Essay – State of the Archieverse 2023

Introduction

A lot has happened since I wrote my last essay. A lot but yet not a lot. There have been a lot of endings but no beginnings.

The comic book industry stopped releasing sales figures for the direct market after April of 2022. Not that the direct market matters much for Archie Comics (it’s always made most of its money elsewhere), but it does mean one less source of information. We have no hard data on anything.

Despite that, in this essay, I’m going to share some anecdotal information and give an update on what’s happened so far and the current state of the Archieverse in 2023 as I see it.

What’s Happened Since 2021

2021:

April 14 – Riverdale: The Ties That Bind, an original graphic novel tying into the TV series, is released in the direct market.

May 4 – Riverdale: The Ties That Bind is released to book trades and digitally.

May 14 – Archie in Will You Marry Me? is released as an audio drama.

May 21 – Vampironica: Volume 1 is released as an audio drama.

May 23 – The Bleepin’ Robot Chicken Archie Comics Special, a parody, premieres.

June 2 – Bite Sized Archie, Vol. 1, a paperback collection, is released.

June 9 – Everything’s Archie #1, a random one-shot consisting mostly of reprints and a new 4-page story, comes out.

July 8 – Archie (Mark Waid): Volume 1 is released as an audio drama.

August 23 – Archie (Mark Waid): Volume 2 is released as an audio drama.

September 8 – Betty and Veronica: Friends Forever, formerly an all-reprint title, starts including one new short story beginning in Halloween Spooktacular #1.

September 21 – Big Ethel Energy, a digital-exclusive Web comic chronicling a possible future, debuts with episodes #1-3.

October 6 – Archie Halloween Spectacular #1 (2021) comes out.

October 6 – Season 5 of Riverdale concludes at episode 19.

October 13 – Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #9 shockingly comes out over four years after the previous issue. It’s the final issue to date.

October 15 – Archie (Mark Waid): Volume 3 is released as an audio drama.

October 19 – The Riverdale Diaries, Vol. 1: Hello, Betty!, the original graphic novel previously released in the direct market, is released digitally.

November 3 – Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #1, a horror one-shot, comes out.

November 10 – Archie & Friends, formerly an all-reprint title, starts including one new short story beginning in Christmas Calamity #1.

November 10 – Archie 80th Anniversary Jumbo Comics Digest ends at issue #5.

November 16 – The Riverdale Diaries, Vol. 2: Starring Veronica, an original graphic novel, comes out. It’s the last original graphic novel to date.

November 16 – Josie and the Pussycats, the 2001 theatrical film, is released on Blu-ray.

November 16 – Season 6 of Riverdale premieres, introducing supernatural elements into the series.

November 19 – Archie (Mark Waid): Volume 4 is released as an audio drama.

December 1 – Archie Christmas Spectacular #1 (2021) comes out.

December 8 – Archie’s Holiday Magic Special #1, a New Riverdale one-shot, comes out.

December 17 – Jughead: The Hunger, Volume 1 is released as an audio drama.

December 20 – Jughead: The Hunger, Volume 2 is released as an audio drama.

December 21 – Jughead: The Hunger, Volume 3 is released as an audio drama.

2022:

January 5 – Archie Comics raises the price of its digests to $8.99 starting with Archie Jumbo Comics Digest #326.

February 2 – Archie’s Valentine’s Spectacular #1 (2022) comes out.

February 9 – Archie’s Love & Heartbreak Special #1, a New Riverdale one-shot, comes out.

February 23 – Archie’s 1000 Page Comics Glory, a trade paperback collection, comes out.

March 22 – The old stories “Bottle Battle” (2011) and “Getting Drastic with Plastic!” (2013) are released for free for Earth Day as digital exclusives.

March 23 – Betty and Veronica Decades: The 1960s, a trade paperback collection, comes out.

April 6 – The Archies Anniversary Spectacular #1, a one-shot, comes out.

April 13 – Fun With Little Archie and Friends Special #1, a New Riverdale (or something) one-shot, comes out.

April 20 – Archie Comics Jumbo Comics Digest #329 comes out. It was originally supposed to include an eight-page story, “Sounds Like Music” (written by Alex Simmons), which was the scheduled debut of Grace Alondra, a hearing impaired character living with neurofibromatosis (NF) or schwannomatosis, who loves listening to music and playing guitar while she still can. However, despite two solicitations being released on this very day, which included the first two pages and various other panels, the issue itself excludes the story. It is made available online to read for free on the same day.

April 27 – Bite Sized Archie, Vol. 1, a paperback collection, is released in the direct market.

May 11 – Archie Meets Riverdale #1, a one-shot, comes out.

June 15 – The Best Archie Comic Ever! #1, an AU anthology one-shot, comes out.

June 22 – Betty & Veronica Beach Bash!, a trade paperback collection, comes out in the direct market.

July 31 – Season 6 of Riverdale concludes at episode 22 on a bizarre cliffhanger.

August 11 – “Scars”, episode 6 of Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, comes out, strangely bringing the franchise into continuity with Riverdale (or vice-versa).

August 17 – Chilling Adventures Presents: Jinx Grim Fairy Tales #1, a horror anthology one-shot, comes out.

August 24 – Big Ethel Energy, Volume 1, a trade paperback collection, comes out.

September 7 – Sabrina the Teenage Witch Anniversary Spectacular #1, a one-shot, comes out.

September 21 – Chilling Adventures Presents: Weirder Mysteries #1, a horror anthology one-shot, comes out.

September 28 – The Archie Encyclopedia, a reference book, comes out in the direct market.

October 5 – Archie Halloween Spectacular #1 (2022) comes out.

October 12 – Chilling Adventures of Salem #1, a horror one-shot, comes out.

October 19 – Fear the Funhouse #1, a horror anthology one-shot, comes out.

October 25 – Big Ethel Energy has its “season 1 finale” at episode #60. It’s the final entry to date.

October 26 – The Return of Chilling Adventures in Sorcery #1, a horror anthology one-shot, comes out.

November 30 – Bob Phantom #1, a superhero one-shot, comes out.

December 7 – Archie Christmas Spectacular #1 (2022) comes out.

December 14 – Chilling Adventures Presents: Happy Horror Days #1, a horror anthology one-shot, comes out.

2023:

January 4 – Archie Comics raises the price of its digests to $9.99 starting with Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest #310.

January 25 – Archie vs. the World #1, a post-apocalyptic one-shot, comes out.

January 25 – The Archies in India, a trade paperback collection, comes out in the direct market, featuring a new lead story.

February 1 – Archie’s Valentine’s Spectacular #1 (2023) comes out.

February 15 – Chilling Adventures Presents: Betty The Final Girl #1, a horror anthology one-shot, comes out.

February 22 – Big Ethel Energy, Volume 2, a trade paperback collection, comes out in the direct market.

March 22 – Chilling Adventures Presents: Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe of Horrors #1, a horror anthology one-shot, comes out.

March 29 – Season 7 of Riverdale premieres, beginning the highly-divisive final stretch of the series.

April 19 – Chilling Adventures Presents: The Cult of That Wilkin Boy #1, a horror one-shot, comes out.

May 3 – Archie Modern Classics Mania, a trade paperback collection, comes out in the direct market.

May 6 – Archie Horror Presents The Cursed Library, a horror anthology one-shot, comes out in the direct market for Free Comic Book Day.

May 17 – Chilling Adventures Presents: Jinx: A Cursed Life #1, a horror anthology one-shot, comes out.

May 24 – Archie Giant Comics Charm, a trade paperback collection, comes out in the direct market.

June 21 – Chilling Adventures Presents: Camp Pickens #1, a horror anthology one-shot, comes out.

June 21 – Archie & Friends: Endless Escapades, a trade paperback collection, comes out in the direct market.

June 25 – Riverdale wraps filming after seven seasons. Madelaine Petsch (Cheryl), Lili Reinhart (Betty), and Cole Sprouse (Jughead) are the last cast members released.

August 2 – Archie 1000 Page Comics Prestige, a trade paperback collection, comes out in the direct market.

August 16 – Chilling Adventures Presents: Strange Science #1, a horror anthology one-shot, comes out.

August 23 – Archie Horror Presents Chilling Adventures: The Anthology Collection, a trade paperback collection, comes out in the direct market.

August 23 – The series finale of Riverdale airs, bringing an end to Archie Comics characters on television (and the era of network teen dramas as a whole).

August 30 – The Best of Archie: Musical Madness, a trade paperback collection, comes out in the direct market.

September 6 – Bite Sized Archie: Going Viral, a trade paperback collection, comes out in the direct market.

September 6 – Sabrina the Teenage Witch Annual Spectacular #1, a one-shot, comes out.

September 20 – Chilling Adventures Presents: Madam Satan: Hell on Earth #1, a horror anthology one-shot, comes out.

September 20 – Archie’s Christmas Wonderland, a trade paperback collection, comes out in the direct market.

September 27 – Big Ethel Energy, Volume 3, a trade paperback collection, comes out in the direct market.

October 4 – Archie Halloween Spectacular #1 (2023) comes out.

October 11 – Chilling Adventures Presents: Welcome to Riverdale #1, a horror anthology one-shot, comes out.

October 18 – Fear the Funhouse: Toybox of Terror #1, a horror anthology one-shot, comes out.

October 25 – Archie Giant Comics Shimmer, a trade paperback collection, comes out in the direct market.

November 8 – Josie and the Pussycats Anniversary Spectacular #1, a one-shot, comes out.

November 22 – Darkling #1, a superhero one-shot, comes out.

December 6 – Archie Christmas Spectacular #1 (2023) comes out.

December 7 – The Archies, a Bollywood take on the property, set in 1960s India, premieres on Netflix.

December 13 – Sabrina the Teenage Witch Holiday Special #1, a New Riverdale one-shot, comes out.

Where Things Stand Now

Can you see a pattern emerging? Covid put an end to ongoing series (and even miniseries) in floppy format. Archie Comics is using the format solely for one-shots. Those in the classic style – Betty and Veronica: Friends Forever and Archie & Friends plus some seasonal and anniversary one-shots – consist mostly of reprints but with one new story thrown in. The other one-shots are all-new and, at least initially, were very experimental, trying out many different things, before eventually settling into primarily horror and the occasional superhero and New Riverdale stories.

There are still four ongoing digest series that are published ten times per year and include anywhere between one and two new stories (some issues even had three new stories at the beginning of the year): Archie, Betty and Veronica, World of Archie, and World of Betty and Veronica. Two additional digest series – Archie Showcase and Archie Milestones – come out five times per year and are reprint-only. However, judging by the solicitations for January, February, and March of 2024, it seems World of Betty and Veronica has been quietly canceled.

There hasn’t been an original graphic novel since late 2021. As for prose novels? Not since 2020.

Riverdale is over, pissing off a lot of fans on its way out. By the way, consider this to be my official announcement that I will no longer be reviewing Riverdale material on this blog. The decision has been a long time coming. Considering just how much that the writers destroyed the characters as we knew them, I can’t bring myself to watch the series again, knowing how it all ends.

Bizarrely, an Indian film based on the property came out late in the year. It makes sense, though, when you learn India is Archie Comics’ third-largest market (after the United States and Canada). That’s also why Archie Comics introduced a hot new Indian character in a new story in an India-themed trade paperback.

Going forward, Archie Comics has no television or film projects and must, for the first time since 2016, rely solely on the comics. However, the company’s output is drastically reduced compared to 2016. Back then, the New Riverdale relaunch was in full swing. Today, there are six digests and scattered one-shots. The digests (including the two that contain no new content) are also much more expensive than they were in 2016.

The problem is Archie’s physical footprint is diminishing. A year ago, I could find two stores in my town that carried the digests, both Publix supermarkets. One put them at the front checkouts; the other put them in the magazine section toward the back of the store. Neither store carries them anymore. My local Walmart hasn’t carried them in a long time. Retailers are realizing these things don’t sell.

Also, the direct market is going through its latest upheaval, so it’s bonkers that Archie Comics is releasing so many trade paperbacks exclusively to it (at least at first). I didn’t even list all of them above, because sometimes it’s unclear what’s a trade paperback and what’s an oversized digest. Still, they’re all DM releases.

All of this wouldn’t be so bad if digital sales were doing well. While the books certainly chart in very specific categories on Amazon (and they’re all Kindle editions, by the way, no physical copies), the above-mentioned cancelation of one of the four digests that contain new content is a worrying sign.

Doing the Math

As before, let’s calculate the value of each storytelling format. They will be listed from best to worst value:

Archie Horror: Interview with the Vixen digital novel = $5.99/336 – $0.017827380952381 per page

Sabrina: Path of Night digital novel = $5.99/320 – $0.01871875 per page

Riverdale: The Poison Pen digital novel = $5.99/304 – $0.0197039473684211 per page

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (S1P1) HD or SD = $14.99/626 = $0.0239456869009585 per minute

Katy Keene: Restless Hearts digital novel = $6.99/288 – $0.0242708333333333 per page

Riverdale season 6 HD or SD full season = $24.99/(42*22) = $0.0270454545454545 per minute

Archie Horror: Interview with the Vixen paperback novel = $9.99/336 – $0.0297321428571429 per page

Riverdale season 3 Blu-ray = $28.49/929 = $0.0306673842841765 per minute

Sabrina: Path of Night paperback novel = $9.99/320 – $0.03121875 per page

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (S2P1) SD = $14.99/461 = $0.0325162689804772 per minute

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (S2P2) SD = $14.99/457 = $0.032800875273523 per minute

Riverdale: The Poison Pen paperback novel = $9.99/304 – $0.0328618421052632 per page

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (S1P2) SD = $17.91/516 = $0.0347093023255814 per minute

Katy Keene: Restless Hearts paperback novel = $10.99/288 – $0.0381597222222222 per page

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (S1P2) HD = $19.99/516 = $0.0387403100775194 per minute

digest (Kindle) = $6.99/177 = $0.0394915254237288 per page

Josie and the Pussycats (2001) digital film rental = $3.99/98 = $0.0407142857142857 per minute

Riverdale season 6 DVD = $39.99/924 = $0.0432792207792208 per minute

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (S2P1) HD = $19.99/461 = $0.0433622559652928 per minute

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (S2P2) HD = $19.99/457 = $0.0437417943107221 per minute

Katy Keene HD or SD full season = $24.99/(42*13) = $0.0457692307692308 per minute

Riverdale season 6 SD single episode = $1.99/42 = $0.0473809523809524 per minute

digest (paperback) = $9.99/177 = $0.0564406779661017 per page

Riverdale season 6 HD single episode = $2.99/42 = $0.0711904761904762 per minute

B&V: The Bond of Friendship digital OGN = $8.99/111* = $0.080990990990991 per page

Sabrina: Something Wicked digital collection = $8.99/110** = $0.0817272727272727 per page

Sabrina: Something Wicked trade paperback collection = $14.99/110** = $0.0999090909090909 per page

The Riverdale Diaries: Hello, Betty! paperback OGN = $12.99/128*** = $0.101484375 per page

The Riverdale Diaries: Starring Veronica paperback OGN = $12.99/128*** = $0.101484375 per page

Josie and the Pussycats (2001) DVD = $9.99/98 = $0.1019387755102041 per minute

B&V: The Bond of Friendship paperback OGN = $14.99/111* = $0.135045045045045 per page

mostly-reprint floppy comic book = $2.99/20 = $0.1495 per page

Josie and the Pussycats (2001) digital film purchase = $14.99/98 = $0.1529591836734694 per minute

The Riverdale Diaries: Starring Veronica hardcover OGN = $24.99/128*** = $0.195234375 per page

all-new floppy comic book = $3.99/20 = $0.1995 per page

Josie and the Pussycats (2001) Blu-Ray = $19.99/98 = $0.2039795918367347 per minute

new content in mostly-reprint floppy comic book = $2.99/5 = $0.598 per page

new content in digest (Kindle) = $6.99/10 = $0.699 per page

new content in digest (paperback) = $9.99/10 = $0.999 per page

*I’m using the total number of full-artwork pages related to the story itself only, excluding the cover page.

**I don’t have this collection and am using an estimated page count based on an assumption of 20 story pages per issue.

***I don’t have this book and am going by Amazon’s listed page count, which is likely inflated.

As you can see, the best value for the consumer is in digital novels, followed (roughly) by full or partial digital seasons, physical novels, TV Blu-rays (for those few seasons that are available), digital digests, digital movie rentals, TV DVDs, single SD digital episodes, physical digests, single HD digital episodes, digital OGNs, digital comic collections, trade paperback collections, paperback OGNs, movie DVDs, digital movie purchases, hardcover OGNs, single-issue comic books, movie Blu-Rays, and finally, if you disregard the reprint material, the new stories in the mostly-reprint floppy comics and the digests.

Here’s a “secret” regarding the new classic-style stories: you can download the free samples of these comics from Amazon and read the new stories without paying Archie Comics anything, since they’re always at the front of the issues.

Let’s do some more math. I actually put all of the issues with new material into a spreadsheet and calculated some costs. Here’s what I’ve found:

Archie Comics published a total of 715 pages of new material in 2023 across 63 issues. To buy all of them physically at cover price, it’d cost you $499.40 plus tax. This works out to a price of nearly $0.70 per page (before tax). If you would consider all of this material as if they were old-style 22-page comic books, it’d be the equivalent of paying a little over $15.36 per issue (or nearly $13.97 for a 20-pager).

Archie Comics published 9 mostly-reprint floppy issues, each containing 1 new 5-page story. Each issue costs $2.99. Buying them all to get those 9 new stories would cost you $26.91 plus tax. It’d be the equivalent of paying $11.96 for an old-style 20-page comic book or nearly $13.16 for a 22-pager.

Archie Comics published 12 all-new floppy one-shots (20 pages each), all but 3 of which were horror-themed. Each issue costs $3.99. Buying them all would cost you $47.88 plus tax.

Archie Comics published 41 digest issues containing 85 new stories totaling 425 pages. To buy all of them physically at cover price, it’d cost you $409.59 plus tax. This works out to a price of over $0.96 per page (before tax). If you would consider all of this material as if they were old-style 22-page comic books, it’d be the equivalent of paying a little over $21.20 per issue (or just over $19.27 for a 20-pager).

Then there’s The Archies in India trade paperback, which contains a new 5-page story introducing that hot new Indian character, the savior of Archie Comics. It’d cost you $14.99 to read about him (no cheating; it’s a direct-market-only release). That’s nearly $3.00 per page for the privilege of reading about their Lord and Savior.

All told, as far as new classic-style stories are concerned, Archie Comics published 95 of them (totaling 475 pages) across 51 issues (counting that trade). To buy all of them physically at cover price, it’d cost you $451.49 plus tax. This works out to a price of over $0.95 per page (before tax). If you would consider all of this material as if they were old-style 22-page comic books, it’d be the equivalent of paying a little over $20.91 per issue (or just over $19.01 for a 20-pager).

Classic-style stories make up the majority of Archie Comics’ 2023 output (475 pages, nearly double that of the 240 non-classic pages), but it’d cost far more to collect them physically (over 9 times as much, actually) than the non-classic stories, because the classic-style stories are attached to reprint collections. I can’t be the only one that sees this as a shitty way to do business. Furthermore, that hypothetical $451.49 per customer is something that Archie Comics probably largely loses out on, considering the aforementioned free way to read the new stories on Kindle.

I’m guessing the classic-style stories are probably far cheaper to produce, since they’re shorter and rely on the regular old Archie talent, but Archie Comics is rather greedily trying to make their money back, and I think it’s backfiring on them.

Case in point: the aforementioned quiet cancelation of World of Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest. It would seem issue #31 is the final issue. Since each digest currently features two new stories (for now; the March previews indicate only one new story in one of the issues, perhaps a sign of things to come), this represents a reduction of 25% of new content as far as the digests are concerned (or over 22% when factoring in those most-reprint floppies). It seems to me that Archie Comics is incapable of sustaining 6 ongoing digests totaling 50 issues per year, and they’re cutting one of the four that includes new content (10 whole issues and 20 new stories totaling 100 new pages).

I have no way to prove this, of course, since Archie Comics hasn’t released circulation figures since the 2010s. The latest sales figures that I was able to find were for 2012, courtesy of this post (dated March 8, 2013) at Comics Worth Reading. It was a different world back then. A lot has changed in 11 years. Still, if you’re willing to put up with still more math and a bunch of guessing, let’s look at the digest figures.

There were six ongoing double digests back then (what they call jumbo comics digests now): Archie, Archie & Friends, Betty & Veronica, B&V Friends, Jughead, and World of Archie. Three of those are still going today. B&V Friends was canceled at #286 (it inherited the numbering of the old Betty and Veronica “single” digest upon that title’s cancelation) with the last issue coming out on November 18, 2020. World of Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest replaced it with its debut on January 6, 2021. Archie & Friends and Jughead don’t really have exact successor digest titles, but I’ll compare them to digests that seem to be considered successor digests by Archie Comics based on the timings of cancelations and debuts.

Here’s what the figures looked like in 2012 (as far as I’m aware, these figures are for the United States only through all possible sales channels):

Archie: average sales: 45,641, nearest issue: 47,851, total published (nearest issue): 169,754, percent sold of published: 28%

Archie & Friends: average sales: 38,855, nearest issue: 39,386, total published (nearest issue): 171,889, percent sold of published: 23%

Betty & Veronica: average sales: 47,600, nearest issue: 47,108, total published (nearest issue): 160,488, percent sold of published: 29%

B&V Friends: average sales: 38,278, nearest issue: 37,176, total published (nearest issue): 156,410, percent sold of published: 24%

Jughead: average sales: 37,812, nearest issue: 36,924, total published (nearest issue): 168,359, percent sold of published: 22%

World of Archie: average sales: 39,936, nearest issue: 40,358, total published (nearest issue): 167,596, percent sold of published: 24%

Ranked by nearest issues to filing, the digests, in order of popularity, were: Archie, Betty & Veronica, World of Archie, Archie & Friends, B&V Friends, and Jughead.

A massive decline in sales occurred from 2011 to 2012. Archie sales declined by 35.58989556872707%, Betty & Veronica by 32.66291587294555%, Archie & Friends by 32.05742463453871%, Jughead by 32.05512928788342%, B&V Friends by 24.21998732974343%, and World of Archie by 30.96629213483146%.

However, let’s be super generous and apply the lowest year-over-year decline (between 2007 and 2012) for each respective title going forward from 2012 to project average sales for every year from 2013 to 2023:

2013:

Betty & Veronica: 46,037

Archie: 41,092

B&V Friends: 37,838

Jughead: 37,778

World of Archie: 36,775

Archie & Friends: 36,164

2014:

Betty & Veronica: 44,526

Jughead / Jughead and Archie: 37,744

B&V Friends: 37,403

Archie: 36,998

World of Archie: 33,864

Archie’s Funhouse: 33,661

2015:

Betty & Veronica: 43,065

Jughead and Archie: 37,711

B&V Friends: 36,973

Archie: 33,311

Archie’s Funhouse: 31,330

World of Archie: 31,184

2016:

Betty & Veronica: 41,652

Jughead and Archie: 37,677

B&V Friends: 36,549

Archie: 29,992

Archie’s Funhouse: 29,161

World of Archie: 28,716

2017:

Betty & Veronica: 40,285

Jughead and Archie / Archie and Me: 37,644

B&V Friends: 36,129

Archie’s Funhouse / Riverdale: 27,142

Archie: 27,003

World of Archie: 26,443

2018:

Betty & Veronica: 38,963

Archie and Me: 37,610

B&V Friends: 35,714

Riverdale: 25,263

World of Archie: 24,350

Archie: 24,312

2019:

Betty & Veronica: 37,684

Archie and Me: 37,577

B&V Friends: 35,304

Archie Milestones: 23,514

World of Archie: 22,423

Archie: 21,889

2020:

Archie Showcase: 37,543

Betty & Veronica: 36,447

B&V Friends: 34,898

Archie Milestones: 21,886

World of Archie: 20,648

Archie: 19,708

2021:

Archie Showcase: 37,510

Betty & Veronica: 35,251

World of Betty and Veronica: 34,497

Archie Milestones: 20,371

World of Archie: 19,014

Archie: 17,744

2022:

Archie Showcase: 37,477

World of Betty and Veronica: 34,101

Betty & Veronica: 34,094

Archie Milestones: 18,960

World of Archie: 17,509

Archie: 15,976

2023:

Archie Showcase: 37,443

World of Betty and Veronica: 33,709

Betty & Veronica: 32,975

Archie Milestones: 17,648

World of Archie: 16,123

Archie: 14,384

Of course, this is entirely speculation (and pretty generous speculation at that). There’s no way that the best-selling digest with new material gets canceled. Sales must have fallen pretty far for “the second Betty and Veronica title” to be canceled just shy of three years after what was essentially a relaunch (during which it might have gotten a temporary sales boost).

Also, based on these projections, the top-selling digest of 2023 is selling just under what the lowest-selling digest of 2012 sold. Sure, it’s an all-reprint digest, so it presumably costs slightly less to produce, but it also comes out only five times per year. Jughead cost $3.99 in 2012, and it came out 10 times per year. That equated to $1,508,698.80 that year for the worst-selling digest. Adjusted for inflation, that’s $2,017,681.10 in 2023 dollars. Current digests cost $9.99 (regardless of whether they have new content or not), and Archie Showcase comes out 5 times per year. That equates to $1,870,277.85 this year for the best-selling digest. Let’s be super generous again and double that (as if those numbers were for a digest that comes out 10 times per year). That’s $3,740,555.70 for the best-selling title, best-fucking-case scenario. But you know Archie Comics ain’t making that off the physical digests, because they cost far less through a subscription from the company (and, as I said, the digests are disappearing from store shelves). Add whatever digital sales on top of that (which also cost less).

Archie cost $3.99 in 2012, and it came out 10 times per year. That equated to $1,821,075.90 that year for the best-selling digest. Adjusted for inflation, that’s $2,435,443.33 in 2023 dollars.

For completeness’ sake, here are the best-case total hauls that Archie Comics made off each digest title this year:

Archie Showcase: $1,870,277.85 ($374,055.57 per issue)

World of Betty and Veronica: $3,367,529.10 ($336,752.91 per issue)

Betty & Veronica: $3,294,202.50 ($329,420.25 per issue)

Archie Milestones: $881,517.60 ($176,303.52 per issue)

World of Archie: $1,610,687.70 ($161,068.77 per issue)

Archie: $1,436,961.60 ($143,696.16 per issue)

Again, clearly, something’s not adding up. Unfortunately, there’s no way to determine what that is, because Archie Comics, like the rest of the industry, is being tight-lipped about how comics are selling.

All that we can do is wait and see what happens.

The Future

I don’t know what the future holds for the Archieverse. However, based on current trends, I can make some guesses as to what might happen:

The floppy format will continue to be used for horror, New Riverdale, and superhero one-shots and the occasional full-sized reprint issue of classic material with one new story thrown in.

The digests will continue with new short stories thrown in – at least for now. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if Archie Comics decides to go all-reprint.

Other than that, I’m not sure what Archie Comics is doing. The new classic-style stories are reintroducing obscure, long-abandoned superhero and detective characters (many dating back to the 1930s and 1940s), probably for the sole purposes of trademarking them, so they can offer them to Hollywood. I really can’t see this strategy working out. It’s an appeal to nostalgia for a bygone era, which will have an ever-decreasing audience as time marches on, and it’s exactly the kind of thing that turned many people off from the final season of Riverdale. I’ll restate the question that I keep asking whenever I read these new stories: Who is this for?

They’re also introducing a ton of new characters, each designed to fill some niche, and these characters, while initially hyped, quickly get reduced to supporting or background status in subsequent stories, since there are so few pages of new story anymore, compared to fifteen years ago. I can’t see this strategy working out either. How many new readers have come on board because of these characters?

I think Archie Comics should go hard into novels. The comics, while routinely topping sales charts of specialized categories on Amazon, seem both written and priced for adults that remember Archie Comics from their childhoods. According to the annual Bookscan charts, kids are mostly devouring stuff like manga and Dogman and maybe collections of comic strips, but definitely not Archie or any of the typical Western superheroes.

Novels are the best value for the consumer, and they’re probably the cheapest to produce. Have a line of novels for kids and another one for teens, but, dear Goddess, don’t let the regular Archie Comics writers write them. Generally speaking, they don’t know how to write modern teenagers. Novels can provide hours upon hours of entertainment at a fraction of the price compared to comics and even television. If the writing is good and appealing, I think it will bring in new fans from the younger generations, and that’s what the company desperately needs if it wants to survive.

Conclusion

So that’s my take on where Archie has recently been, where it is right now, and where it might be headed. I want to see the characters continue in some form, even if the current flavor is grittiness and horror. While I love the characters in comic format, it’s because I love the characters, not because of the format itself. I would gladly wait months for a new novel or OGN to come out – and months between TV seasons of whatever new series might come along – just to visit Riverdale again.

One thing’s for sure: if the Archieverse is to survive, the visits to Riverdale had better be well worth it.