What went so wrong?

Isn't Archie still fairly popular with all the spin-offs and shit?

They just need to get with the times and put up some kind of online service where you can access all the archived comics. Do like Shonen Jump do and limit it to 100 issues a day if need be.

>>148965102 (OP)
The "How do you do, fellow kids?" meme of comic book publishers.

>>148965102 (OP)
Screwing Dan DeCarlo over and then memory holing him and their other classic artists, for starters.

>>148965102 (OP)
It's still doing modestly well. Only bad thing for them is that Riverdale is over so that's less money for them.

>>148965102 (OP)
Losing the Sonic license. Even post-reboot Archie is better than IDW.

>>148965146
I was going to say I thought they already did that but going to check it’s not there any more and their site just says coming soon

Discontinued the TMNT Adventures

>>148965102 (OP)
Riverdale ended.

Girls aren't really allowed for fanservice anymore

>>148965455
>Losing the Sonic license.
They didn't lose it, they willingly choose to give it up so they could direct their focus on IPs they actually owned.

>>148966160
Yeah, they kind of had to after they lost so much money on the worlds unite crossover and the litigation and got publicly shamed out of trying to use Kickstarter to recover

>>148966195
So was it a bad idea in hindsight, because sonic is still going strong, for better or worse.

Riverdale ended and Archie's post modern reimaginings are no longer in the zeitgeist.

They never found the "Dark Archie" gimmick that could replace "Afterlife".

they just need to throw some more shit against the wall and see what sticks

>>148966258
Do they even make new stories out of the original Archie cast? I just assume any time I see a new book in the original style it's just a bunch of repackaged stories.

>>148966160
They still "lost" the licence, to lose means you no longer have it. For example, most people willingly have sex and "lose" their virginity.

>>148966270
Generally each book has one new story

>>148965496
Oh I see they shut down their dedicated app to just outsource it all to amazon

>>148965146
>>148966604
I’d imagine the audience they’re looking for are using stuff like Webtoons, they’ve already partnered with them before for an Ethel series. They could probably put up a rotation of some of their classic comic series up there every month, along with their Bite-Sized webcomic, and shill their online book store after every story

Newsstand distribution dried up and Archie Comics don't sell very well in comic shops. They're reduced to selling digests now because they're still marketable through supermarket checkout lanes as impulse items, and they're low overhead product since 90% of the content is reprints and already paid for.

The actual problem is a nepobaby woman got in charge at Archie, and she was so incompetent and dramatic that everything fell apart around her

She is also the reason they lost sonic to focus on Riverdale trash drama

>>148965102 (OP)
It seems boring.

>>148965624
Thank the Lord, thought that shit would NEVER go away

>>148965102 (OP)
same as DC and Marvel and the American automotive/electronics industries, not responding properly to Japanese imports.
DeCarlo knew how to draw libido-enticing bombshells, but Archie wouldn't let him or the current 'house style' artists do anything with it.

>>148966201
>because sonic is still going strong, for better or worse.
IDW Sonic comics do not sell as well as you think

>>148965102 (OP)
Them mishandling the Penders shit, which revealed how incompetent they are. No other company is willing to do license shit with them anymore, considering there's a real chance they can lose their intellectual property.
Fucking over Rob Liefeld on his Shield book and rewriting his script, instead of just letting him do whatever he wanted probably turned off other creators' desires to pitch books using their more obscure characters.
>>148966258
They could probably turn it around if they started doing their shows a bit more sincere and wholesome, no one wants to watch grimdark reimaginings anymore.

>>148965102 (OP)
Everything

>>148969276
>IDW Sonic comics do not sell as well as you think
WESTERN comics dont sell well in general. Manga will always sell better because most western comics are corporate slop.

>>148970386
>implying Shueisha and Shogakukan aren't giant megacorps

Dropping the ball on Afterlife With Archie back when that was hot

>>148970386
>WESTERN comics dont sell well in general.
Dude, even for fucking western comic standards Sonic isn't a top seller
It's not a flop but it's nowhere near as much as you'd think with all the discourse surrounding it
Sonic comics has the worst disproportion between an active fanbase and a fanbase that actually fucking buys the damn thing

>>148970516
I guess Sonic will always be one of those, popular yet unprofitable properties. Nintendo sure made sure of that.

>>148970514
dumbasses never even released the second trade

>>148970587
It's more of a licensed comic problem
Part of the reason why Skybound outsells IDW regarding Transformers is Kirkman getting big industry talent on board
There are people who read (and buy) DWJ's Transformers because their initial interest stemmed from him writing it

>>148965102 (OP)
Off the top of my head,
>Mishandling Penders and the entire Sonic kerfuffle
>Constant fucking over of their classic artists
>Riverdale existing
>Afterlife with Archie dropping the ball
>Chilling Adventures of Sabrina netflix show being a complete nothingburger
>That time they threw a bitch-fit over a band called the Veronicas for literally no reason

>>148970514
Shame it got cancelled so early. I kinda liked this one...

>>148966201
No it wasn't, because the people writing Sonic were already wanting another crossover despite Unite being a total disaster. Sonic was a cancer to Archie, if they didn't pull the plug it would've killed them.

>>148970736
It's one of my favorite comics of the 10's. Still haven't been able to find anything that scratched the itch that it did.

They never committed to the real couple of Archie

>>148966353
In this case, amputating vidya comics was a good thing

>>148971119
Didn't stop 'em from making this. Don't get excited, this comic is basically to advertise the minecraft movie.

>>148971391
>censored shantae betty
Either commit to the bit or fuck off, cowards.

>>148971795
the majority of Archie buyers are 11 year old girls.

>>148970516
>Sonic comics has the worst disproportion between an active fanbase and a fanbase that actually fucking buys the damn thing
Because the cost of printing media is still expensive. If they go the full digital route it would be more profitable and maintains pop culture relevance.

>>148971855
girls dont read archie when its about two probable bi-girls trying to wrangle the same high school stud

>>148972162
>If they go the full digital route
...they still wouldn't buy it

>>148972185
right
but nintendo wouldn`t be wasting money on printing something no one buys and pirates

>>148972226
>but nintendo wouldn`t be wasting money on printing something no one buys and pirates
Because Nintendo isn't a publishing company
Neither is SEGA
SEGA doesn't make money from comic sales, they make money from comic publishers paying for the license

>>148972250
>SEGA doesn't make money from comic sales, they make money from comic publishers paying for the license
what an awful position to be in

>>148972266
>what an awful position to be in
They're not a fucking comic publisher
This is licensing 101 you stupid sack of shit
Disney doesn't money from lettuce sales but they make money from lettuce companies asking them to plaster Star Wars characters on said lettuces

>>148972284
then what the fuck are you even arguing in circles about you retarded abortion refugee?
just kys because you`re explaining shit to me

>>148972180
Archie has had more girl readers than boys for a long time.

Archie is the ultimate non-threatening boy and the girls wear fabulous clothes and never let their rivalry for Archie affect their friendship.

>>148971795
Submit it to the edit thread.

>>148965102 (OP)
Who even reads these?

>>148973583
Me.

>>148971391
>>148971795
>not shantae veronica and samus betty

>>148970735
>Getting mad at The Veronicas
>Not getting mad at The Riverdales who literally wrote a Ramones esque punk song about Veronica doing Coke and Betty being on Speed

>>148972764
next level cuckcuean behavior for sure

>>148970735
Also >>148965545

If Archie is so great, recommend me ten issues across his decades of history

>>148965102 (OP)
Archie is a laughably lame name.

>>148965102 (OP)
>What went so wrong?
Nothing really

>>148965102 (OP)
>What went so wrong?
Literally everything...

>>148971795
We're talking about the company that won't ever print the word "flick" for fear that it'll get misread as "fuck".

>>148965102 (OP)
Hiring people like tom king and Mags (the man who will never be a woman)

>>148965227
Bro ngl this seems particularly egregious to me.

>>148971071
Fuck off faggot

Disorganized.

>>148967271
This took too long to be posted

The most successful independent comic publisher of all time reduced to a directionless mess within years

>>148971391
>Lyra instead of Kris
why

Too much old blood and an over reliance on Dan Parent and crossovers
At least Bite Sized Archie is good

>>148978396
there is a very good chance the author who drew it was too young to have played Crystal.

>>148965102 (OP)
Archie never "went wrong." It's basically a bunch of recycled jokes and art that's been going on for over 80 years. I still see Archie comics sold in the checkout line at the grocery store.

They must be doing SOMETHING right if they are surviving for all this time and still being sold at grocery stores. Archie comics are like a cockroach that survives and survives despite not rally innovating and trying new things.

>>148979066
That, or like TPC, will ignore Kris for anything involving Gen 2 after HGSS. Hell the only stated reason why Kris was replaced because Takao Unno straight up didn't look at Ken's original ar
t of Kris when he was making Lyra.

>>148965102 (OP)

Brought upon by their own mismanagement and stupidity. They had a CEO getting into sexual harassment lawsuits at the time by going into meetings and screaming PENIS! at male employees.

Prior to that they did the shitest job of filing writer agreements. Which was karma for how they screwed creators who were cornerstones of their company.

>>148970386
Sonic is not some mega money seller. It's peak was in the 90's outselling DC's WW. Since then it was a nice life line for company like archie and small potatoes for the big two. This makes it a gold fish in the western pond and spec on global scale.