MIKE PELLERITO, was recently named the new Managing Editor of Archie Comics. In addition to looking over the Archie universe he also editÃs some of Archie Comics most popular titles,
This column came about after having very few avenues to promote and find out about All Ages and Younger Reader Comics and Graphic Novels. Most knowledge seems to be passed along by word of mouth, so this is in the sprit the column is written. Now, sit back and join in the conversation!
To learn more about any of the above-mentioned projects please visit Archie Comics.com
Just Kidding!
If you could would you go back to relive your childhood? What about for one day? What if you could go back a relive your favorite childhood moment? What if you could go back and prevent your biggest mistake? Do you miss childhood enough to do it again, or are memories enough?
This is always a time of year that seems to remind people of their childhood. You can’t help but see the school busses return and ads for Back-to-School sales are everywhere. It happens to be a nice time at Archie Comics as well with the softball season over and the wiffle ball lunch hour tournaments restarting. Every spring and fall a bunch of us walk a block or two down the road to a local park. The park is (thankfully) empty with kids back in school giving us plenty of room to play. If the ball hits the tree branches above Home Plate (which is a large piece of cardboard with a cartoon wiffle ball and shades, naturally) beyond the benches at the edge of the basketball court it's a double, beyond the fence line is a home run. The rules go on and on and the whole thing is really reminiscent of childhood. It is a really great way to spend some time. Not a bad life working on comic books all day with a break for wiffle ball. Sometimes a person could feel guilty complain ing about a day at work. Most kids might treat this as pure nirvana.
All this kick-started some thoughts about what comics really capture: that sprit and imagination of childhood. A lot of comics really deal in the fantasy of youth when the monsters of our imagination were real and we kids knew more than any adult and could stop an evil scientist, or with enough time we could build the largest arsenal of snow balls the world has ever seen. 
One collection that does this better than any one else and been at this a lot longer than most is good old- er- young Archie Comics - or should we say Little Archie. This might be one of the best collections of Archie material. The Adventures of Little Archie is of course the adventures of Archie, Betty, Veronica, Reggie, Jughead and the rest of the Riverdale gang, (not to mention a few others) when they were young, or rather little. Everything screams out how good childhood was and could be with a little imagination. The inside cover feature drawings of the main cast on a black board, page one is a lemonade stand and the table of contents is a great shot of the kids running between the story titles. And the highlight of the series is originator Bob Bolling talking about the early days of the series. Not to mention a great new cover by Bob for this collection. It has a great handful of stories from the typical kid adventures to Martians and mad scientists like the mad Doctor Doom, who predates Marvel Comics Dr. Doom by several years. The only bad thing about this collection is knowing how much great material had to be cut to make the page count. A lot of inter-office debates raged on for days believe it or not. So keep your fingers crossed as a new collection would be easy to put together.
The next collection was sitting on the desk of someone at Archie and there was a handful to choose from. So at random Little Lulu Sunday Afternoon got the pick and off we went for a read after work. Little Lulu is fun, quirky and immediately it is understandable why so many women have grown up believing a girl can do anything a boy can do, because Lulu did and usually did it better. The brief intro tells you all you need to know about the character and her historical significance. The stories are truly funny and amazingly inventive with foiling kidnapers, dealing with annoying neighbors and some of the best scripted snowball fights ever. The only concern is that these stories from a bygone era might not pass the new politically correct environment we live in today. Silly stuff like a heavy character's name being "Tubby" to children handling guns might make a parent squeamish. Nothing ever approaches anything that would be seriously questionable. Take a flip through and make your own decision on the content, but the intent is purely innocent fun.
Last but not least is a new release from last week: Krypto The Superdog from DC Comics DC Johnny line and based on the morning cartoon show.The first issue just hit stands last week and is a perfect introduction to the characters and stories for this 6 issue mini-series. For fans of past great DC Johnny series Superman Adventures, Batman Strikes and a handful of others. Popular artist Min S. Ku is back penciling along with Jesse Leon McCann writing, Jeff Albrecht inking, letterer/colorist Dave Tanguay, Assistant editor Rachel Gluckstein and editor Joan Hilty really craft a great adventure geared at the youngest audience and longtime fans of the K-9 character. The issue is broken up into smaller stories within the issue featuring a handful of the great characters. With Streaky the Super Cat, Ace the Bat Hound and Krypto making adventures, this is one adventure a kid or kid-at-heart can’t miss. What could possible be cooler than having Krypto as a pet?
Here’s how to find all of this weeks recommended readings:
THE ADVENTURES OF LITTLE ARCHIE
ISBN: 1879794179
Price: $10.95 US
Age Group: 4 and Up
Website: www.archiecomics.com
LITTLE LULU: SUNDAY AFTERNOON
ISBN: 1-59307-345-3
Price: $10.95 US
Age Group: 8 and Up
Website: www.darkhorse.com
KRYPTO THE SUPER DOG #1 (OF 6)
STAR: JUL060201
Price: $2.25 US
Age Group: 4 and Up
Website: www.dccomics.com
See ya next Tuesday as we start going full speed into the best things to be reading this Halloween season.
As always thanks for reading, and feel free to send your comments and recommendations to: MikeP@SilverBulletComicbooks.com
In the meantime here are some new All Ages reads on sale this week:
JUL062885 BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #169 $2.49
JUL062888 JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #125 $3.69
JUL062890 SABRINA VOL 2 #79 $2.25
JUL060022 USAGI YOJIMBO #97 $2.99
JUL060206 CARTOON NETWORK BLOCK PARTY #25 $2.25
JUL060204 TEEN TITANS GO #35 $2.25
MAR061856 LIONS TIGERS & BEARS VOL 2 #3 (OF 4) $2.99
JUL061945 SPIDER-MAN LOVES MARY JANE #10 $2.99
JUL062975 BART SIMPSONS TREEHOUSE OF HORROR #12 $4.99
DEC042913 OWLY VOL 2 JUST A LITTLE BLUE TP $10.00
Entertainment for Every Age is © Mike Pellerito 2006-
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