct contrast to how he's portrayed in this story, in classic Archie stories, it's more often Mr. Lodge who has to teach Veronica a lesson about putting on airs or feeling superior to others because of her wealth, as for example, it's often given as the reason Mr. Lodge prefers Veronica to attend a public high school, rather than an exclusive private school.

B & V FRIENDS JUMBO COMICS DIGEST #254
BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #254
LOONEY TUNES GREATEST HITS VOL. 01 TP
LOONEY TUNES GREATEST HITS VOL. 02 TP

CLASSIC Archie titles [and related] for June, July, & August, 2017:

IN STORES: May 31st, 2017
□ARCHIE'S COLORING BOOK #1
□BETTY BOOP TP (art by Gisèle Lagacé) [Dynamite Entertainment]

IN STORES: June 7th, 2017
□SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH COMPLETE COLLECTION VOL. 1 TP
□HARVEY HITS #1 - (with a Richie Rich story by Dan Parent!) [Joe Books, Ltd.]

IN STORES: June 14th, 2017
□B & V FRIENDS JUMBO COMICS DIGEST #254

IN STORES: June 21st, 2017
□BETTY AND VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #254

AVAILABLE DIGITALLY ONLY: June 21st, 2017
□LIFE WITH KEVIN #4 (OF 4)

IN STORES: June 28th, 2017
□ARCHIE 75^τн ANNIVERSARY JUMBO COMICS DIGEST #11
□ARCHIE SUMMER ANNUAL DIGEST #280
□HARVEY HITS #2 - (with a story by Dan Parent!) [Joe Books, Ltd.]

IN STORES: July 5th, 2017
□THE ARCHIE CROSSOVER COLLECTION TP - (with celebrity guest-stars Lady GaGa, Michael Strahan, Mark Zuckerberg, George Takai, and The Ramones!)
□DIE KITTY DIE: HOLLYWOOD OR BUST! #2 (OF 4) [Chapterhouse/AstroComix]

IN STORES: July 12th, 2017
□JUGHEAD AND ARCHIE DOUBLE DIGEST #26

IN STORES: July 19th, 2017
□DIE KITTY DIE: SUMMER VACATION SPECIAL #1 [Chapterhouse/AstroComix]

IN STORES: July 26th, 2017
□ARCHIE 75^τн ANNIVERSARY JUMBO COMICS DIGEST #12
□ARCHIE COMICS SUPER SPECIAL MAGAZINE #8
□WORLD OF ARCHIE SUMMER ANNUAL DIGEST #70
□YOUR PAL ARCHIE #1 (OF 4)
□HARVEY HITS #3 - (with a story by Dan Parent!) [Joe Books, Ltd.]

IN STORES: August 2nd, 2017
□ARCHIE'S FUNHOUSE BACK-TO-SCHOOL ANNUAL #27

IN STORES: August 9th, 2017
□ARCHIE COMICS DOUBLE DIGEST #281
□ARCHIE'S BIG BOOK (Vol. 1): MAGIC, MUSIC & MISCHIEF TP

IN STORES: August 16th, 2017
□WORLD OF ARCHIE JUMBO COMIC DIGEST #71
□DIE KITTY DIE: HOLLYWOOD OR BUST! #3 (OF 4) [Chapterhouse/AstroComix]

IN STORES: August 23rd, 2017
□B & V FRIENDS FALL ANNUAL #255
□THE BEST OF JOSIE & THE PUSSYCATS TP

IN STORES: August 30th, 2017
□JUGHEAD AND ARCHIE COMICS ANNUAL #27
□YOUR PAL ARCHIE #2 (OF 4)
□HARVEY HITS #4 - (with a cover & story by Dan Parent!) [Joe Books, Ltd.]