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Archie in the 21st Century
So I learn that Archie Comics are getting a face lift [1] with a new
direction in art. It seems odd to think that Archie & Co. will have a whole
new look—what caused this to happen? Wasn't the old house style good enough?
But when you look closer at past [2] (70s) Archie [3] (50s and 80s) comics
[4] (60s) you can see the style has changed over time—it's not as static as
people make it out to be.
And perhaps the Archie company realized they needed to update the look of the
comic to remain relevant (and more importantly—solvent!) in these modern
days. After all, they know their market better than I do (heck, I don't even
buy Archie comics anymore) and it's the obsessive catering to the hard-core
fan that has gotten DC [5] and Marvel [6] into the mess they're in today
(wherein the story lines are hopelessly messy, and any new time buyer is
going to be totally lost without buying about a thousand dollars worth of
back issues across all their titles—in other words, they aren't new reader or
casual reader friendly).
But it sure would go down easier if the artwork was even halfway decent.
Ick.
[1]
http://www.progressiveruin.com/2006_12_17_archive.html#7179520586724148722
[2]
http://www.progressiveruin.com/2006_12_10_archive.html#94808647065617220
[3]
http://www.progressiveruin.com/2006_12_10_archive.html#373348521390206262
[4]
http://www.progressiveruin.com/2006_12_10_archive.html#4676770075787471656
[5]
http://www.dccomics.com/
[6]
http://www.marvel.com/
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