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Betty & Veronica Double Digest #154 – featuring the 4TH and final part of our special summer feature, BAD BOY TROUBLE - goes on sale THIS WEEK! Get your copy today and see how this exciting tale ends!

We received a terrific email this week from one of our former “little” fans who is all grown up now. It was a great email, so I thought I’d share parts of it with you.

Michael S.

Hello Riverdale!

The last time I read an Archie comic was back in 1994 during the
Archie/Punisher crossover. Of course I grew up on the cartoons in the
70’s.

Recently, our local paper ran an article about the new look for Betty & Veronica coming in “Bad Boy Trouble”. As long as the girls and the gang would still be seen in their classic look, I thought it was a great idea. Shortly after reading that article, I was standing in line at the supermarket and noticed copies of “Tales from Riverdale” #19. I remembered the article, was amused by the cover and thought, ‘Oh, why not?’ I bought it and have since subscribed to it, plus “Betty & Veronica Double Digest”.

I am a former collector of many different comics, especially Spider-Man. But those comics have almost become too realistic and not as much fun as they used to be. With Archie comics, I can laugh, have fun & walk away with a smile on my face. And all because of a GREAT idea of trying out a realistic look. Ironic, huh? Trying to escape realism, I found what I was looking for because of realism!

Well, keep up the great work & TRADITION. I’m having fun again. And by the way, one more crazy thing: Shortly after subscribing, I found, in a box in my garage, my Archie/Punisher skull-shaped pin I had bought 13 years ago. How cool is that? It’s also cool to be back in Riverdale. I think I’ll stay awhile.

Take care.
Peter

The Staff and Management of Archie Comics wants to welcome Raj Patel to the AC family. Raj is making his debut this month in “Out-Raj-ous Behavior” featured in Tales From Riverdale Digest #21, which is on sale NOW!

We invite you to meet Raj, read his first story, then drop us a note and let us know what you think!

Mike S. (Click HERE for a sneak peek!)

(Click HERE for a sneak peek!)

Betty & Veronica Digest #153 featuring Part 3 of our special four part summer saga, Bad Boy Trouble goes on sale July 24! For a sneak preview, click here!

Just a Reminder…

Betty & Veronica Digest #152 featuring Part 2 of Bad Boy Trouble goes on sale at a store near you June 18th!

Over the weekend we got a great review from Darke Raven at Pop Syndicate on Bad Boy Trouble Part 1. We’re sharing some excerpts below:

“With a brand new dynamic look that really leaps off the page, with a mix of color and B/W (dream sequences and sitting in a dark theater setting). The new look shines as we see the series’ true potential with this newest “evolution” of the series giving it a fresh feel that should draw a new gathering of readers…

…the new look comes with a solid writing style and a promise of greatness that will last long past this experiment…

Over the next 4 issues (Betty & Veronica Double Digest #151 to #154) this will run… but then what? Hopefully Archie Comics has an eye towards the future, and keeps this team together for more and more storylines…”

Blake Petit over at comiXtreme wrote a terrific column about us. Here’s an excerpt:

Archie’s just doing what every other publisher is (and should be) doing – trying to appeal to as wide a range of readers as possible, while diversifying their line and trying to hold on to old readers at the same time. So tell me, ye naysayers, what’s wrong with that? “Your” Archie and “my” Archie is in no danger – he’s still the star of 90 percent of the other comics Archie publishers, not to mention the other 75 percent of the Double Digest comic where the “new” Betty and Veronica are featured. He’s not going anywhere. But why should another kind of Archie be out of the question?

The answer, simply, is that it shouldn’t.

If the stories are good, and the experiment works (in other words, if it gets people to pick up Archie who wouldn’t otherwise, or if it keeps readers that otherwise would have wandered away), I am 100 percent in favor of Archie putting out a few titles in the “new look.” And more power to ‘em.

Thanks, Blake. We think a “new look” Archie is a great idea, too!

Michael S.
And the AC Management Team

Hipster Dad wrote a great piece about his daughter and Betty & Veronica Double Digest #151 on his blog, The Jarjaz Journal. Here are some highlights:

Archie Comics released a sneak preview of this earlier in the year. It was greeted by howls of protest from people pretty far outside Betty & Veronica’s target demographic…

Well, my daughter is in the target demographic and she buys Archie Comics all the time, and she thinks this is the greatest thing ever and has been waiting for May 15, the day it goes on sale at newsstands, like it was Christmas…

So I told the girlchild that we might have a little surprise for her before we went to trivia, and drove down to Great Escape. She spotted the digest within twenty seconds of walking in the door and gingerly lifted it off the rack, and, with a huge grin, quietly said “Daddy, look! It’s out already!”

“That’s your surprise.”

I got a big hug.

The Hipster Daughter loves it, and took it to school today to show her friends… Score one for Archie Comics: they’ve done a great job making their product exciting and fresh to their audience, and if my daughter has her way, they’ll have a few new readers out of the deal.

We got a terrific review of Betty & Veronica Double Digest #151 last week from Penny Kenny at Silver Bullet Comics. Here are some excerpts:

“So now that the issue’s actually on the stands how does it really look? Glad you asked. Yes, the art is different from Archie’s familiar house style, but the characters remain recognizable. Butler has given Midge an appealing pixie quality…

The Archieverse is still very much the same. A “bad” boy is one who sneaks into the theater without paying and toughs only use their fists, not semi-automatics. Best friends worry about each other, and life revolves around the opposite sex.

… Archie has done what it’s always done: put out an entertaining story.”