ARCHIE & RIVERDALE GET A NEW LOOK

[MattBrady]

With more than 60 years of a certain…shall we say, style behind them, Archie, Betty, Veronica, and the whole Riverdale gang will be getting a new look in 2007, courtesy of artist Steven Butler.

Rather than moving to a manga style, which has worked on Sabrina by Tania del Rio, this change will move the art towards a more contemporary comic book style, more realistic, and less cartoony. The move, an Archie Comics representative told Newsarama, is a continuing experiment and exploration with the characters, showcasing not only their timlessness, but theur adaptability as well.

The first of the “new look” Archie and company will appear in May’s Betty and Veronica Double Digest #151, in “Bad Boy Trouble” written by Melanie J. Morgan. In addition to the look, the stories themselves will change format, switching from short tales to fuller-length stories. As such the digests will contain four stories, spanning issues #151-#154 which will run 25 pages each, when fully told.

Look for more on Archie’s changing look later this week on Newsarama.

[antillestk]

Ummmmmm........ Okay!!!!!

I'm all for progress and all that jazz, but Archie with a new more realistic style? I may have a little bit of a hard time with this.

Because come on let's face it. We never read it for Archie Betty or Veronica. We read it for Jughead and that stupid hat.

[Street Carp]

Originally Posted by antillestk

Because come on let's face it. We never read it for Archie Betty or Veronica. We read it for Jughead and that stupid hat.

Yep, I'ma have to agree. The hat had better be there!

(ian)

[Amoebas]

Wow - this is gonna take a while to get used to this (if it's even possible). What's next? Donald Duck wearing pants?

Here's hoping Jughead shares some hamburgers with B&V - they look anorexic.

[Zadillo]

Definitely weird stuff......... I guess it doesn't affect me personally since I don't buy Archie comics, but still.....

If it helps sell more Archie though, why not? I'd kind of hope they might keep doing some stuff in the "old" style though.....

[Mr Wesley]

Well, when you think about it, Archie and the gang are just about the only American icons who haven't had some sort of makeover in the past 50 years. Superman, Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny... they've all changed their styles to one extent or another. Outside of the fashions, the Archies modelsheets have remained essentially unchanged since the 50s.

The main problem I forsee will be regulating the style. With the more cartoony look, or even the manga look, the linework is clean and simple, easy to immitate. If they go to a more traditional illustrated look, each artist's particular style will come much more into play.

Here's hoping it works.

And is it just me, or does Betty look... familiar... on that cover? I feel like I should recognize her.

[CitC]

Is the new look a permanant change, or just for a title or two? Sounds like a permanant widespread thing to me. I thought at first it was going to just be an experiment for a title or two, but now I don't know. If it is going to be for all the titles, I'm not sure I like it, but I will suspend judgement until I read some of it.

It may get new readers, but will it alienate some readers that are not interested in other comics and have no desire to read "more realistic" comics?

Edit: FORGET IT! Everytime I read the thing I read it differently. Be gentle, its my birthday.


Time will tell. Archie hasn't survived for 65 years for nothing.

[Don A. Alsafi]

Originally Posted by Amoebas

Here's hoping Jughead shares some hamburgers with B&V - they look anorexic.

I was thinking the same thing. I'm all for Archie Comics experimenting with styles, but in the comic page above, Archie seemingly has a normal everyday physique, while B&V look like twigs that could snap in two. I realize that comic books aren't known for their realistic anatomy, but comics like this specifically designed to court younger, and female, readers really should take care to not indoctrinate such a double standard.

On the other hand, on what little we can see of the cover the girls have far more realistic, and respectable, figures. Let's hope that the inside of the book looks more like the outside.

[jaredgood1]

Now all they need to do is give Jughead some snazzy new hairstyle and make him into some type of "do the dew" skateboarder. Oh... wait...
Still, seeing the new style does seem odd. I will say, however, that the digests do make the best bathroom reading. Especially when they've obviously changed some text to make the story seem like it wasn't written 25 years ago, or decided that Betty or Veronica look too fat so they pencil in some ribs.

[speedfreak]

IS NOTHING SACRED??

[bluebird]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ! Granted, I'm not the target audience for this (does anyone read BOTH Newsarama.com AND Archie Comics regularly?) but, man, if it ain't DeCarlo style, it just ain't Archie to me.

[UnknownEric]

I'd still totally do Betty.

And Archie still looks like Rick Astley, so its all good.

[Comic Mom]

Direct quote from 8-year-old Sarah: "Why are they ruining Archie?!"

[tralfaz]

now the question is will they take the next step and have the gang in real teenage situations like teen pregnancy, drugs, divorced parents, etc. it doesnt have to be serious all the time, it could be funny in an OC kind of way

[Squashua]

I'd hit that.

[CitC]

Direct quote from 8-year-old Sarah: "Why are they ruining Archie?!"

That's what I was getting at when I said: "It may get new readers, but will it alienate some readers that are not interested in other comics and have no desire to read "more realistic" comics?"

[RedBaron]

Realistic is relative. Look at Betty and V. They look like stick-figure lollipops

[Yami Ash]

WHY ARE YOU RAPING MY CHILDHOOD!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, though, Betty looks like one of the Olsen twins. The ugly one.

[Tiger47]

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THAT IS HOLY, NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Seriously though...after half a century it might be good to change things up a little bit. And does anyone even read Archie any more?

[AdamYJ]

Honestly, if anyone can afford to experiment with their style, it's Archie. With their newsstand distribution and sales, what do they have to lose? They could either go from having really big sales to decent sales or they could go from having really big sales to colossal sales. Plus, even if it doesn't take off, they could probably switch it back pretty darn quick. It's not like there's some big overarching storyline in Archie comics that they'll disrupt by switching the art back.

So, I say way to go Archie. Show people that you can try different stuff within your comics. You folks deserve to show how adaptable your characters are after selling comics well for sixty years.

[speedfreak]

Seriously though...after half a century it might be good to change things up a little bit. And does anyone even read Archie any more?

More people read archie than superhero comics that's for sure.

And I say if it's been good enough for the last four generations of kids it's good enough for today's ones.

[maxx]

look like sluts who are wearing clothing from 94

[Superrossman]

I see how "the powers that be" believe that the change is needed. The fact of the matter is that to say that the overall style of the book is dated is quite an understatement. This causes the books not to sell that well because todays generation does not identify with the look. Like many of us, I started my comic reading with Archie Comics. While I will miss the Archie of old, it is purely for nostalgia purposes. I also think that they should go the Marvel route and have a 616 Archie and Ultimate Archie, if you will.

[nietoperz]

This seems like a really dumb idea.

[mjmcgourty]

I don't like the new designs. For one, they aren't drawn particularly well.