Quote from: Terry1 on August 15, 2019, 02:43:42 pmIt's true.  They're a smaller company.  They don't have the clout or the long term judgment to demand quality licensees.  That's part of why I love them.  They're the runt of the comics industry.  And occasionally some great stuff came out, like those tin figures, or the Dark Horse archives, which are beautifully done.

I googled those Mighty Crusader figures.  Yikes.

I'm kind of bummed out about the Dark Horse Archives series because they only reprinted the public domain stuff (I would be interested in knowing the exact story behind what went on there between DH and ACP), which is also available for free on various websites as digital scans. TBH, I'm not really much of a fan of the 1940s Archie comic book stories. I kind of got a little excited when they started doing the Jughead Archives, but they only did 2 volumes (again, just what was in public domain) and then quit.

Bob Montana's newspaper strip from 1946 (published in hardcover by IDW/Library of American Comics) is a whole different story... why oh why didn't they continue on from the first volume instead of skipping to the so-called Swingin' 1960s (by which time it was no longer a continuity strip, just a gag-a-day strip)? There's absolutely nothing Swingin' about those early sixties strips, either (unlike the comic books of the time, and later), so doubly disappointing, except from the historical perspective (Montana's art is still good, though). SO frustrating.

Quote from: archiecomicscollector on August 15, 2019, 07:18:30 pmI do love The Archies by Marx Toys, c. 1975 though. I have a complete set - carrying case, dolls, jalopy and outfits. I wish they would have made additional characters, especially Josie and the Pussycats and Sabrina.

Having a line of toy figures that represents a fairly broad cross-section of the classic Archie Comics characters is the unattainable dream (so it would seem, at least for now). Up to this point, it seems like the most you can hope for is 4 or 5 figures. As of now, you could go with the Dark Horse 'sirocco' statuettes, or the JM Croce/BendEm bendy figures. I'm hoping they add some additional characters to the bendy line-up.

Even with all the action figure lines (both mainstream and toy-collector focused) today, we're more likely to see an extended line of RIVERDALE figures (if someone hasn't already done one) than anything from classic Archie. I don't even count the Funko Pop stuff, because it's... "non-representational" I guess is the best word. Or maybe "interpretive", in the design-y sense. I feel like the "designer vinyl" type figures are okay as a way of extending the range of collectibles available to fans of characters from Marvel, DC, and the many movie/TV franchises whose iconic characters have already been done to death many times over as "standard-type" action figures, but I want figures that are representational, source-accurate, and look as much like the characters on the comic page translated into 3 dimensions as possible, so making Pop vinyl figures of those characters when there still has never been a toy line with a decent range of Archie Comics characters seems almost criminal. Articulation or poseability isn't even a main concern, since Archie characters aren't "action heroes" -- a line of faithfully-sculpted PVC figurines would do just fine.

Hey, here's a decent-looking line of busts (though still not as faithful as I'd like them to be) that I stumbled across on an image search. Produced in 2006-2007 by Diamond Select LLC, these were limited to 1,000 pieces and originally retailed for $45. Anybody got any of these?

Quote from: Terry1 on August 15, 2019, 08:57:53 am

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on August 15, 2019, 04:07:36 am

Quote from: Terry1 on August 12, 2019, 03:38:27 amMy personal favorite is this vintage Jughead statue in a tin box from Dark Horse.

Or as I like to call him, "SCARY Jughead". This early prototype version of Juggie was definitely in need of some serious tweaking before he could become a beloved character. As a kid, if you saw this guy walking down the sidewalk towards you, you'd cross the street or turn the corner hoping to avoid losing your lunch money. Pretty shady-looking.

See, what I love about this is that it's old, original, Bob Montana Jughead!  Unapologetically ugly.  I think the same toy designers kind of chickened out when they did Archie: the box design is OG Bob Montana Archie, but the actual figure is closer to the contemporary Archie.  I feel like this was a blunder on their part:  it was supposed to be CLASSIC Archie, and to me, that means Bob Montana.

The original Jughead design definitely reflects that "Dead End Kid from the wrong side of the tracks" influence. I think the initial idea there was to make him quirky or have 'strange talents' as a counterpoint to that street urchin, lower-class look, and initially he's not too bright. Kind of a Popeye approach. When you think about it, Popeye pretty much broke every rule there was for a series protagonist. An older not-at-all-handsome guy with a huge jaw and tattoos, missing an eye, and smoking (something in) a corncob pipe. Eventually things went in kind of a totally different direction for Jughead's character, though they certainly kept the quirky/strange talents part.

Those pinback buttons are miles apart from the tin box art, too.

I don't have much to speak of for Archie merch, just a couple of recent things, because I sort of got a late start on Archie Comics (basically fleeing from Marvel and DC in the past 5-6 years). It certainly seems like the prime period to focus on is the decade from 1968-1978, when there was a much greater variety of Archie collectibles to choose from. My personal favorites are the (again, pretty recent) Mattel Betty and Veronica dolls. Light years better than the Marx or Praying Mantis versions of B&V. BUT it has to be admitted that a big percentage of Archie licensed merch is pretty crappy. They just took the money, and didn't care if the licensee was putting out a quality product. Ever see those ugly-as-sin Remco action figures of the Mighty Crusaders from the 1980s? This was shortly after the time Kenner was putting out the DC Super Powers figures, and Mattel was putting out the Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars figures. Still crude by comparison to today's action figures, but at the time, those were top quality. But those Remco Crusaders figures... ugh!

Quote from: Terry1 on August 12, 2019, 03:38:27 amMy personal favorite is this vintage Jughead statue in a tin box from Dark Horse.

Or as I like to call him, "SCARY Jughead". This early prototype version of Juggie was definitely in need of some serious tweaking before he could become a beloved character. As a kid, if you saw this guy walking down the sidewalk towards you, you'd cross the street or turn the corner hoping to avoid losing your lunch money. Pretty shady-looking.

Quote from: archiecomicscollector on August 05, 2019, 09:58:02 am

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on August 02, 2019, 07:11:08 amThe DC figures of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern looked familiar. I already have a boxed set (along with Batman) of those figures, which are based on artist Darwyn Cooke's designs for DC's New Frontier limited series (set in the early 1960s). Batman from the Animated Series is a different design (by Bruce Timm).

It's cool that they'll have Archie, Betty, Jughead, and Veronica -- but no Reggie or Hot Dog? And they'll have Daphne, Scooby-Doo, Shaggy and Velma -- but no Fred? They're absolutely ruining my dream crossover series of ARCHIE MEETS SCOOBY-DOO! Gotta get those anyway. And they made a Harley Quinn figure, but no Poison Ivy? Now I can't play HARLEY & IVY MEET BETTY & VERONICA, either. Aw, shucks!

The comic book characters I'd MOST like to own as a bendable figure? Plastic Man, Elongated Man, or Mister Fantastic -- with extra long arms and legs. I don't think they've ever made any of those.

They may have plans to extend the line (and include those characters in the second set), but, unfortunately, there isn't a lot of information about them online.

Well, they do have Fred from Scooby-Doo, but they apparently didn't have one of his figures at the show. And they make a Poison Ivy figure (but it's only available in the Gotham Girls box set along with Batgirl, Catwoman, and Harley). Maybe they didn't have a Reggie or Hot Dog ready in time for the show, or maybe they're holding back until they do a classic Archie box set.

LOTS more bendy figures are available right now (although unfortunately not ARCHIE, yet):

https://njcroce.com/content/downloads/NJCroce-2019-Catalog_Lo-Res.pdf

Hey, whatta ya know -- they DO make Fred and Poison Ivy bendies after all!

Statues... WAY too expensive. So if I were to buy one (unlikely) I'd have to absolutely be in LOVE with the design to slap down those kind of bucks. Not these, I'm afraid. Maybe if they hire Dan Parent to do the designs for them.

The DC figures of Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern looked familiar. I already have a boxed set (along with Batman) of those figures, which are based on artist Darwyn Cooke's designs for DC's New Frontier limited series (set in the early 1960s). Batman from the Animated Series is a different design (by Bruce Timm).

It's cool that they'll have Archie, Betty, Jughead, and Veronica -- but no Reggie or Hot Dog? And they'll have Daphne, Scooby-Doo, Shaggy and Velma -- but no Fred? They're absolutely ruining my dream crossover series of ARCHIE MEETS SCOOBY-DOO! Gotta get those anyway. And they made a Harley Quinn figure, but no Poison Ivy? Now I can't play HARLEY & IVY MEET BETTY & VERONICA, either. Aw, shucks!

The comic book characters I'd MOST like to own as a bendable figure? Plastic Man, Elongated Man, or Mister Fantastic -- with extra long arms and legs. I don't think they've ever made any of those.

April 7, 2020 is a long way away. Let's hope this one doesn't go through the same cycle of solicitation-cancellation-solicitation again that the first volume did. Presumably the Netflix SABRINA series has made her a little more viable as a franchise now, so... fingers crossed.

Quote from: SAGG on July 18, 2019, 11:35:06 pmI wish they'd get off the storybook stories. 🙄 Once in awhile, sure, but more contemporary stories are what I'd prefer. Yeah, we get them in the digests, and I'm not complaining, but I'd want to see the one shots in contemporary style... 😏

The storybook tales don't appear THAT often. The B&V floppy comic one-shots are just following the new digest shorts in sequential order of their appearance, so that most recent #1, "Return to Storybook Land" will be the last you get of those type of stories for a while; meanwhile the ongoing new digest 5-pagers are continuing to be created with a theme in mind to fill each floppy one-shot, so they'll be moving on to different themes. Since the floppies are all one-shots anyway, you can miss it if they're that disagreeable to you, and still not have a hole in the run -- since they're all "issue #1".

The storybook tales actually seem to be quite popular with readers, and they're probably easy to write because it's fun to tweak the old fairy tales (which are familiar to most readers) with new variations highlighting the girls' personalities. Then again, everything at ACP is planned with an eye towards future reprint possibilities in mind, and those B&V storybook trade collections probably sold well -- so they're eventually trying to accumulate enough pages for another trade collection.

One oddity that doesn't fit any theme appears in the latest B & V FRIENDS JUMBO DIGEST #272 -- an it's an extra new 5-page story in addition to the regular 5-page lead story that fits the current theme. The story features the team of BLACKJACK & POWERTEEN, in which the old MLJ superhero, together with Veronica's superheroic alter ego, investigate the mystery of Mr. Lodge's safe being pilfered. (I won't spoil it by giving away further details of the plot.) Strangely enough, this is the first appearance of PowerTeen in a story in which Dan Parent had no involvement -- the story's written by Ian Flynn (who has previously written Crusaders stories for ACP), and drawn by Jeff Shultz. Presumably the editor liked the script, but because the story doesn't include either Betty or Archie, it wasn't really suitable for the lead story in either the B&V digests, or any of the ARCHIE digests. And since it doesn't fit with the current B&V theme, it's doubtful that it will be included in a future floppy B&V one-shot.

Quote from: ASS-P on July 12, 2019, 07:04:17 pm...Well, I think of " girly " as like Bettie Page. old-school pin-ups ma...girly shows ". " Girlie ", contrastly, makes me think more of " girl-LIKE/more aimed at ' girls ".

Exactly reversed for me.

No, they'll leave out of the magazine reprints whatever stuff isn't referencing something that the average reader would know about. Political parodies or celebrities of the past are out. Product ad-parodies are pretty nearly all out, since most of those reflected current ad campaigns or product packaging that would no longer be recognizable. Movies and well-known book or comic strip parodies can probably stay, since those things tend to have a long shelf-life, but they'll need to be somewhat selective. Old TV series... not so much, unless it's one of the few that lasted in syndication seemingly forever, and has trans-generational memorability -- they can't count on an audience of MeTV fans. We'll probably see an increase in the percentage of material by Aragones, Don Martin, and stuff like Spy vs. Spy or Dave Berg's The Lighter Side, since those were never about topical stuff. BUT they do have over 60 years worth of material to choose from, so they shouldn't have any problems filling issues for years to come, even if only 25% is still usable. That's just an average guess, since I'd assume the actual percentage of material in any given past issue that's usable would be less for a 60 year-old issue, and more for a 10 year-old issue. On the other hand, the older material is funnier, so that'll be a factor in selecting stuff, too. I would hope not to see alterations in the original text or artwork like ACP sometimes does in reprints, but I guess it's a distinct possibility we'll have to accept.

I wouldn't doubt that at some point we'll see magazine-sized hardcover collections reprinting complete issues of the magazine-format MAD from the beginning. They've already done complete reprints of the comicbook-format issues in hardcover.

Quote from: ASS-P on July 13, 2019, 01:17:02 am...I recall the non-comics material in that title being fairly large;print advice for young/pre-teens stuff (make-up, ,puzzles, boyfriends.etc./ with illos of B&V for a graphic treat.
  Is this book just the comics stories? I can't read the ToC.

You're thinking of the later issues (#69-90), where Dan Parent remodeled the title to make it seem more like a girls' magazine (these issues are easy to identify by the magazine-style covers, although it still retained the classic floppy comic format), and included a lot of extra features, fashion and topical pages, quizzes, etc. The issues before #69 were all regular comic stories (with some single-pagers) like any other Archie comic book.

Reprints of classic MAD material means an improvement in quality, so from my POV, that's good news. Any reprint I haven't yet read is "new" to me. I haven't been buying the new issues of MAD because it ceased to be funny some time ago, but with this news, I'll have to start checking out each forthcoming issue. So it's no longer going to be culturally topical... what, me worry? Reprints of good material are GOOD. Without them, there would barely be any Archie Comics that I'm reading. Not being current culturally hasn't hurt the Archie reprints, and the old MAD paperback series were all-reprint, and those went on for a long, long, time. So now they'll just be in the regular magazine format -- big deal. If kids can't relate to those older reprints, then it is what it is -- it'll just be older fans of the classic MAD buying it. What, me worry?

Quote from: ASS-P on July 12, 2019, 07:19:19 pmAre the standard comic-book format comic books of Betty & Veronica (which comic-book print new stories by Parent that also appear ~ seperately?? ~ in the digests) still coming out?

Yes. The most recent one-shot #1 (which actually says #6 in the indicia) was "Return to Storybook Land", which came out (in comic shops) on July 1st. I'm pretty sure there's also been a new solictation for the next upcoming B&V one-shot.