WARNING REBOOT NEGATIVITY AHEAD
I told Musical Necromancer near the beginning of the shoutbox fight that I would answer his replies to me in a new thread so here it is if you're still reading.
MN: what was unsustainable is Keeping Archie the same and expecting that to save them forever...people these days want more from their comic books and archie wasn't delivering
I don't think they should have stayed exactly as they were but this is a huge divorcing step away from 75 years tradition, they could have tried something closer like hybrid classic Archie/Disney style art, the classic Archie artists probably would have done a good job with that. At least they could put that in the digests, most people would probably accept it as part of the main Archie continuity too, we can't say the same for the reboot stories, is there anyone who sees the reboot events as part of main Archie canon? THeres nothing wrong with that but I don't, I doubt most fans or ACP do either, when the art styles so changed it's hard to link them.
This leaves us fans in a strange place where the most dramatic emotional revelations that happened to the characters...never happened to the only versions of the characters that really matter in the long run. If we're going to find out Reggie has issues with his parents I want to find out in CLASSIC Archie where it means something, I mean think of your favorite touching or funny stories from classic Archie history, now imagine that instead of being classic Archie they were done in some AU reboot like the current titles. Suddenly they don't seem so special do they, because they're not happening to the characters who have experienced all the 75 years of Archie history that make the reboot events meaningful in the first place. Of course classic Archie can do its own stories about Reggie having family issues later on but by then it'll feel like a retread and the same for the other dramatic reboot moments. When this all began I was happy because I assumed it was going to be more of an adventure title with a narrower focus of the characters doing something specific like working for the Lodge company together or SOMETHING exploring new ground, instead it's just like regular Archie comics with more drama and much less humor.
comic book sales naturally decline after the first few issues it's the way of the industry it's not as huge as it once was so keeping steady sales is damn near impossible unless Your A Top Tier Superhero Book
If it's going to drop that fast then maybe it's not worth doing, the Jughead title is down to 9,000 something in shop sales last month down from 30,000 something for the first issue, the Archie title is down to 16,000 something from 100,000 something for the first issue and it's been just one year (less for Jughead). You think Fernando is just doing indie doodles but it won't be that long before those indie doodles will be outselling the reboots.
What are they going to follow this up with if (or lets face it, when) these reboots die? What titles can they try, I have no clue what direction they would go in now that they've dropped classic Archie almost completely from their regular titles, after the drastic move of the main reboot probably now anything else will feel anticlimactic even if it's actually better in quality. And Archie isn't like Marvel or other superhero companies, their universe isn't so wide and versatile that they can reboot many times and still find new angles that work.