The News Blog of Comics Culture
Archie just can’t stay out of the news! While a million moms may be marching against Riverdale, they are staging their own Occupy movement. Whose side is Reggie Mantle on?
Archie Comics has provided us with the actual cover to ARCHIE #365, which comes out in July. Story by Alex Segura Jr. Art by Gisele Legace.
While you might have expected much outcry over the introduction of a gay character into the traditionalist world of Riverdale, reaction to Archie Comics’s Kevin Keller has been overwhelmingly positive. But Archie has heedlessly kept hurtling down the highway, hellbent for tolerance, going further and further until it seemed inevitable they would rouse a bear somewhere: Kevin got his own series and even his own wedding issue, one of those flash forwards in which he marries a doctor who helped him recover from injuries sustained in the Iraq war.
Well, let your faith in the bigotry of humanity be restored: a pressure group is threatening a boycott of Toys ‘r’ Us over carrying the offending comic.
Here it is, the stunning conclusion of new titles shipping in February!
Since this is Oscars weekend, I’ve included some award winners below! Hugo! Edgar! Carnegie! Stoker! Even Shamus! (No, not that one!)
Lots of adaptations! One is a comic based on a movie based on a prose novel!
You gotta hand it to Archie Comics. They are completely staying on top of current trends and even controversies. If it isn’t gay marriage and interracial dating, it’s now income inequality and the Occupy Movement, as shown by this awesome Jill Thompson variant cover. Not that this comic will necessarily deliver a sharp critique of Keynesian models vs the Austrian School…by now “Occupy anything” is just another buzz word. But it is definitely today’s buzzword.
New comics! Fun stuff for everyone! (And, of course, before you hand the book over to a young impressionable mind, you have to read it first to make sure it is age-appropriate!)
The ugly legal battle between Archie Comics co-CEO’s Jon Goldwater and Nancy Silberkleit has escalated in recent weeks with new legal filings. And now a judge has banned Silberkleit from going anywhere near Archie’s offices or contacting any of the employees.
Well, not content to merely sanction alternate futures, gay marriage, and the rights of the mentally challenged via Jughead, Archie Comics is following up on a storyline from last year with a rekindled romance between Archie and Valerie from Josie and the Pussycats— and another alternate future is on tap where Archie decides to marry Valerie.
Oops, well just yesterday The Beat and Michael Sangiacomo were reporting that Archie Comics co-CEO Nancy Silberkleit was continuing to peacefully tell children about the joys of comics despite her past as the target of a sexual harassment lawsuit.
However, it seems that a series of anonymous phone calls alerted school officials to Silberkleit’s ongoing legal problems and the school visits were canceled. A comics shop appearance and the sale of comics to benefit the schools have gone on as planned. But there is much more than that going on.
When last we saw Archie Comics co-CEO Nancy Silberkleit, she was being slapped with a restraining order by Archie Comics and accused of some rather odd behavior. The widow of former Archie owner Michael Silberkleit, Nancy was accused of harassing Archie employees by yelling out words for genitalia at meetings and other odd stuff.
Whatever the state of these internal affairs, Silberkleit is still out there using comics to teach children to read, according to a recent story about her visiting various elementary schools:
I hope this has been worth the wait! Here are the independent publishers Random House distributes, and there are some lesser known (but quite good) titles here!
In January Kevin Keller, Riverdale’s popular gay teen, is getting married, and Here’s the cover to LIFE WITH ARCHIE #16 which leads in to Kevin’s monthly series. According to the pr, “Since arriving on the scene last year, Kevin has enjoyed a meteoric rise to becoming one of Riverdale’s most popular teens, graduating from guest-star to mini-series to his upcoming starring title in the span of just over a year. Not only is he a hit in comic sales, he’s fitting right in with the gang at Riverdale High having been elected class president plus representing his new school in a TV Game Show “Witmasters” and winning!”
You might want to ponder this for a minute — a humorous soap opera comics that has stood in for American normality for over 75 years introduced a gay character who is now popular enough to get his own series. And get married in it. America, you are okay after all.
When Marvel’s Ralph Macchio retired the other day, we made the claim that he was the last editor from the pre-direct sales market working in the business. A few people wrote in to correct us, however.
There is one editor who has been around even longer, and is still going strong, Archie’s own editor in chief, Victor Gorelick (pronounced Gor-EL-ick). Now 70, Gorelick has worked at Archie for 50 years in various roles. It’s certainly an astonishing career that has seen incredible changes.
Well, another Comic-Con is drawing to a close, with the traditional annual Buffy sing-along, this time in Hall H. (Perhaps they could also add a “Mayhem of the Music Meister!” event as well?)
So, here’s some more interesting tidbits from Comic-Con…
Well, the second full day of Comic-Con is coming to an end, and there’s been lots of amazing stuff announced! I’ve diligently sat deep in Stately Beat Manor, watching the news feeds, so you don’t have to! Read on!
It’s Preview Night and the ICv2 Conference at San Diego Comic-Con, and while the big announcements are still being held back for the convention proper, news has begun to come out of San Diego in a trickle that will soon become a torrent.
Oi. Think Archie Comics is a place where no one ever says a bad word? Think again.
As revealed by TMZ, Archie Comics has filed papers alleging that co-CEO Nancy Silberkleit has been harassing employees and should not represent the company at San Diego Comic-Con:
Recent Comments