Yesterday I ran a story called Archie Comics Classic Digest Format. Covering Archie’s plans, they began publishing a larger seasonal collection of newsstands, rather than a 50-year-old digest.
I hesitated that the original digest format is dead, but I can read the comments on the work, dig deeper and talk to a few people Archie knows more than I do.
Before we go any further, I would like to note that I am not a childhood Archie fan, unlike most people. I was given an Archie comic as a kid, but they did nothing for me and that was it. (I loved the Josie and Pussycats cartoons, but hurry up.) So maybe there’s a lack of important nostalgic factors in what I’m writing about.
My feelings aside, Archie Comics is one of the great basic manga publishers, with a history dating back to 1939 and presents characters that are embedded in our culture just like superheroes and comic strip characters. Archie, Betty, Veronica, Jughead, the rest are American icons. But the companies that published them are almost sliding right in front of our eyes without attracting media attention.
Comments by Mark Moore about my previous story warned me about the existence of Riverdale, his great blog. In numbers:
Looking at another method, by this time last year, Archie Comics had issued 35 issues (Digests, Floppies) that included new materials. So far, they have announced 24 issues, including new materials. By this time last year, they had released eight pages of floppies by external writers and artists. This year they came out a 40-page comic (probably) written by Kevin Smith and 40 pages (probably) that were drawn out in the Archie House style by Archie comic artist Fernando Rous.
Moore also notes that Archie Comics’ August solicitation has been revised. Originally, it included three digests, showcase #25, Betty and Veronica #337, and Archie #153 worlds, but the solicitation was replaced by Archie Comics Digest #1: Halloween Special, a new larger format, fewer pages, and fewer pie squeals.
At the end of the digest there was sadness in the various Archie Fan Forums, but I delved into some business elements. As mentioned yesterday, Archie’s digest has long been a staple in the checkout aisle for mass market retailers. But such pockets aren’t cheap, but you’ll have to pay at premium, as you know when you’re working on a Disney Adventure advertised by Aisle.
And now we listen to all the truths that I think putting manga on a newsstand will “save the manga.” Because the business has become quite complicated these days.
Last year, Archie appears to have switched to a new magazine distributor, as mentioned in the ICV2 story about the switch from Diamond to Lunar at Comics Shops.
Archie also distributed digests to newsstands and signed on with new distributor A360Media six months ago, Pellerito said. “It’s probably been for years that was the most exciting and robust thing,” Pellerito said. “Each pocket (in the market) has its own geographical limitations, but with a location like the A360, many of it collapses. Plus, comic shops also have digests, so Perild said, “It’s like advertising comic stores just being on a newsstand.”
The A360 has a rather interesting background, but can only be summarised here. The company had gone through numerous mergers and acquisitions, but previously the publisher of another checkout Isle classic, National Enquirer, is now a huge distributor of the material the magazine created. In addition to real magazine distribution, the A360 also runs a magazine shop, an online store for everything next to TIC-TACS and Doritos, with checkouts and actual newsstands.
Magazine Shop is an online magazine marketplace that sells popular weekly brands and special editions. This includes content from partners such as Drew Barrymore, Dr. Jen Ashton, Dennis Austin, and Leanford. Magazine Shop Digital Pocket features over 1,000 unique titles across the category, expanding consumer reach and increasing the category’s home penetration and sales.
Late last year, the A360 merged with McClatchy, which released a local newspaper, to form the McClatchy media, which is described as:
McClatchy Media is an omnicommerce sales, distribution, logistics, marketing and media company that unleashes retailers and brand growth at the intersection of culture, content and commercial.
The company offers over 6,000 magazine titles and sells it to more than 56,000 retailers each week, according to its website. There is also a “3mm square foot warehouse space.” This shows my ignorance here, as “mm” means millimeters, and I am sure the warehouse is bigger than that.
You can see the A360 products here, and you can see this series of puzzle books, recipe books, and celebrity specials. The page mentions Archie Comics Digests and where each title can be racked. If you think that a 32-page comic called Undead Iron Fist could thrive in this environment, then you have to fall outside your heart.
Anyway, this detour concludes the distribution of modern magazines and returns to the situation that Archie Comics has digested. It is unclear whether this new business partner has anything to do with the format change of digest, but no matter what the numbers, they must have indicated that it was time for the change.
As someone who grew up reading digest-sized comic anthology, and because I loved them so much, I read them a lot, and I worked for nearly a decade on Disney Adventure, a digest-sized magazine that later included comics and was loved by children of that era, so it’s so sad to see the comics on the last newsstands disappear. Certainly, others will feel the stab of sadness. I guarantee that if you put a good comic collection in front of the kids, even today, with a victory in screen time, they will enjoy reading it. Given the success of Scholastic’s roughly digest-sized manga and kids’ graphic novels, this cannot even be argued. But even the most precious form comes to an end when many others change around it.
Where does Archie go from here? That’s a great question. The brand, despite all this, lives remain within it. Back in the 00’s, giving a great boost by modernizing the lines with new storylines and characters, Riverdale launched a decade-long Renaissance for media adaptation. I think it’s hard to believe that Archie, Betty and Veronica’s ideal vision of enduring slavery and suburban high school life will not find new expressions in these tumultuous times.
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