I hope "Hundreds of Possibilities" finally does see print in the Archie 80th Anniversary digest.

February is a good month! When was the last time we saw nothing but classic Archie titles coming out? Still waiting for an ARCHIE SHOWCASE DIGEST #3.

I'm crazy about BATS!

Archie digests have been very annoying in 2020 with the content described in solicitations not being correct in the printed digests -- but then they had that problem sometimes even before the COVID situation.

First week in October is another JUGHEAD Digest! (Technically titled Archie Showcase Digest #2.)
Including World of Archie Jumbo Comics Digest #103's Special Jughead Issue from the last week in September, that makes TWO Jughead digests in 2 weeks! With luck, maybe there will be an ongoing Jughead digest title by this time next year!

Okay -- I hadn't been getting this digest for a couple of years now, but decided to make an exception for the 100th issue. Not bad for a special issue (more older stories), but that by itself doesn't convince me to start buying WoA on a regular basis again.

What IS special is that I just discovered that issues 101-103 all bear a cover image of Jughead's head in a circle with the words "Special Jughead Issue" circling around. The cover logo still says ARCHIE, but the stories inside are ALL Jughead stories.

#101's actual cover uses the same design for the "Special Jughead Issue" as #102 & #103 as depicted, not that black crown-shaped blurb... that's an early cover mockup.

So what this seems to amount to is a digest comic miniseries-within-a-series... It occurs to me this must be some sort of trial run to determine (based on sales performance) whether or not to give Jughead his own ongoing digest series again... or maybe they're even considering changing "World of Archie" into "World of Jughead" Jumbo Comics Digest.

#104 and 105 have already been solicited and they look like the usual Christmas-season issues of WoA. But if they DO decide to publish a Jughead digest I'd buy it.

Just goes to show that you never really know (until you see solicitations) what's going on at ArchieCo HQ.
A few months back, this happened without any warning...

#281 was the last actual issue to bear the traditional title logo. Cover previews of issues 282 and 283 show the same logo, but when those issues actually went on sale, they had THIS new logo:

Which makes B & V FRIENDS (now "BEST FRIENDS", but at a much-reduced font size) nearly indistinguishable, without a close look, from the regular BETTY AND VERONICA Jumbo Comics Digest. No change at all in content (same special sections for Josie and L'il Jinx), but I figure there must be some reasoning behind it. The other B & V digest sells better for some reason, so maybe it's the logo?? That's all I can come up with.
 

ARCHIE SHOWCASE DIGEST #1 (despite focusing on a character who isn't exactly lacking in exposure) was pretty good. A much higher than average dose of the older classic stories in this one. Especially looking forward to #2 featuring Jughead.

Waitin' for Satan. The Madam Satan one-shot. Wonder if we'll see Superteen #1 or Archie Meets Flash Gordon #1 before that?

Oh, irony... the Archie Comics FCBD book shipped from Diamond this week. Nothing to write home about. I read it, but I'm tossing it back to my LCS next week.

Due next week from Diamond:
ARCHIE & FRIENDS FOREVER TP
ARCHIE EXPLORERS OF THE UNKNOWN TP
B & V FRIENDS JUMBO COMICS DIGEST #282
(...and who knows what else; mainly just keeping track of the classic stuff for myself.)

Also, that ARCHIE SHOWCASE DIGEST #1 apparently is out this week, but since I forgot to order a copy until last week, I won't get mine until next week. I'd be more excited if the character being showcased was anyone but Archie.

Quote from: Tuxedo Mark on July 15, 2020, 09:38:06 PM

Quote from: DeCarlo Rules on March 27, 2020, 02:42:30 AMWorld of ARCHIE 100th Issue Special:

Not on my usual reading list, but I'll certainly be picking this one up (I HOPE!!) based on this solicitation description:
(W) Bill Golliher (A) Various (CA) Pat & Tim Kennedy
BRAND NEW STORY: "Hundreds of Possibilities!" Celebrate the milestone 100th issue of World of Archie! Archie takes a nap only to be awakened by someone pounding on his door. To his surprise, it's his best friend Jughead-but not the Jughead he recognizes. This one belongs to something called the Time Police, and he comes with a warning: all the Archie space time continuum will soon be collapsed into one reality. Archie must join forces with Jughead to save the day-and all of time as we know it!
In Shops: Jun 17, 2020
SRP: $7.99

Ooooh!! An Archie Multiverse story featuring Deputy Marshal Forsythe P. Jones of the Time Police!! SWEET!! Doesn't say whether the new story is longer than the standard digest lead of 5 pages, but one hopes against hope for a one-time exception 20-pager in honor of reaching 100 issues. Certainly sounds like more plot than they can squeeze down into a standard 5-pager, though. FINGERS CROSSED!

The digest came out, but the new story isn't in it. Instead, the featured story is a reprint of "Welcome to Mirrordale".

RATS! I was really looking forward to that new story. Now I'll probably never know when (or IF) it's published in some other digest.

I guess WORLD OF ARCHIE JUMBO DIGEST #100 was still worth buying though, because of the variety of reprints. I haven't read an issue in about 2 years, and can't even remember the last digest that had a "From the Vault" section (let alone TWO!!). I think the Pat the Brat story was new, but I'm not 100% sure... plus there was Super Duck, Ginger, Katy Keene, and even a Reggie story. Aside from the missing new story, if every issue of WOA was like that, I'd be buying it regularly. At least it looked a lot better than ARCHIE JUMBO DIGEST #300, which aside from a new 5-pager whose plot revolved around the number 300 (typical), it looks like they put zero effort into making it special at all.

And since they seem to be doing all these special "limited" 12-issue digest series lately, why not one composed of nothing but classics "From the Vault" of the many different titles published in the 1950s and 1960s?

Quote from: ASS-P on May 16, 2020, 10:21:32 PM...I always found it kind of odd that digest titles tended to work out as being more or less exclusively for kid's titles...When Marvel made that late 80s attempt at digests Star titles and 80s toy tie-ins (G.I. Joe, Transformers) were IIRC all that there was - except for the umpteenth re-reprinting of Lee/Ditko Spider-Man stories, classic but maybe a little old hat.even as Reagan trailed off into GHWB.

What is ironic is I doubt many kids actually buy the Archie digests now. I mean, if given the money to spend, that's not what they'd pick to spend it on. Some parents may choose to buy them (for nostalgic reasons) FOR their kids, or for themselves, under the guise of buying them for their kids.

But no, you really can't imagine something like HELLBLAZER or PREACHER in digest format, can you? Comics only really work well at that reduced page size if the art is stylized in a cartoon way, and the panels aren't crammed full of detail and rendering. It has to communicate directly and unambiguously, without having to study the panels to decipher what's going on, or even to appreciate the amount of work the artist put into it -- the artwork must appear deceptively simple.

Oh, not HER again. She was banned.

Marvel did their own digests briefly, in the late 1980s, as well (before their most recent deal to have ACP distribute Marvel digests for them). I did manage to snag most of those DC digests back when they were doing them. Still, while Gold Key may have been first, it's Archie that went the distance and kept them running all the way up to the present.

Even as the Sword of Damocles represented by COVID-19 hangs like a grim spectre poised to crush Diamond Comic Distributors (and the entire comic shop retailing industry as it has existed in the 21st century), there are new solicitations. Anything could happen, at the time I'm posting this, but the month's ACP solicitations are more exciting collectively than they've been in a while, IMO. In addition to continuing the just-shipped SUPER DUCK reboot (which I thought was funny and just great), here are some of the notables:


SUPERTEEN Betty Cooper is back! In her own series!! (These are just 2 out of 5 cover variants)




Another Archie crossover miniseries by the Archie Meets Batman '66 creative team of Jeff Parker & Dan Parent!

Certainly not one which would have occurred to me. Well, at least they're trying to keep the crossover concept going, but legal logistics probably rule out any kind of 'dream crossover' projects with Star Wars or Spider-Man. Superman would seem to be at least a possibility based on previous AC/DC co-productions, so fingers crossed for next time.




World of ARCHIE 100th Issue Special:

Not on my usual reading list, but I'll certainly be picking this one up (I HOPE!!) based on this solicitation description:
(W) Bill Golliher (A) Various (CA) Pat & Tim Kennedy
BRAND NEW STORY: "Hundreds of Possibilities!" Celebrate the milestone 100th issue of World of Archie! Archie takes a nap only to be awakened by someone pounding on his door. To his surprise, it's his best friend Jughead-but not the Jughead he recognizes. This one belongs to something called the Time Police, and he comes with a warning: all the Archie space time continuum will soon be collapsed into one reality. Archie must join forces with Jughead to save the day-and all of time as we know it!
In Shops: Jun 17, 2020
SRP: $7.99

Ooooh!! An Archie Multiverse story featuring Deputy Marshal Forsythe P. Jones of the Time Police!! SWEET!! Doesn't say whether the new story is longer than the standard digest lead of 5 pages, but one hopes against hope for a one-time exception 20-pager in honor of reaching 100 issues. Certainly sounds like more plot than they can squeeze down into a standard 5-pager, though. FINGERS CROSSED!



On the trade paperback front, there's this (No real details, so it's a crapshoot as to whether there will be any significant percentage of not-previously-collected stories making up this volume):

Is it merely the trade paperback version of the earlier-revised HC Deluxe Edition of the even-earlier Best of Archie Comics Volume 1 trade collection? Or an entirely different remix? No way to tell at present. Buyer Beware!



And of course, the continuing exploits and/or travails of the "All-New, All-Cynical" SUPER DUCK. NOT an All-Ages title as you might expect:

SUPER DUCK #1 read somewhat like a strange fusion of Mighty Mouse and Marvel's Howard the Duck. A complete reboot of the classic ACP character -- no prior familiarity necessary. Highly recommended by this reader!



Finally, on the Archie-peripheral collectibles front, there's THIS book (for a mere $5 cover price) from ACP licensee BuzzPop:

Quote from: Sitcomics on March 20, 2020, 03:37:20 AMShort answer: not for a while.

Long-winded writer's answer: The 5th Binge Book is 2/3 drawn and hopefully 3/3 written & drawn in a couple months. The plan is to switch to Diamond next year, assuming Diamond still exists by then, which means waiting a while to print the entire new story. You can actually read the new chapter (and all 11 previous digital issues) for free on Kindle Unlimited right now by following the link and part two should follow in a couple months. Have fun!

Whoa. You hadda bring THAT up. I've heard rumblings that... all is not well in comic book retailing-dom. And if Diamond Comic Distributors ceases to function, that's pretty much all she wrote for print comics retailing as it has existed up until this point in time, because there's really nothing to replace it. Bookstore sales of collected editions and graphic novels can go on, and of course digital comics, but not the printed type of floppy comics. All would be apparently collateral damage victims of the COVID-19 Apocalypse. I guess that would effectively sort of level the entire playing field for the little guys in comic publishing, but... *brrrr!* I don't even really want to think about it.

Hey Darin!

Good to hear that Super Suckers is still a going thing, and that Corona vampires haven't caused the end of Bung Hill civilization (such as it may be...)

Any projection on the next SS Binge Book? I need that for my collection.

I didn't see this one coming, because I didn't read Dynamite's solictation for this issue closely enough. I had been buying the previous issues more to get the Dan Parent cover variants than for any other reason. #1-8 are done in the same "New Archie" style as the earlier DC crossover with Harley & Ivy. Which is nowhere near as interesting to me as it would be if Dan Parent drew the story. But surprisingly to me (I was completely unaware until I opened the cover of #9 and began reading) Dan Parent DID in fact draw the interior artwork for this entire issue.

In 1972, Tom DeFalco began his career in comic books working as an editorial assistant for ACP, where he began writing scripts on the side, but one of the earliest things he did was to conceive and develop the Archie reprint comics digest:



The Archie digest line would go on to become the company's most profitable format for decades. Tom DeFalco went on to work for Marvel Comics beginning in the 1980s, where he spent the next 20 years of his career. He later served as Editor-In-Chief at Marvel from 1987 to 1994, making him one of the longest serving individuals to hold that post, and later returned to write for Archie Comics in 2000s again.

Hats off to Tom for brainstorming that little digest of collected reprints that managed to make it into more retail outlets than any other comics published from the 1970s onward!