Never liked the new look either, too ordinary.

[...] impending wedding, she got 184 comments. That’s pretty enviable for any publisher’s blog. (This backfired, as these things so often do, during the New Look controversy: Betty and Veronica used their blogs [...]

What I’ve been noticing, though, is that Archie Publications is trying many different things to attract more readers (e.g. changing the logos on the digests almost every issue, Sabrina makeover, removal of Josie and the Pussycats and Katy Keene from Archie and Friends, renaming Archie and Friends, adding color backgrounds to the digests and then scrapping them entirely, and so on).

I’m worried that Archie might be so desperate for more readers that they might just claim bankruptcy soon. In fact, I don’t see them lasting another five years if sales continue to drop each and every year.

Who knows? Maybe the new Archie All-Stars will be 3 issues long or 150? I love reading the comics but people are just not biting.

Gads, I hope not – comics Internet fandom represents some of the most reactionary parts of comics fandom in general – as most of the discussions about Archie comics daring to change anything have put on display for all to see. Archie’s target market skews much younger than the comics Internet does, and is going to be much less reactionary to change (younger folks USUALLY are more amenable to changes in stuff like this).

Now, their revamp may end up being a horrible mistake, but unless they actually put it out there were people can buy it, they won’t know what their readers think. They’ll only know what a group of older comics fans on the Internet think – and some of those folks haven’t picked up an Archie comic in two or more decades.

I would hate to see comics companies changing their strategies before even trying them out just because of the say so of a bunch of fans on the Internet – that would be silly. They shouldn’t be jumping in these kinds of changes willy-nilly anyway, and if their market research is so shaky that a bunch of older fans on the Internet can sway their plans for a pre-teen comic book, they should be doing better market research.

[...] Wow. So, the ghost writer who wrote an official, fictional blog for Archie Comics heroine Betty complained about an upcoming revamp of the character and then moved to another blog off of Archie Comics’ website to air greviences against the new look? How strange. [...]

The shame is that the Archie main books could probably use a bit of a revamp. Not sure about the little one off they are doing, one preview page didn’t look promising.

Yet they probably never will get much of a change because they are such a big line and the other marketing stuff involved.

You can change the smaller, insular books like Sabrina. Which thankfully thanks to great talent has been really great. Yet with the others there is just too much going against them.

[...] Johanna Draper Carlson has noticed something fascinating about the upcoming Archie revamp: At the official Archie site, Betty has a blog. Ok, that’s typical marketing. However, this post, about the upcoming makeover, is a bit odd: Betty hates the idea… The next post suggests SOMEONE was aware of a line being crossed… [...]

[...] Johanna Draper Carlson had an interesting link to a blog by “Betty” which is hosted by Archie Comics, and in it, “Betty” rails against the change even!! Yes, even fictional characters are freaking out about this tempest in a teapot! [...]