Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on September 11, 2024, 11:47:46 AM...you're just starting to worry about the future of Archie Comics NOW? I've been worried about them since they cancelled ARCHIE with #666 and BETTY & VERONICA with #278 back in 2015!! That's almost 10 years now, and it's been a long downhill slide to the point where I've come to accept the inevitable.

Well at first, after Archie comics ended the classic version of Archie (along with the classic version of Betty and Veronica)  with issue 666 and created a new Riverdale reboot of Archie (along with the gang) with issue 1, the company might survive but then Covid-19 happen and this lead to the company to put an end to their main line and focus on doing new stories made by remaining Archie house artists only published in digest, some stories revolving around old forgotten characters once published by MLJ (pre-archie) to interact with the Archie characters and one shot (and also miniseries) of Archie horror stories especially the cancelation of CW's Riverdale which are the few reasons why I am worried about the future of Archie comics 

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on September 11, 2024, 11:47:46 AMThe current owners will still own the company, and still sell digital Archie Comics... maybe not any new ones, though. Maybe just a few trade paperbacks for printed comics. Any new comics might be licensed to someone else (but probably not IDW, they have enough problems of their own).

That's true, but since you mention "not any new ones" that is the problem and another reason why I am worried about the companies future.


  

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on September 11, 2024, 11:47:46 AMCome to think of it, licensing the Archie characters to some other comic book company might be the best thing that Archie Comics could do for its fans.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking the same thing, in case if Archie comics are going to end up bankrupt and closed the owners will have to sell the rights to a different comic book company and reprint the old material and make new stories mostly limited main series or miniseries so that the Archie characters won't be forgotten,

by the way, check out my take of an Archie movie if it receives a barbie movie treatment https://www.archiefans.com/all-about-archie/should-archie-comics-rebrand-itself-as-an-horror-comic-book-company/new/#new

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on September 11, 2024, 11:52:33 AMThe worst thing any comic book publisher can do is to put all their eggs in one basket (meaning... all their comics in one genre). That's really what's been the downfall of Archie Comics... they failed to diversify their product line enough down through the decades. You can't expect to survive in the long run in publishing if you ONLY do humor, or ONLY do horror. Even Marvel and DC, as successful as they've been at superheroes, can't do ONLY superheroes. Overspecialization is a dead end.

Yeah, you have a good point on why Archie comics have to diversify their product line to survive, especially that this is one of the reasons why the forum and even the Archie comic Subreddits has fewer views, fewer people and fewer replies.

Since the Barbie movie from 2023 has become a hit alongside with Oppenheimer which lead to the "Barbenheimer" trend, although Oppenheimer became a best picture for the Oscars. I thought I will give my take of what a Archie movie would be like if it follows the trend of the Barbie as the film is both a parody and love letter to the Barbie toy franchise which should be the same for Archie comics as its known for its characters and universe with its slice of life and surreal escapades and its changing trends over the years and that it must reflect on its history and its tropes of their stories like the never ending love triangle for example especially that its mostly famous for what it's truly known for , Humor and laughter which in other words comedy . So here is a pitch of what an Archie movie is like if it receives a barbie movie like treatment.


The film will start off  in 1941 where the narrator gives  the symbolical history of comic books which is mostly populated with the popular genre superheroes that everyone reads  them but some bored  and some want something different but then came one person appearing in the scene and riding in his bike is the golden age Archie Andrews nicknamed Chick who does the similar thing in his first appearance in a bike  and he does funny slapsticks that people laughed and liked it that  they ignore some of the superheroes  and begin to read Archie instead .

And after the title card "Archie" , we see Archie and the gang in their original 1940-s 1950s forms  along with the town of Riverdale , they go through various versions all over  the years like the 1980s version, the spy version The man from Riverdale, the child version of archie and the gang Little Archie, the superhero version super teens , Al Hartley's religious version of Archie , the 1970s filmation limited animation version,  the zombie afterlife with archie version along with Archie horror versions , the surreal CW "like it or hate it" Riverdale series and much more and the narrator states that the Archie comics may be outdated in this current era  but they are still ongoing and thriving ever since .

We then cut to the town of Riverdale  in a form of a different comic book dimension separated  from the real world where many versions of Archie and the gang  lived including , Josie and the pussycats, That Wilkin boy, the MLJ heroes like the shield , black hood, the fox, Sabrina  and more and although the 1950 to the 2000s Archie versions  lived there, they aged but interact each other very well, they can even interact with the previous and current version of the archie and the gang along with MLJ superheroes .

And speaking of the current version , we are then introduced to this current version of archie Andrews who is the modern version of Archie but follows through his predecessors traditions in typical shenanigans  like going to high school, dealing with the never ending  betty and veronica love triangle , end up in crazy shenanigans that lead to trouble like  with Mr. Weatherbee and Mr. Lodge, hanging out with the gang in the chocklit shop ,  beach parties and even interact with holiday themed archie characters like Jingles and Sugarplum and different versions of the Archie and the gang.

 And through out the first half, Archie went through his usual routine but slowly he gets bored and he begins to question the logic of this world and the situations around it, that's when the next day as Archie goes through his typical routine he does some things normal and this is a problem for him that the whole gang and even the other versions of archie himself in this world consider him "a freak" , so Archie with the advice from his friends Jughead , the teen genius Dilton and Sabrina the teenage witch  went to a different and discontinued version of Jughead from the early 1990s a nod to the Jughead who is infamous for his outdated skate punk appearance and seek his advice , the 90s jughead suggested Archie to go to the Real world and interact with the creator of him (the current version) to remove his current problem.

So Archie went on his journey to the real world along with Jughead and Betty and Veroncia who are coming along with him by having their witchy friend Sabrina and Dilton create a dimensional gate  that is shaped like a comic book panel and enter our world through a sealed comic book in a comic book shop  and with Archie entering our world to find his creator, Reggie Archie's rival who is jealous of Archie's popularity in the real world and the town of Riverdale decided to conquer the world of Riverdale and became the popular top guy in comic book history , he gathered various version of Reggie's like Evilheart, Dr. doom (not the marvel one but the mad scientist type) and the MLJ supervillains took over the world of Riverdale and imprison versions of Archie and the gang so Reggie and his different versions will continue their reign.

In the real world ,Archie and the gang are finding the creator of his current version but end up in wacky situations until Archie meets a young, troubled kid named Brian , who turns out he doesn't read Archie comics because the Archie  comic books still feels outdated especially that it turns out he is related to the current Archie's creator, so Archie and his friends went to Archie comics (which unlike the real life office version is a fancy comic book building like Marvel and DC) and they have to go secretly through a tour , when Archie unknowingly is separated from the tour , he saw a room called the hall of creators revolving around the people who created Archie and the gang consisting of  publishers Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit, John L. Goldwater and his creator who is responsible for creating archie in the first place that began with the golden age version  Bob Montana , Archie was surprised when an old security guard named Chick who wears a familiar bowtie is impressed that Archie admires the creators and Publishers in this room like himself as he thinks of them as family , but then Archie's best friend  Jughead appears and ask Archie why he is cutting off from the tour group before Archie gives Jughead an explanation , the security guard Chick disappeared.

As the Archie's gang reached to the CEO's office when they see his creator Brian's dad having a conversation with the CEO  a parody of the current CEO of Archie comics about some suggestive pitches to the Archie comics when the CEO and his executives are shocked that the current Archie  and the gang are in the real world that they must recapture them and put them in a sealed book which claimed will return them to their world, Archie and the gang in panic  run for their lives, a chase ensues and as Archie and the gang along with Brian hide out in the comic book shop they noticed that there are no Archie comics but "Reggie comics" instead, the gang and Barry decided to quickly return to Riverdale by finding a Archie comic that sends them to the real world while at the same time the CEO of Archie comics fears have happened , without Archie in his Riverdale world ,Reggie has taken over Riverdale and the comic book line,  so they must find a path to where Archie comes from and put an end to it.

Meanwhile Archie ,Brian and the gang have found the comic book which remains unchanged  and use its page to send them back to Riverdale, Brian's father who secretly follow them enters the world of Riverdale and is amazed that he is the world of Archie Comics and as Brians father and his son continue bickering with Archie trying to calm things down, they are caught by the citizens of Riverdale who are forced under the iron grip of Reggie Mantle, he sentenced Archie , Jughead, Betty and Veronica and Brian and his father  to detention in Riverdale high school for life and sit next to 90's Jughead ,Sabrina (who is now powerless) ,Dilton and some discontinued characters of Archie comics,  Archie feels like hope is lost and useless but then his friends , Brian and even his dad tells him not to give up, that's when hope came and it was little Reggie who unlike his current teenage counterpart is kind to Archie and is considered a big brother and with that Archie and the gang made their escape and he got an idea.

The gang secretly sneak on the guards , make them lose consciousness, give Sabrina her powers back, equip with some of Dilton's inventions and release every characters of Archie's Riverdale gang including the superheroes, Sabrina and all the versions of the Archie gang form as an army and take down Reggie's Army to liberate Riverdale  and the final battle begins in a hilarious slapstick manner, such as Reggie summoning the zombies from After life with Archie but they got attracted to various pizzas and Burgers  made by jughead and Pop Tates and run towards them, Sabrina using her magic to turn some Reggie loyalists into frogs , Dilton uses his portal trap to send the goons into another planet with a cameo from Cosmo and after seeing that the fighting has gone too far,  Archie puts an end to this chaos with some touching speech and so  the citizens of Riverdale stop fighting , admitting their flaws and form a truce, thus Riverdale is saved, the Reggies, the superheroes and even versions of Archie make peace, but the current Reggie didn't' get away Scott free since he started all this trouble that he instead ends up in Detention for life .

And with peace in Riverdale restored,  most of the characters conflicts  have been resolved, Brian and his dad get together, the CEO of Archie comics who appeared  in Riverdale trying to prevent this mess is relieved that Riverdale is back to normal and that he accept Brian's dad idea of a different take of Archie who appeared in Riverdale , Betty and Veronica resolve their conflict and stalking of Archie, Jughead decides to overcome his fear of girls and confess his love to Ethel and the 90's jughead is now respected by  whole of Riverdale and gain some of his fans like Brian's dad  who consider him a cult favorite, but the current Archie felt that his conflict isn't resolved which is when Chick the security guard of Archie comics comes in and to the Archie Comics CEO's surprise it's revealed that Chick is really the original  golden age Archie himself as shown when Chick unzip his security guard jacket revealing to be the iconic "R" vest.

It's revealed when the 1950's version of Archie came , the original Archie and the gang decided to enjoy retirement, but the original Archie thought of going to the real world and admire the changes  both good and bad which is why he use his original name of Chick and became a security guard of Archie Comics where he will see how the comic book industry  went in progress until his passing many years later. But the real reason the golden Age Archie came to Riverdale , he needs to speak to the current Archie because the creators the "original ones" want to speak to him , the original Archie showed the current version to the chocklit shop and opens a secret doorway,  there huge stairs will lead to the big comic book studio in the sky and the original archie helps his current self climb to the top and inside the studio , the audience will be introduced to the people who  created Archie comics the publishers Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit, John L. Goldwater and the cartoonist the man who gave birth to Archie and the gang Bob Montana, the publishers  in the movie are depicted as some ruff business bosses  with a gentler heart of gold as they ordered their  employee Bob  to draw some funny stories for  Archie and the gang , the golden age Archie tells his creators that the current version is here now , and this is when we hear the heartwarming moment when the current Archie talk to the creators about his own conflict that he questions the surrounding of his world, his existence  and his life around him , and wonders if it's time to leave Riverdale and "grow up" , Bob Maurice, Louis and John like parents to their children give some advice , they know that in the comics Archie and the gang are meant to be eternal teenagers and bring humor to generation of readers around the world including India, but sometimes nothing last forever, as things have change and so is Archie  along with the company as they add horror titles in its publications which is one of the reasons the golden age Archie goes to the real world and spend his time there witnessing the changes all over the years and even if one version of the Archie and the gang are replaced by another the thing that makes them Archie like Comedy  which brings laughs to many generation will never fade away, and like that Archie's conflict is resolved and he is ready to grow up and decides what he is going to do next and like that Archie waves good bye to his creator Bob Montana and the publishers  Maurice, Louis and John and climb downstairs with "Chick"

We then cut to the real world sometime later where Archie settles there  to "grow up" and use the nickname "Bob" (named after his creator Bob Montana) , took the job as janitor in Brian's school so he can hang out with him and see how life changes in the real world, he even makes contact to his friends from the Riverdale world  to see how they are doing and they are doing fine and the last scene ends with Archie with his nickname "Bob" having a friendly chat with his friend Brian when someone slipped to a wet floor Archie forgot to put a warning sign similar to the usual Archie comics humor  and screamed his name in anger, causing Archie to react in fear in a funny way.

The end credits will be snippets of archie comic books through out history including the end credits with a modern fun remix of Sugar, Sugar which is the Archies popular song.


What do you think?

I understand that Archie comics cannot make new series due to the post Covid-19 situation right now and that the only new content they are working on are short stories made by Archie comics which are published mostly in digests and one shot comics by in house Archie artists and writers.

But seeing that the horror stories in Archie comics are popular which are written by some people outside Archie comics according to this article https://www.forbes.com/sites/goldiechan/2023/10/30/how-archie-horror-is-redefining-scary-in-comics/ despite that they are still one-shots and are  still drawn by in house Archie comics artists eventhough there are 3-issue miniseries drawn by freenlance writers and artists who worked for dark horse, DC and marvel .

It leads me to wonder if Archie comics should rebrand itself as an horror comic book company , think about it , horror stories in Archie comics are what gave them profit, but Archie is meant for humor even though they put the characters in horror stories some for black humor , so if horror stories is what gives the company profit then maybe they should focus on horror stories instead, and to do that they will sell the brand and the Archie characters to some publishing company perhaps IDW or Boom or maybe Warner bros , while rebranding the company aimed for horror companies with a name like "Madhouse" named after the surreal and later horror (used in the 1970s) Archie anthology series that began in the 1950s called Archie's Madhouse.

That way the company can hire freelance indie artists instead of in house Archie comic artists and even horror writers to make miniseries and ongoing series revolving around the horror genre without the Archie characters and will be used in sub-genre's like comedy,family , young adults,sci-fi and more. That way, the company will gain more profits .

So should Archie comics rebrand itself as an horror comic book company?

Everyone, I have something that I wanted to say, I am worried about Archie comic's future, because recently since the pandemic they haven't ended their hiatus on their Archie main series, no new miniseries and the only things new are one-shots made by Archie comics by house artists and some writer they hired, some one-shot horror stories and even some small short stories published in digest which consists of reprints of classic Archie stories eventhough they are making some horror 3 issue miniseries this year which is not enough like the cursed library and the already released Archie comics Judgement day. 

The reason I am worried is that with Archie comics not making many new stories due to the current situation, there will be problems for the company itself as if they won't fit in the times before the so-called "Archie renaissance" specially that their hit show on CW Riverdale had ended.

And what if someday with people look at classics through digital might not rely on digests anytime soon and if they can't get new artists and artists to make new stories that are main series or new miniseries for the company besides horror then the company might lead to bankruptcy that they will have to sell the Archie comics to some other companies to make new stories like IDW, Boom or worse Warner Bros while the Archie comics will have to deal with licensing and merchandising with other companies instead.

And those are the reasons why I am worried about the Archie comic's future.

Quote from: Purgatori on July 10, 2018, 11:18:42 AM
The report suggests that two will be animated and only the Sam Hill show will be live action - "The planned new series include an animated series starring Josie McCoy (of Josie & and the Pussycats fame) with horror undertones, a more light-hearted animated series following the misadventures of Archie and his friends in Riverdale, and a live-action series centred on the noir-tinged Archie character, private detective Sam Hill".

Oh,I thought report say its live action,my bad

According to an article that I found from cbr.com : https://www.cbr.com/archie-comics-animated-live-action-series/

It seems that Archie comics will greenlight three shows,Two live actions and one animated series.So I thought of giving my guess on what the three shows are all about

The first live action show will be based on Josie and the pussycats and will likely set  in the riverdale and chilling adventures of Sabrina universe with horror undertones,My guess is that it will be similar to the josie animated series from 1970 where the gang are  caught in adventure/mystery situation but it will have  a tone similar to the CW supernatural series where it will involve real supernatural forces  and real criminal activities much like the X files.

Or maybe the josie live action series will have them turn into werecats or vampires like the one from afterlife with Archie

The second live action show will be based on an obscure character published by Archie comics from the 50s called Sam Hill, Private Eye which will probably be a crime drama television series but will likely be set in its own universe in other words a standalone series not connecting to the riverdale universe.

And the third will be an animated series but unlike the dark live action shows it will be light-hearted and family oriented and will be faithful to the source material that is comedy as it involves the misadventures of Archie and his gang though I wish that a live action sitcom or a comedy drama would be nice.

an thats all my guess  on what Archie comic plan to greenlit three shows

As you all heard from this news : https://www.cbr.com/archie-700-new-creative-team-riverdale-direction/
The Archie main series will come back after the Archie 1941 miniseries ended which is no surprise for me because I am glad that the series will come back after the miniseries but the reason why I give mixed opinions on it is because it will be renumbered as 699 which will lead to issue 700,But I am not against renumbering because the reason they do renumbering is because Archie like other comic book magazine are long running and they keep on renumbering the issue to its original to show how many issues they publish,but my mixed opinion is that this series is continuing from the 2015 reboot version instead of the classic version.
I mean that's the problem because the reboot archie doesn't look like the classic archie eventhough it's faithful to its predecessors elements but still if they want to continue the main series they could have at least be renumbered as "1" just to be safe since the new team of Nick Spencer and Marguerite Sauvage will handle it and I also think it should give a hard reboot which will not happen at least until in about few years with a clean slate.

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

And you know what my reaction is ,I think this could be a problem, It seems that Archie comics latest series are  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 hiatusAnd 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.

Quote from: Vegan Jughead on May 24, 2018, 12:17:43 PM
I can't really see returning to classic style helping all that much. It wasn't selling which is why the reboots happened to begin with.


I think to most people, Archie Comics are an anachronism.  Not sure there's much they can do except continue the gimmicks like horror, the tv show, and crossovers (Batman '66) until they run out of ideas.

probably

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on May 24, 2018, 11:59:23 PM

Quote from: Vegan Jughead on May 24, 2018, 12:17:43 PMI can't really see returning to classic style helping all that much. It wasn't selling which is why the reboots happened to begin with.I think to most people, Archie Comics are an anachronism.  Not sure there's much they can do except continue the gimmicks like horror, the tv show, and crossovers (Batman '66) until they run out of ideas.

That's pretty much the size of it, Vegan. I can see something like, once RIVERDALE has run its course, it getting an animated spinoff that's more comedy oriented, and then there being a floppy comic book based on that, but I think that's about as close as we'll get, apart from the occasional crossover miniseries or one-shot. The crossovers are all aimed at an older, nostalgic audience of comic book collectors, as proven by the properties chosen: Kiss, Predator, The Ramones, and Batman '66 (even Harley & Ivy, arguably most familiar to the audience that watched Batman the Animated Series in the early 1990s). Still hoping to see one with Scooby-Doo.The fact that ACP doesn't want to invest in more new pages of classic Archie stories to keep feeding the source material for ongoing digest reprints indicates that they don't see those digests having much longer of a future.

Well an animated spinoff would be nice so that it will be faithful to its source material roots that is comedy and yeah you have good point about why Archie comics doesn't feel like  investing the new pages of classic ones as they keep selling the digest reprints until they are no longer needed

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on May 25, 2018, 04:55:36 PM
I really think in pushing hard for television adaptations like Riverdale and Sabrina, Jon Goldwater's true goal is to raise Archie's cultural awareness just high enough to attract a big media conglomerate as a buyer for ACP.

I would imagine he's got something like a hundred-million figure in mind for the sale of all ACP's intellectual property, but I bet if he got a serious offer about a third of that size, he'd sign on the dotted line and bail out next month -- if Nancy Silberkleit is willing to take her cut and walk.

True and also I agree both Jon and NAncy are feuding with each other when they own archie comics and its properties

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on May 26, 2018, 01:50:54 PM

Quote from: Vegan Jughead on May 26, 2018, 08:40:11 AM

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on May 25, 2018, 04:55:36 PM
I really think in pushing hard for television adaptations like Riverdale and Sabrina, Jon Goldwater's true goal is to raise Archie's cultural awareness just high enough to attract a big media conglomerate as a buyer for ACP.

I would imagine he's got something like a hundred-million figure in mind for the sale of all ACP's intellectual property, but I bet if he got a serious offer about a third of that size, he'd sign on the dotted line and bail out next month -- if Nancy Silberkleit is willing to take her cut and walk.

Nancy might just block it for spite depending on her financial condition.

This is all just my subjective impressions, but the general vibe I got from Nancy is that she wanted to keep Archie in the traditional mode, for the traditional audience (pre-teens and young kids, girls especially), whereas the impression I get from JG is that he doesn't give a fig about comics as a medium, the characters, OR the audience -- he just wants to make money. If the newsstand market is evaporating, he's probably correct in the assessment that ACP can only try to cater to the smaller (but fairly stable and dedicated) audience of comic shop consumers if he wants to continue in publishing. Not that he actually "wants" to continue as a publisher per se, just that he wants to build a small heap of material suitable to attract the attentions of media adaptations, which is hopefully raising the coin of ACP's intellectual property holdings to the extent that some corporation might see some potential in owning those characters as exploitable, marketable, pre-sold audience material. He's just looking to cash out and retire in ease. On the other hand, Nancy Silberkleit has demonstrated in the past that she does care about some things, at least -- kids with disabilities, literacy, and so forth, and wants to use the characters' familiarity to help those causes. That's my read on the situation, anyway.

Not that I'm implying that makes Jonboy G out to be something like the Antichrist of the comic book industry or anything. In my opinion, it just makes him... well, pretty much the same as any of the folks making the business management decisions at Marvel or DC, or... most comic book publishers, medium-sized or even small. Like any other line of work, there are people who are in the comic book business because they love the work and can't imagine doing anything else, and people... who are not. Hey, the way I look at it, most people think about a lot of the same things in their jobs. "I'd like to keep my job. I'd like to make my boss happy, and not have him breathing down my neck. I'd like to get a promotion and do less of the grunt work, have more responsibility. I'd like to make more money so I don't have to worry about current bills, or my future. I've worked long enough; I'd like to retire now comfortably and just relax for a while." Had I entered the biz via the same route JG did, I can't say with any assurance that I'd do things any differently than he is. My only real gripe with the guy is both an aesthetic and practical one -- that he's putting out fewer and fewer pages of new material of the kind of Archie Comics I enjoy reading. And I guess I can't even really be an objective judge of whether or not someone "loves comics" or doesn't, because they might just have polar opposite tastes in what's good than I do -- just like anyone involved in any aspect, not only of the comic book industry, but ANY media that employs characters originating in comics. I can absolutely love something like Cartoon Network's JUSTICE LEAGUE ACTION cartoon, while looking at the trailer for Warner Brothers' JUSTICE LEAGUE movie with a blank-faced "What the what?" and shrugging, "Doesn't have anything to do with me; sorry, no interest." I can love the idea of ARCHIE MEETS BATMAN '66, or the DC characters appearing in SCOOBY-DOO TEAM-UP, while not giving two beans about what's going on in the regular ongoing DC universe BATMAN or SUPERMAN comic books. Same with Archie comic books; same with RIVERDALE. There will always be something else to read (or watch), I guess, whether new or old.

You might have a good point ,I mean I understand Nancy wants to follow Archie in its traditional method but Jon thought that the company will move towards the mass market which works and I guess it is to show both owners have different views on what to do for their company

You know I read the news that a new miniseries called Archie 1941 will replace the Archie main series which is about to be in hiatus which I don't know 'why?'As it tells about the Archie gang in a 1941 setting after they graduate from high school reaching towards  adulthood as they deal with life in the  town of Riverdale when their country heads towards world war II.
Now my opinion is that I appreciate that the miniseries will take place in a year the character debuted however I think it should have  been the retelling of Archie and his gang earlier tales during the 1940s or least take place in the middle of the 40s and the 50s which was the era where the characters gain their popularity.
Still maybe we will see what the miniseries like as we take a look at the 1941 version of the Archie characters dealing with life in world war 2 era ,And I wonder if the main Archie series will come back after the miniseries ended and see if it is ongoing or not.

Quote from: Vegan Jughead on May 16, 2018, 12:19:06 PM
They will probably start a "Classic Archie" title published along side the current flagship title and if it sells as well or better, they'll discontinue the current one.


I will point out that "Your Pal Archie" was close to classic style and didn't sell.  And it was a great book in my opinion.

You have a good point there

Archie comics has gained a renaissance after going through low sales throughout the 80's,90s and 2000s all thanks to the  the leadership of current CEO  Jon Goldwater.
It introduce a gay character named Kevin Keller,It introduce mature storytelling with Life with Archie: The Married Life that focus on Archie's married relationship with Betty and Veronica of both worlds.It introduce a horror series for teen readers called Afterlife with Archie which give a dark and grimmy  take on the archie characters while facing monsters and zombies.It with CW introduce a teen drama television version of the Archie characters called Riverdale which like Afterlife with Archie  is dark but with mystery elements.
And gave a reboot of the Archie universe with Archie #1 aiming for the teen demographic after ending the main classic line and speaking of the classic line,have you wondered that 3 years after the classic line ended.There isn't a single new classic lineup story in the main comic book lineup except the Digest because they are still running with new stories in classic line up  but there are mostly reprint and less new material.
Now even though the modern reboot stays faithful to the classic with its humour and drama. Archie comics attempted to revive the classic lineup with Your pal Archie which is a redesigned version of the archie classic with  new material, Archie vs predator which is black comedy crossover between archie characters and the predator painted in classic style but with gore and blood  and then the upcoming Betty and Veronica Friends forever ,
The classic style still has new material in the digest  since they are still available in the magazine racks that you see in your local supermarket but only less as they mostly reprints of various stories and will continue in various newspaper strips under creators syndicate as shown here : https://www.creators.com/read/archie and even co-CEO Nancy Silberkleit which Jon Goldwater made a personal feud with her over the property distributing her own archie comics one of them focus on Autism awareness with a character named Scarlet as shown here :https://www.bleedingcool.com/2018/01/19/nancy-silberkleit-archie-comic-scarlet/

But this is what we need to discuss in this topic,Will Archie main comic book line will one day return to it's classic style?

oy vey,If this keeps up archie comics will be out of business 

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on February 17, 2018, 04:21:47 PMI think my basic problem with most of the new Archie Comics is that I really don't understand the mindset of the approach to the characters at all. I would make the single exception of JUGHEAD to that statement, because it seems like someone rightly acknowledged that you just CAN'T approach Jughead as a realistic character or try to interpret him seriously, because his basic defining characteristics absolutely defy that. So what you got instead was a re-interpretion using a different type of approach to humor (as opposed to the classic, slapstick/situation comedy approach).When I look at the other new Archie Comics (not talking about the superheroes or Cosmo here), I just have... no response. No emotional reaction or connection with it in any way. To me they just seem like oddities that I don't know what to make of. I mean, they attempt to present some sort of functional continuity that can be followed in the usual way of sequential storytelling, but I constantly feel like I just walked into a party where I was told all my old friends would be there -- but looking all around me, all I see is a room full of strangers wearing these stickers that say "HELLO My Name Is ARCHIE" or "HELLO My Name Is Betty", "HELLO My Name Is Veronica", etc. and I'm just staring at them and thinking "Who the heck ARE these people, really?" It's this weird unsettling place where there are bits and parts where they seem to confirm who they claim to be, yet there are just as many strange, unfamiliar things about them making every moment I spend in this room an analytical guessing game. So there's no emotional reaction to what's going on here, it's just me watching stuff happen from the distant POV of a very detached observer.And what pops into my head is the thought "Is this what non-comics reading people see when you show them a comic book?" Sure, they can read the text and understand it, and know that those lines on the page represent people going about, doing things and moving through space over time. But in the end, they hand it back to you with this blank expression of "Yeah, I understood it I suppose... but so what?"The other thing that pops into my head is the impression that if I hadn't read comics in years and years, and didn't know stuff about how they're created, who the creators are, and how the industry works and so forth, but was familiar with the older icons of comic books, and you handed me a copy of ARCHIE, my first reaction would probably be something like "Marvel Comics publishes ARCHIE now??" That's what they look like upon seeing them for the first time, as if somehow Marvel (or DC) had licensed Archie -- how they'd approach it and reinterpret it from their perspective. And to be sure, a lot of Marvel and DC's iconic characters now strike me almost the same way, as far as how they're being interpreted currently, and I have the same strange feeling of detachment towards characters which once excited me. Hello, do I know you? But at least the Marvel and DC characters have evolved away from from their familiar selves over years and years of change, and not literally overnight.In the end, the things I would be expecting and looking to get out of reading an Archie comic book are just nowhere to be found in the new ones.

Wow tough times and I agree if things get worse for Archie then they will have no choice but to be sold to Marvel or dc comics  and let them reprint the old stories instead.