robin2099

Just wondering. I read Archie vs Predator recently and realized I've never read an Archie comic, or even really seen an Archie comic outside of the ones in the supermarket. I also know it took something like 50 years before one of those comics made it to a second printing.

terrycloth

i grew up reading the digests because my mom would buy them at yardsales.

I dont faithfully buy them but if i do see a digest or collection for cheap ill grab it to read through

Afterlife and vs.Predator were both fun reads so far

The Valeyard

I use to have a bunch of Archie digests as a kid but got rid of most of them. The only Archie books I use to pick up regularly were the Red Circle books in the 80s. Other than that, it was the occasional book (like #600 or the Death of Archie). However the past year or so, I've been picking up a ton of Archie books on a regular basis.

Afterlife with Archie
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
Black Hood
The Fox
Archive Vs. Predator

They just solicited an Archie Vs. Sharknado book to coincide with Sharknado 3 in July. They're doing a lot of fun stuff lately.

Bronkster

Yup, when I was a kid. Kinda what got me into collecting, I guess. Then I discovered Superman and moved on.

Trevor

I read a few as a kid in elementary school, and even had a few of the Spire Christian ones back in that day. They all disappeared in one of the few purges of my life, wish I still had them.

Went 20+ years without reading any, but really liked the bit of Afterlife I read so will probably read more of that Humble Bundle soon.

Preterite

The digests were a regular part of summers during my youth. My favorites were the two superhero ones (featuring reprints of the 70's/80's Red Circle revival and Archie's Pureheart Powerful stories) and Little Archie. I'm still a huge Bob Bolling fan and wish they would put out more collections of his work.

Regular issues would turn up in those coverless, 3-for-1 plastic bags that I got most of my comics from.

I've recently read the first Married Life collection, love Afterlife, and will probably pick up the Predator series when it gets collected.

PhantomStranger

I was aware of Archie comics growing up but I don't remember reading more than an issue or two.

Ringmaster

The only Archie issue I ever bough was the crossover with TMNT when I was a kid (91' or 92') . I've since read one digest and that was because my sister in-law had a copy from when she was a kid. It's some lighthearted stuff but nothing I would start collecting.

Quack

I loved the double digests in the early 90's.

davidh777

Archie is comfort food for me. That said, I picked up a couple of the double digests a few years ago and they weren't really that good. Better to read the '70s-ish historical material, I think.

But the recent series have been really good. Archie Gets Married wasn't that great, but the follow-up Married Life is really entertaining. I've read the first four TPBs and have a couple more waiting.

Afterlife is great. I almost picked up the first floppy of Chilling Sabrina, but I have an aversion to floppies, especially when I expect to pick up the eventual trade.

danfindlay

I used to pick up digests in the supermarket when I was a kid. I got curious about it again when I dabbled with the Riverdale Rescue mobile game so I picked up a 1000 page super digest. I actually remembered a couple of the stories from way back when. Nothing spectacular just good clean punny humor.

Hokeyboy

As a kid I had a huge stack of Archie digests and double digests. Every time I went with my Mom to the supermarket, she'd get me one. I was addicted to the suckers. Many of them were a LOT better written than most would imagine. Of course there was schlock too but they weren't afraid to go dark when they had to.

Always loved the Pureheart/Superhero stories featuring the Riverdale Gang. Especially hilarious was Jughead's GLC-styled oath:

Teeny weeny magic beanie,
Pointing towards the sky;
Give me muscle, power, vigor,
Form a super guy!

To paraphrase George Carlin, you don't have to be Fellini to figure THAT one out...

brayzie

I was big on Marvel and DC as a kid but after seeing the 1990 TV movie and thinking Veronica was hot I got the non-digest version at the newsstand. I didn't really enjoy reading it.

Many years back I saw an Archie digest while waiting at the checkout line and it featured the 1940s/50s Veronica meeting the modern Veronica. I like golden age comics so I bought it. It featured comics from that era. The classic stories have a charm to them and I really like the art style. The art of the GA stories was a lot more detailed and crisp, probably because they were originally intended to be printed for standard comic size. The other stories were probably from the late 70s, 80s and 2000s. I didn't find them that interesting.

I bought an Archie comic one more time, it was a thin trade of the Golden Age stories and it was fun to read.

Supermallet

What are some good places to start with Archie?

danfindlay

There is roughly zero continuity in the digests so any of them you can find cheap. You can get several different 1000 pagers for around $13 from amazon.

Trevor

Your Archie Comics Humble Bundle of course! You got about 2000 pages of old and modern Archie for like $10.

Supermallet

Is there a link to that? When I go to Humble Bundle page I don't see the Archie bundle available.

Trevor

It was months ago. Hence my past tense 'got'. Keep up!

davidh777

I hear Big Lots also had a great deal on Warner TV-on-DVD sets!

fujishig

So Archie recently announced a new Archie #1, written by Mark Waid and drawn by Fiona Staples (Saga), with an untold origin.

Then they went to Kickstarter to try to get:
Jughead by Chip Zdarsky
Betty and Veronica written AND DRAWN by Adam Hughes
Life with Kevin ongoing

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...verdale-reborn

Arguments about corporations using kickstarter aside, those are pretty good, non-Archie-like creative teams. But then this angered retailers, because hey, they were basically selling Archie exclusives direct to the customer:

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/05/...argetwal-mart/

But hey, even if the kickstarter doesn't get funded, they say the books will eventually come out, just much later, since they have a bunch of money tied up in a deal with wal-mart and Target (this probably further angers people who hate corporations using Kickstarter). But I'm probably in for a few issues of a Waid/Staples run.

Trevor

Spent all day going to my three closest BLs. Nothing new.
I'm definitely going to try to avoid the Kickstarter, exclusive fun bonuses be darned, but am looking forward to the next bundle or $.99 digital sale. Nice creator lineup.

ddrknghtrtns

Josh-da-man

I only remember reading one Archie comic book, and that was when I was at the dentist's office when I was seven or eight.

bluetoast

Yes, I've been an Archie reader since 1991 and have a huge collection of digests and a good sized collection of single issues ranging from the 70's to around now. I was the only kid in school who was pissed about Sabrina the Teenage Witch being inconsistent with the comics. 80's-early 90's were an awesome damn time for experimentation: Jughead's Diner, Faculty Funnies, Archie 3000, World of Archie, The New Archies, The New Little Archies. They really cut down on all that by the mid 90's.

I felt that the comics got weak around 97 or so but I read Vol 1 of Afterlife With Archie which was cool. They seem to be going in those interesting directions from the early 90's again.

I would recommend you start with the Americana series, which has a "best of" book for each decade (and most decades now have two volumes). The 40's is different in tone (but still has good stories), and the 50's is where it starts to get more familiar, so check out those first two volumes.

I also recommend this DVD Rom (and just save the files to your comp) of all the 1970's Archie titles (complete with ads) for $8:

http://www.amazon.com/GIT-Corp-90015.../dp/B0017XHKYI

They also have it for Jughead and Betty & Veronica, you can get all 3 for $22 which is 360 comics total.

grundle

I recently bought some new Archie digests for the first time in a very long time. On the positive side, they now include script and art credits for every story. On the negative side, there was hardly any Sabrina.

The 2017 release date for this Sabrina trade paperback below is not necessarily accurate. This has been repeatedly announced and then pushed back. Also, some people have said it would be black and white, but I hope it's in color.

I predict that if this actually gets released, and if it's in color, it will sell more than any previous Archie trade paperback:


http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Sabri...=sabrina+comic

The Complete Sabrina the Teenage Witch: 1962-1971 (Sabrina's Spellbook) Paperback – December 12, 2017