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Messages - irishmoxie

#16
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on February 14, 2018, 03:30:40 AM
Quote from: irishmoxie on February 13, 2018, 07:07:15 PM

Ok there may also be some grandmothers buying digests from Walmart and grocery stores who like the classic stories they read in the 60s/70s. .

Some, maybe. You're reading them (even if buying them digitally)... are you a grandmother? If that's really the main demographic, then why aren't the digests primarily filled with B&V stories from the 1960s and 1970s, for the gratification of grandmothers and ?

Instead, most of the reprinted stories are from the 1990s through 2010 or so. My guess would be that the girls who read those stories when they were new are now the young women and mothers purchasing the merchandise for themselves, or the digests for their daughters (and maybe some of those 40+ male parents too).


I'm more of an occasional digest reader these days though I have read a lot in the past. I think the only reason they use the 90s and 00s stories is because they're already digitized and easy to reprint. A lot of the older 60s-80s stories which the grandmothers really want aren't digitized and would have to be re-colored. A lot more work for ACP who would rather make a cheap easy profit. I think the grandmothers buy the digests hoping for 1-2 of those older stories.
#17
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on February 13, 2018, 01:47:06 PM
Quote from: irishmoxie on February 12, 2018, 07:49:41 AM
I'll definitely be buying this digitally. Comic book stores are too much of a hassle for most people. Also I don't think Betty and Veronica's main audience is young girls. I think it's mostly men 40+, those who have nostalgia for them as sex symbols and commission Dan and Fernando to draw pin ups.

Probably true enough if the format is that of a printed floppy comic book, because those 40+ males still overwhelmingly make up the backbone of the average comic book shop's consumer demographic.

On the other hand, digest sales are so negligible through comic shops that they aren't even large enough to be included at the bottom of the lists of reported sales numbers in comic book stores. Yet someone is buying those digests (and the B&V digests' sales actually improved in recent years, as proven by the B&V FRIENDS digest's increased publication frequency since the end of the previous ongoing B&V floppy comic book). So that means there are a lot of "invisible" Betty & Veronica readers who are getting their B&V fix outside the comic book shop market. I would bet that that larger audience isn't mainly composed of 40+ males buying the digest titles in bookstores and supermarkets -- and what little merchandising of the characters over the past ten or twenty years exists, seems to bear out the existence of a largely female audience. https://www.bettyandveronica.com/

It should also go without saying that the pre-teen girl B&V readers won't be among those commissioning original artwork from Dan & Fernando. Artist commissions really can't be taken as representative of anything, apart from their having a devoted core fan following. Clearly there's a huge gap between that group and the number of readers needed to support a printed comic book's continued publication. If that weren't true, then there would be no need to Kickstarter a Die Kitty Die comic -- they could simply have published it through one of the established comic book publishers from the outset.


Ok there may also be some grandmothers buying digests from Walmart and grocery stores who like the classic stories they read in the 60s/70s.


I'm not sure who is buying that Betty and Veronica merch. It's way too expensive for the average digest reader. I suspect it's young women (20s) who are also fans of Riverdale and have deep pockets/Daddy's money and like to dress up as pin ups on a daily basis.
#18
I'll definitely be buying this digitally. Comic book stores are too much of a hassle for most people. Also I don't think Betty and Veronica's main audience is young girls. I think it's mostly men 40+, those who have nostalgia for them as sex symbols and commission Dan and Fernando to draw pin ups.
#19
Quote from: Sitcomics on February 01, 2018, 07:08:19 PM
Brand new issues 3 & 4 of Super 'Suckers just went on sale yesterday (also up in chapter versions on comixology and Amazon's kindle store).  The issue 3 letters page features an appearance by someone familiar to this forum. Has anyone read all 120 new pages yet?


I've read 3.1 so far. Saw DeCarlo Rules letter in the back.
#20
Rocko's Modern Life. One of the few shows from my childhood that holds up. I'm also reading the comic book series too. Much better than Rugrats.
#21
Re-reading Super 'Suckers, Die Kitty Die, and Life with Kevin. Remember when comics were funny?
#22
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on January 12, 2018, 10:23:57 AM
Quote from: irishmoxie on January 12, 2018, 06:54:55 AM
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on January 10, 2018, 03:36:35 PM
I think I'm going to quit reading the Archie digests (not the B&V digests, just the Archie ones). There's this real feeling of blandness about them right now, like they're just in a holding pattern, waiting for their time to inevitably run out. That's probably true, to a lesser extent, of the B&V digests as well, but it's less apparent to me because those digest stories seem to have a greater aggregation of my favorite artists in each issue.

They seem to be done with any pretense of growth or evolution (while maintaining faithfulness to the core style), even in the new stories -- there's a real feeling of "just keep it average and homogenized, according to what sold in the past", so there's no real "trying" on the part of the digest editors -- they've basically given up, and aren't going to bother making ANY effort. There's a real contrast there to the period between the late '90s Archie Comics (both floppies and digests) up to 2015, when they were introducing new characters, trying new things, new kinds of stories (out of that came cousin Marcy, New Kids, Kevin Keller, Harper Lodge, and a lot of fun 'what if' variant stories, and even LIFE WITH ARCHIE). All that seems to be over now, and 'classic Archie style' just seems to be in a short period of maintenance until the final shutdown.

:'(


Do you mean the new stories at the beginning or that they just keep reprinting the same stories over and over?

The new stories are fine, but 5 pages per issue just isn't compelling enough for me to want to buy them solely for that. Maybe if there were some annual compilation of all the new 5-page lead stories from a year or two earlier, it would make it worth the price of a typical digest. Even having said that, the 5-page shorts feel lacking compared to some of the longer stories by Dan Parent (or some of the recently-returned classic artists) from just 5 or 10 years ago. You can only develop a plot and characters so much in the space of a mere 5 pages.

My main complaint with the 3 Archie digests is the lack of variety of the reprints -- both in terms of spanning six or seven decades of available stories, and in terms of the lack of non-Archie stories. Yes, clearly most of the stories reprinted in those titles HAVE to be Archie stories, but not ALL of them.


They have annual compilations of the new stories but they are digital only.
#23
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on January 10, 2018, 03:36:35 PM
I think I'm going to quit reading the Archie digests (not the B&V digests, just the Archie ones). There's this real feeling of blandness about them right now, like they're just in a holding pattern, waiting for their time to inevitably run out. That's probably true, to a lesser extent, of the B&V digests as well, but it's less apparent to me because those digest stories seem to have a greater aggregation of my favorite artists in each issue.

They seem to be done with any pretense of growth or evolution (while maintaining faithfulness to the core style), even in the new stories -- there's a real feeling of "just keep it average and homogenized, according to what sold in the past", so there's no real "trying" on the part of the digest editors -- they've basically given up, and aren't going to bother making ANY effort. There's a real contrast there to the period between the late '90s Archie Comics (both floppies and digests) up to 2015, when they were introducing new characters, trying new things, new kinds of stories (out of that came cousin Marcy, New Kids, Kevin Keller, Harper Lodge, and a lot of fun 'what if' variant stories, and even LIFE WITH ARCHIE). All that seems to be over now, and 'classic Archie style' just seems to be in a short period of maintenance until the final shutdown.

:'(


Do you mean the new stories at the beginning or that they just keep reprinting the same stories over and over?
#24
Finally got my Die Kitty Die Kickstarter commission!! Love it!


#25
Quote from: Archiecomicxfan215 on December 22, 2017, 12:58:43 PM
So hot topic canceled the order yet when my boyfriend went to the store.... they had the order :idiot2:


But i am happy







I loved all the cardboard cut outs of the characters in this game. Getting to play as "Sabrina" etc but the actual game play was disappointing. It's a lot like the kid's game "Sorry."
#26
I really liked Life with Kevin. We need more "young adult" comics like that available. The 20 something making it in the city plot was interesting. Your Pal Archie was just ok for me.
#27
Quote from: Fernando Ruiz on December 28, 2017, 04:41:17 PM
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on December 28, 2017, 03:57:52 AM
.... and the next DKD Kickstarter, Die Kitty Die! Kitty Goes to Hell (which probably won't be available before Fall 2018)...


The next installment, Die Kitty Die Heaven & Hell, should be available in early Summer 2018.


When's the next Kickstarter? Still haven't gotten my commission from the last Kickstarter.
#28
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on November 22, 2017, 08:53:26 AM
ASH VS. THE ARMY OF DARKNESS #5 (of 5)
PUNISHER: PLATOON #3 (of 6)
THANOS #13
SAVAGE DRAGON #228
RICK AND MORTY: POCKET LIKE YOU STOLE IT #5 (of 5)
DETECTIVE COMICS #969
WONDER WOMAN #35
THE DEMON: HELL IS EARTH #1 (of 6)
DOOMSDAY CLOCK #1 (of 12)
KAMANDI CHALLENGE #11 (of 12)
SCOOBY-DOO TEAM UP #32
LOONEY TUNES #240
THE GREATEST ADVENTURE #7 (of 9)
SHEENA #3
DIE KITTY DIE: HOLLYWOOD OR BUST #4 (of 4)
YOUR PAL ARCHIE #4 (of 5)
BETTY & VERONICA: VIXENS #1
ARCHIE AND ME COMICS DIGEST #2
THAT WILKIN BOY #27 (APR 1974)
JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS #75 (APR 1974)
JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS #76 (JUN 1974)
ARCHIE'S T.V. LAUGH-OUT #24 (MAY 1974)
ARCHIE'S T.V. LAUGH-OUT #32 (JUL 1975)
ARCHIE'S T.V. LAUGH-OUT #83 (OCT 1981)
SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH #50 (DEC 1978)
CHILI #19 (OCT 1972)
LAUGH #270 (SEP 1973)
LAUGH #306 (SEP 1976)
PEP #283 (NOV 1973)
PEP #380 (DEC 1981)
ARCHIE'S GIRLS BETTY AND VERONICA #154 (OCT 1968)
ARCHIE'S GIRLS BETTY AND VERONICA #310 (OCT 1981)
ARCHIE'S GIRLS BETTY AND VERONICA #319 (AUG 1982)
ARCHIE GIANT SERIES (BETTY AND VERONICA SPECTACULAR) #246 (JUN 1976)
ARCHIE GIANT SERIES (BETTY AND VERONICA SPECTACULAR) #510 (OCT 1981)
BETTY AND ME #30 (SEP 1970)
BETTY AND ME #68 (AUG 1975)
BETTY AND ME #124 (OCT 1981)
Spire Christian Comics:
    ARCHIE'S CLEAN SLATE (1973)
    ARCHIE'S WORLD (1976)
    ARCHIE GETS A JOB! (1977)
    JUGHEAD'S SOUL FOOD (1979)
    ARCHIE'S FESTIVAL (1980)
    ARCHIE AND MR. WEATHERBEE (1980)
ARCHIE GIANT SERIES (WORLD OF ARCHIE) #509 (SEP 1981)
ARCHIE GIANT SERIES (WORLD OF JUGHEAD) #511 (OCT 1981)
JUGHEAD #223 (DEC 1973)
JUGHEAD #317 (OCT 1981)
JUGHEAD'S JOKES #43 (APR 1975)
REGGIE'S JOKES #29 (MAY 1974)
REGGIE AND ME #79 (JUL 1975)
MADHOUSE COMICS #126 (OCT 1981)
LIFE WITH ARCHIE #84 (APR 1969)
LIFE WITH ARCHIE #139 (NOV 1973)
LIFE WITH ARCHIE #144 (APR 1974)
LIFE WITH ARCHIE #227 (NOV 1981)
ARCHIE #245 (JUL 1975)
ARCHIE #246 (AUG 1975)
ARCHIE AT RIVERDALE HIGH #11 (OCT 1973)
ARCHIE AT RIVERDALE HIGH #15 (APR 1974)
ARCHIE AT RIVERDALE HIGH #82 (OCT 1981)
ARCHIE AND ME #65 (JUN 1974)
ARCHIE AND ME #130 (OCT 1951)
EVERYTHING'S ARCHIE #35 (SEP 1974)
EVERYTHING'S ARCHIE #40 (JUN 1974)


(... All binge-read in about 12 hours. Whew!! ...)


How did you enjoy Betty and Veronica Vixens?


How was the Sugarplum story in Archie and Me?
#29
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on November 19, 2017, 11:31:12 AM
STAR TREK: DISCOVERY - OFFICIAL COLLECTOR'S EDITION MAGAZINE HC - I've not seen the streaming series yet. Looks interesting.

POPEYE CLASSICS VOL 10 HC - A quick read and super-enjoyable, as always. Bud Sagendorf's Popeye is the one I'm most familiar with. He was a former assistant to E.C. Segar, Popeye's creator, and drew the comic book stories from #1 (published by Dell Comics in 1948) until #72 (published by Gold Key Comics in 1964), and the Popeye newspaper strip from 1959 (which is where this volume ends, with issue #49) until 1986. Sagendorf's Popeye combined the Segar version with the more familiar and popular Fleischer Brothers animated version from the 1930s. The stories are brilliantly inventive, stream-of-consciousness little epics. As an example, in issue #46, we get the complete story of Swee'pea, when he asks Popeye to fill him in on who he is and how he became Popeye's "adoptik boy-kid". Hopefully Craig Yoe and IDW can continue this series (should be another 4 or 5 hardcover volumes) until the conclusion of Sagendorf's run on the comic. The single-issue reprint series (entitled Classic Popeye) is already up to issue #65, so only another dozen issues to go until the end of Sagendorf's comic book version.

BETTY AND VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #258 - Still has the highest page count of classic Dan DeCarlo stories. Nice to see a new Jeff Shultz B&V story (and the return of Noelle Claus). Cramming more special sections into this digest is kind of a trade-off, because now they're as short as 11 pages. In this issue we get Li'l Jinx (eh...), Josie, Sabrina plus 2 classic Doyle/DeCarlo Betty & Me stories, in addition to the more usual recent stuff.

MY FRIEND DAHMER by Derf Backderf (OGN) - It's now been made into a indy film adaptation, so they did a new printing with a movie photo cover. Been meaning to read this for ages. Outstanding. The creator of the graphic novel was a fellow classmate of Jeffrey Dahmer's who knew him in high school, and he details his weird behavior even then. In addition to Derf's own memories and those of his friends, he also draws material from interviews with Dahmer himself, his parents, and on investigative news reports at the time of Dahmer's arrest in 1991, when Derf's then-girlfriend was a local reporter who was covering the story. Creepy and chilling -- yet the author also presents Dahmer as human, a monster-in-the-making that didn't have to be if he had gotten the help he needed in time to avert his later more extreme behavior.  Some of the scenes from Dahmer's life are bizarre - like an incident where, while on a class field trip to Washington D.C., Dahmer used his persuasiveness by making a blind call from a pay phone to the office of then-Vice President Walter Mondale to secure an invite for a meet-and-greet with himself and his classmates. Incredibly, the Vice President of the U.S. met with students from his class and Dahmer in was in the same office (as was national syndicated columnist Art Buchwald) only feet away.

THE MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN TP - This reprints both the color comic book series (1970s Marvel), plus the black & white comics from MONSTERS UNLEASHED magazine.


I've been reading My Friend Dahmer too. It's extra creepy as he grew up one town over from me and is around my mom's age.
#30
Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on November 15, 2017, 09:26:39 AM
SCARLET TRACES VOL 02 TP
THE ROOK ARCHIVES VOL 02 HC
THE ROOK ARCHIVES VOL 03 HC
THE ART OF THE PULPS HC
FICTION HOUSE: FROM PULPS TO PANELS, FROM JUNGLES TO SPACE HC
ROM #13 & 14
FIRST STRIKE #0-6 (of 6)
FIRST STRIKE: MICRONAUTS #1 (one-shot)
FIRST STRIKE: ROM #1 (one-shot)
NOT BRAND ECHH #14 (one-shot)
THE HARVEY COMICS COMPANION by Mark Arnold TP
FUTURE QUEST PRESENTS: THE GALAXY TRIO VS. SPACE GHOST #4
BUG: THE ADVENTURES OF FORAGER #5  (of 6)
CASPER THE FRIENDLY GHOST #2
GREEN HORNET '66 MEETS THE SPIRIT #5 (of 5)
RASPUTIN: VOICE OF THE DRAGON #1 (of 5)
KONG ON THE PLANET OF THE APES #1 (of 6)
SIMPSONS COMICS #241
COUGAR AND CUB TP
SHIGERU MIZUKI'S KITARO VOL 04: KITARO'S STRANGE ADVENTURES TP



I'm loving the Casper series. I wish they had more available.