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
Holiday Ha Ha's!
Ever wonder what Comic Pros Talk about? Archie has a new look? What is going on around here?
Another Tuesday finds us waist deep in the holiday season and neck deep with holiday party commitments.
This past week we had the annual Archie holiday party. The in-house staff editors, production artists, subscriptions, accounting and everything in between plus a nice showing of freelancers attend the party. It’s a true highlight of the year to get to interact with so many of the freelancers face to face. Usually conversation between editors and freelancers is limited to phone calls, notes with artwork, or worse, email. A chance to talk or even to meet in person is really quite nice. This year the usual cast of characters made it plus a few others.
Tania Del Rio, Fernando Ruiz, Bob Smith, Dan Parent, and Jon D'Agostino usually make it to the office weekly or so. Others made the trip especially for the party. Familiar faces like Stan Goldberg (Archie royalty), Terry Austin, and John Workman made the trip. It was nice to meet Angelo DeCesare and Al Milgrom for the first time. Hopefully nobody was forgotten, with so many people and lots of good food things can get lost in the shuffle. Of course big thanks to Richard Goldwater and Michael Silberkleit for throwing the party and picking up the bill!
For years on the outside of comics, I always wondered what the comic pros talked about. Usually, it is comics. Projects you’re proud of, friends in the industry and what everybody is reading or not reading. Eventually there’s talk about sports, movies, family and the other hot topics, but comics are the common bonds. Archie is generational, parents read the Archie titles when they were kids and now happily buy new issues for their children. The generation factor is evident among the freelancers too. Creators with a few years in the biz to those with decades in comics, and despite the age differences all are in awe of one another and full of praise for each others work.
It is amazing to see how much of comics history has been touched by these talents. Jon D’Agostino lettered the first appearance of Spider-Man in Amazing Fantasy #15, he gave Stan Goldberg his first job, and has drawn and inked just about everything under the sun. Stan Goldberg was an original Marvel Bullpen guy. You can thank him for the color scheme of the Marvel universe, not to mention countless romances and Archie comics’ beautiful art. In fact one of the guys from the next generation had brought along a nice piece of Stan’s romance art.
It is fun to see Stan and one of his favorite inkers Bob Smith together. Stan could handle a three-ring circus without breaking a sweat. While Bob is a great conversationalist, we usually talk for hours on Fridays, and have a lunch on occasion; and you could describe him as the quiet type. Somehow these two artists, of different generations, work together so perfectly on Archie. No surprises that Archie is one of the best selling titles.
Seeing some of the regulars from the Sonic books is always a treat. John Workman is just about one of the brightest, and most knowledgeable people you could work with. What he brings to the table besides his incredible lettering is amazing. The same can be said for Terry Austin, inker supreme, and recent addition to Sonic X. Usually an inker’s contribution gets overlooked, which is a real shame. If you want to learn how to ink, look to Terry.
It was nice to meet Angelo DeCesare after reading his name in the Archie titles for years. Long time Sonic The Hedgehog readers should recognize his name. He was there slinging jokes for Sonic during the early days. He was thrilled with the new Sonic collections and happier to know we are doing more. By the way Sonic The Hedgehog Archives Volume 2 is out this week. If you know a Sonic fan, that needs a gift, this is that gift.
Tania Del Rio (check out the New Sabrina The Magic Revisited) made the party too. Also turned in some new Sabrina pages, and in all honesty, this book is a lot of fun to read, with some nice plot twists up ahead.
Dandy Dan Parent made the trip, and if you meet him, listen for the robotics to whirl in his head. The amount of pop culture knowledge at his disposal is not human. At least we can enjoy the pop references that spring up in Veronica and B&V Spectacular.
Of course Fernando Ruiz, probably my favorite Archie writer/artist, and the guys who got me in the door at Archie was there. It is great to see him every week; it is a bigger treat to get to see him work for a few hours every week in the office. He does the bulk of his work for the Digest and Double Digests, most notably Tales From Riverdale. Look for a Ruiz story and you are guaranteed a good laugh!
You might have heard or read about the new look for Archie. You can read the press release on: Silver Bullet Comicbooks.com . To calm any fears, Archie will always look like Archie. This is just a specialty project. We wanted to reach out to our older readers who have less and less to read but still love Archie. Al Milgrom who made the party was proudly showing photocopies of his inking over Steven Butler. Steven unfortunately couldn’t make the party. Steven has done a lot of things in comics, from Spider-Man to years of work on Sonic. He even has an issue of Sonic X coming up. It was so good to know that despite years in the industry Al still had that fire of a new kid. Just absolutely loving what he is working on and doing a great job too!
Successful makeovers for Sabrina by Tania, an updating of Katy Keene (in every issue of Archie & Friends) by Andrew Pepoy show that the “after” Archie readership is much bigger than we thought. For years kids started reading comics with Archie Comics. Eventually those kids grew to teens and moved on to more mature comics. Today the mature comics are a little more mature than most teens want. Quietly Archie has been expanding its audience with Sonic, Sonic X, Sabrina, Katy Keene, and now some older Betty and Veronica stories.
People are afraid this is a wholesale change. It is not. The classic look of Archie and the group will be around forever. You can’t mess with a classic. This is something for the longtime fans that always wondered what Betty and Veronica looked like if they were “real”. It’s 25 pages out of the thousands of Archie material we produce a month. Think of this as a cherry on your chocolate shake (or Eggnog given the season) courtesy of Archie.
Enjoy the holiday! Talk to you next Tuesday!
As always thank you for reading, and feel free to send your comments, questions, insults corrections and recommendations to: MikeP@SilverBulletComicbooks.com
Check out some new All Ages reads on sale this week:
OCT060022 BAKERS MEET JINGLE BELLE (ONE SHOT) $2.99
OCT060237 KRYPTO THE SUPER DOG #4 (OF 6) $2.25
OCT062161 MARVEL ADVENTURES AVENGERS #8 $2.99
OCT063141 BETTY & VERONICA DIGEST #171 $2.49
OCT063143 JUGHEAD #178 $2.25
OCT063144 JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST #127 $3.69
OCT063145 SABRINA VOL 2 #81 $2.25
OCT063246 SIMPSONS COMICS #125 $2.99
OCT063147 SONIC THE HEDGEHOG ARCHIVES VOL 2 TP $7.49
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