"New Look" Archie Comics

[samurainoir]

I know this isn't Superheroes, but many of us grew up with Archie.



This reached the headlines last year when Betty and Veronica were given a visual make-over that deviated from the Dan DeCarlo style that has defined the Archie characters for about half a century.

This time they have tapped Joe "E-Man" Staton for the artwork. IIRC, he also did the seventies run of Power Girl.

Overall in the grand scheme of things, bringing in another art style isn't really a radical departure given the fact that Marvel and DC have been allowing artists to deviate from the "house style" for decades now.

What would have been a radical departure might have been adapting a "Shojo" look and seeing what happened. But I would imagine Archie Comics have always been too conservative to make jumps like that.

[Mikey]

Jughead still has his dumb crown hat so it's cool

[The Toyroom]

Dumb idea once again but I think I'm more annoyed that Jughead is eating pizza...everyone knows he's a burger guy!

[thunderbolt]

That's the best work Staton and Migrom can get now? Pretty sad when the old workhorses are taking Archie when guys like the Kubert boys can't even make deadlines, but get buckets of cash.

[The Toyroom]

^ I've never been impressed with Andy or Adam...they aren't their dad, let's put it that way. I'm not surprised to see Joe Staton on Archie...he's always had a cartoony look to his art. Milgrom was always a solid inker although I didn't care for some of the artists he was paired up with...didn't always mesh well.

[Overkill]

As long as that type of artwork is only for one story and doesn't fill the entire digest, then I don't really care if it pops up once in a while. (Though I do get sad about not receiving a funny cover page for my Archie comics..D=) I could always skip that first story and go back to it once I've read the nicely drawn stories. (Just like with that B&V story..)

[HardyGirl]

This reminds me of when they were revamping (pardon the pun) Betty & Veronica. Personally, I think this sucks! They need to leave the overall look alone. I mean, subtle changes are fine, but really!

[samurainoir]

I like Harvey Kurtzman and Will Elder's version of Archie the best.




I'm hoping to one day see the "lost" Goodman Beaver featuring Archie that wasn't included in the collection.

The revamped Betty and Veronica looked like this (a bit more "glam")



Again, I'm not so sure it's that big a deal given the fact that Batman or Spiderman has gone through so many various artistic looks over the years. I don't think there is anything inherently "wrong" with an artist bringing their distinctive style to any given character rather than conform to the "house look".

I guess it all depends on your tastes and what you grew up with. To me Curt Swan will always be the definitive Superman artist, and Jim Aparo for Batman. Doesn't mean I can't dig Gary Frank's Superman or David Mazzucchelli's Batman.

[ctc]

>That's the best work Staton and Migrom can get now?

I wouldn't be surprised if Archie pays MORE than the big two and a half now. Arcie is still all about the comics; whereas Marvel and DC use 'em as marketing for the toys and movies, and Archie has MUCH larger sales than Marvel or DC for their books.

As for the designs; they look kinda sketchy. Staton HAS done Archie characters before, back in the 70's. (In that horror anthology they did, with Sabrina as narrator.) I actually liked those designs better than the current one; much cleaner, and had more of Staton's personal touch. The current ones are sort of an amalgom of Joe's style, and the style they used in the 90's on Archie promo material.

As an odd aside.... I was discussing Archie comics with someone a few days ago; mostly how they've had tons of secondary characters who've just vanished. We discussed the different incarnations; and I thought it'd be funny if they did a "Crisis" style Archie comic, featuring all the past incarnations. They DID do an anniversary story where the original Archie met the current one; and they've also established trhat there's an organization in the future that keeps the cosmic balance in order.....

Don C.

[palitoy]

if they did a "Crisis" style Archie comic

"Crisis on Infinite Archies" was always one of my favourite jokes with friends. Pureheart, P.O.P agents, L'il Archie, oh it writes itself.

[samurainoir]

>That's the best work Staton and Migrom can get now?

I wouldn't be surprised if Archie pays MORE than the big two and a half now. Arcie is still all about the comics; whereas Marvel and DC use 'em as marketing for the toys and movies, and Archie has MUCH larger sales than Marvel or DC for their books.

I don't know if that is necessarily true. Do Archie Comics pay their creators royalties? I know it was a huge issue with Dan Decarlo.

In the case of DC and Marvel you also need to factor in the royalties from the larger price-point of a hardcover or softcover collected edition and foreign sales as well. Not to mention the fact that creators now get a piece of the action if a character they create makes it to the realm of licensing... movies, action figures, etc.

[The Toyroom]

I don't know if that is necessarily true. Do Archie Comics pay their creators royalties? I know it was a huge issue with Dan Decarlo.

I think DeCarlo had issues with the rights to Josie and the Pussycats...

[ctc]

>I don't know if that is necessarily true. Do Archie Comics pay their creators royalties?

They're not working as creators though; they'd get the "per page" rate. And although I don't know for sure, I'd expect it to be at least as high as the big two and a half. And I wouldn't be surprised if it was higher.

>I know it was a huge issue with Dan Decarlo.

Well, yeah. Not only did he invent a bunch of characters he also created what most folks think of as the "Archie Style." And they paid him their standard rate. Back in the day the cartoonists got ripped pretty hard by the publishers. "Royalties" is a new thing, and page rates used to be pretty low.

Stupid Comics

Don C.

[Captain]

In regards to the "Crisis of Infinite Archies" comments, Archie did publish a digest last year where the current Archie meets the original. They are doing a similar thing with Jughead soon...I believe that one comes out in february.

[samurainoir]

>I don't know if that is necessarily true. Do Archie Comics pay their creators royalties?

They're not working as creators though; they'd get the "per page" rate. And although I don't know for sure, I'd expect it to be at least as high as the big two and a half. And I wouldn't be surprised if it was higher.

My point being that current DC and Marvel artists are definitely payed royalties based on sales of their comics, and on the best selling titles, it would be fairly substantial income above and beyond the page-rate they get.

Even if Archie comics sell more (which we haven't established), if the artist does not get royalties, then it's likely that they are not making as much overall as the guys who work for Marvel or DC.