Upcoming Archie Covers
- Posted by Johanna on January 22, 2007 at 7:56 am
- Category: Archie Comics
Archie Comics has released some covers from upcoming titles I found newsworthy.
First up, Betty drives Nascar in Archie #572. Mr. Lodge is sponsoring a team, and Betty and her friends have to fill in when the driver and pit crew don’t show up. This came out last Wednesday.
Leaving aside the safety considerations of a teen girl racing against professional drivers, I don’t think much of her chances of winning if her crew can’t stop grinning at the camera long enough to actually look at the work they’re doing on the car.
But this storyline got Archie featured in the magazine NASCAR Illustrated with the promo “Motorsports are a natural for Archie Comics. Both NASCAR and Archie Comics are entertainment suitable for the entire family.” Mmm, yeah. I better not say any more, because I have to live in the South.
Next up, here’s the cover of the second issue featuring the redesigned Archie characters.
Veronica’s shoulders and breasts seem to me to be pointing in a different direction than her head, which makes it surprisingly difficult to walk. (I tried it.) Maybe the artist is more comfortable with full-on views than three-quarter, because that’s how everyone else is posed. Nice highlights on the globe tops, too.
Last, Archie’s announced a new one-off digest-sized collection.
Given all the stories with all of the characters working as counselors, I’m disappointed that only the boys are shown working (such as it is) in the cover art.
I wondered about the focus of this collection, but it seems that, according to their publicity, a lot of Archie comics are bought for boys and girls going off to camp, so this suddenly becomes a natural product to have around perennially.
Camp Tales is due in late May.
112 pages, 5×7½ inches, $7.49 US.
January 22, 2007 at 9:22 am
The image of you trying to point your chest and shoulders in an opposite direction than your head cracked me up. It would only be more funny if you were doing it in front of bewildered witnesses, to whom you explained: “I’m doing research for a blog piece.”
January 22, 2007 at 9:54 am
Not only is the pit crew mugging for the camera, but they’re going to find it mighty hard to change the tires without first jacking the car up. In fact, the jack man seems to be on the opposite side of the car as the rest of the crew.
January 22, 2007 at 11:14 am
Actually, true to character, Jughead isn’t working in the cover art of Camp Tales, though maybe that is what you meant by “such as it is”. I think a truer representation could have had Betty rowing too.
I keep debating whether I would have liked such a collection as a child who liked to read during camping trips. It is hard to tell…
January 22, 2007 at 11:55 am
I was trying to comment concisely on the guys wearing “counselor” t-shirts while the girls are in bikinis, but I don’t think it came across. I’ve never been able to camp (as a kid, I was allergic to most of the outdoors), so I don’t really get the appeal, personally.
January 22, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Ah, in that case I agree, a trio of odd covers. It’s a bit like what’s wrong with this picture.
January 22, 2007 at 3:11 pm
“Leaving aside the safety considerations of a teen girl racing against professional drivers”
Let me note that teens can be professional drivers in NASCAR. Heck, Brian Vickers was only 20 when he took the Busch League championship (that’s the second tier of national racing.
What I’m wondering is about the sponsor tag on the roof of her car. In the Riverdaliverse, what shows up at ArchieComics.com?
January 22, 2007 at 9:15 pm
>>What I’m wondering is about the sponsor tag on the roof of her car. In the Riverdaliverse, what shows up at ArchieComics.com?
Hmm… maybe they put out the non-Archie-Universe comics (Sonic the Hedgehog, the Shield, etc.) that the real Archie Comics has put out off and on over the decades?
January 23, 2007 at 3:54 pm
Has anyone seen the redesigned Jughead yet?
I have this mental image of something approching a goth kid. Either way, I expect to be badly shocked. :)
January 23, 2007 at 9:35 pm
Archie’s done a couple of goth references recently, but it winds up being wrong, as when they toss a character into a Morticia Addams dress and call it goth. They did try to make Jughead a punk once. It went badly.
January 24, 2007 at 2:27 am
One would think if one was going to do a story on NASCAR racing, one would draw autos that actually looked like NASCAR vehicles…
May 14, 2007 at 11:20 pm
[...] January, Betty Cooper competed in a NASCAR race in Archie #572. The publisher apparently considered it a success, since they just sent out the following [...]