Comments on: How’s Life With Archie Doing?

By: Mark Moore

Mark Moore — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 02:04:48 +0000

Someone at Archie Comics Fan Forum recently mentioned seeing Life With Archie #22 at a Wal-Mart, so apparently it’s not completely gone from the chain.

By: Ed WItt

Ed WItt — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 01:35:01 +0000

I love this series! I picked up issue 14 just to check it out and loved the concept, just got back issues and the 1st 6 that has been put into book format at my local comic store. But LWA is carrried at Barnes and Noble.

By: Chris Schillig

Chris Schillig — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 11:38:03 +0000

As a 42-year-old male, I doubt I’m the magazine’s target demographic, but I enjoy it anyway. Finding Life with Archie, however, has been more and more challenging. It’s no longer stocked at the Walgreens near my home or at any Wal-Mart store I’ve checked. I finally found #14 at Books-A-Million.

More disturbing than the paper downgrade and the format tweaks is the rotation of artists. It looks as if Norm Breyfogle is gone, replaced by serviceable but less talented pencilers and inkers. The change is noticeable.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:56:52 +0000

Thanks for sharing that information! I hope we do see it then.

By: John Conley

John Conley — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 16:48:24 +0000

At the archiefans.com website, artist Dan Parent commented a few months ago that the launch for the Veronica and Betty magazine has been rescheduled for 2012.

By: Kevin Keller Gets Married; Life With Archie More Progressive Than Many States » Comics Worth Reading

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 21:12:07 +0000

[...] I was wondering about the future of Life With Archie magazine, it looks like they’ll be around for at least four more [...]

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 23:39:05 +0000

I feel the same way, but as a counter-argument: the content of Life With Archie really reminds me of some of the CW-style shows that are hot among teens, like 90210 or Gossip Girl. The ridiculously over-the-top occurrences, with a new revelation every other page, seem to fit that soap opera style.

By: F Dawson

F Dawson — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:25:24 +0000

‘Life With Archie’ seemed to me a case of right format, wrong story content. I loved the magazine format and it felt to me that for a while Archie was the only comics company that had a clue at how to reach out to a mass demographic. I think though that the magazine would have been better served by a more ‘traditional’ take on Archie and the cast. I enjoyed the stories quite a bit but I think they were a bit dark and angsty to go across well with a young female market. I’m sad the Betty and Veronica mag has been shelved since I think that looked like a better mix of form and content.

By: Acer

Acer — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 03:11:13 +0000

ARGH!!! Why can’t we, as a society, do more in advancing socio-economic progress and keeping technological progress at a steadier pace? If everything didn’t go digital so quick all at once, we’d have a safer publishing industry. Honestly, couldn’t they have just offset costs by using recycled paper instead of either moving back to cheaper stock or using the higher-gloss material???? Would that have been so bad????

By: Torsten Adair

Torsten Adair — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 21:53:05 +0000

Just a reminder… the rack space at the registers is golden, and just as pricey. Archie could be scaling back at stores where the sales are not as successful.

The digests are the only comics I see at my local Rite Aid. I don’t recall seeing the magazine.

The magazine is excellent! Archie soap opera! I’ll buy the Jinx collection when it comes out!

Also… the comics content can be reprinted, either in a trade or a future digest. Not so the “teen beat” pages.

By: Jim Kosmicki

Jim Kosmicki — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 19:53:52 +0000

interestingly enough, I was at Wal-mart today and they had about 6 copies of #12, so maybe the changes aren’t more of what readers want as much as more of what Wal-mart wanted??

By: Johanna

Johanna — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:50:34 +0000

Thanks for sharing that. I do tend to think “we’re giving readers more of what they want” is a bit spin-centric, but good for them that they found that way to express it.

By: Kiel Phegley

Kiel Phegley — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:46:42 +0000

We did an interview with Mike Pellerito a while back where he spoke some to the format changes in the magazine:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=32394

Whether you take all this at its word or view it as spin is up to you.

By: Comics A.M. | Comic sales up in August; CDC looks to motion comics to fight HIV | Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources – Covering Comic Book News and Entertainment

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:57:09 +0000

[...] Comics | Johanna Draper Carlson takes a look at some recent changes in the Life With Archie magazine, which has dual storylines in which Archie marries Veronica and Betty, respectively. With the 12th issue, she sees cheaper paper stock and the disappearance of both ads and celebrity features. [Comics Worth Reading] [...]

By: Shannon Smith

Shannon Smith — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 12:32:23 +0000

My daughter is 9. She’s been reading Archie stuff either in the digests or in the Life With Archie mag at least monthly since she was 6. At one point we were buying a digest every week (if she got a 100 on her spelling test- she always got a 100 on her spelling test) but the local grocery store stopped carrying them. CVS seems to be the only place I still see Archie books. Their spots at the check out lines seem to be filled by soap opera and diet digest mags.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:28:15 +0000

I’m not sure we can find that out, other than anecdotally. If comic stores that stocked Archie were willing to say who they saw buying them, for instance, but that leaves out the mass market retailers.

By: Anatole Wilson

Anatole Wilson — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:15:22 +0000

I’ve been wondering for a while, but have never been able to get am answer–what are the demographics of Archie readers these days? The comic book retailers and librarians I’ve asked say the Archie books don’t circulate well at all. Who is their audience?

By: Johanna

Johanna — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 13:00:57 +0000

Oh, yes, the WalMart distribution deal — shame that that seems to have ended as well.

I’m not sure what happened with Jinx. I was contacted about some blog promotion they wanted to do, but it never happened, perhaps because they thought it wasn’t worth doing a push when their plans with the property changed. I would have liked to have read some of it, since writer J Torres is an old friend, but digital-only is more complicated for me to check out.

By: Shannon Smith

Shannon Smith — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 12:13:00 +0000

My daughter has a subscription to Life With Archie and we both love it. I actually prefer the changes and think the comics have been getting better and better. However, I too had the same fears that the changes were because the mag was not doing well. We used to see it in Wal-Mart but we have not in months. The only place we see it is CVS and the nearest CVS is, well not near us. I was bummed Jinx never showed up in the mag.

By: Jim Kosmicki

Jim Kosmicki — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 11:38:32 +0000

i bought an early issue at Wal-mart, but haven’t seen the past few issues there at all. I though it had already been cancelled or made direct/digital only because of that disappearance. It was (is?) well-done, which is no surprise because Archie is very professional at what they do. However, it did seem sparse on content for the price. If the cover price is going up another dollar, it’s not long for the world as an actual print publication.