Archie cancels a Marvel digest they'd published
3 Comments Published by Avi Green on Monday, October 22, 2018 at 7:00 AM.
IDW's not the only one whom Marvel arranged to publish some of their material under license. There's also Archie, who were publishing some kind of anthology featuring their characters too, and now, that's been cancelled, for reasons we can likely guess, before 2 more issues were intended to debut:
Newsarama has learned that Archie Comics' Marvel Comics Digest series is being cut short, with this August's #8 serving as its final issue.It's not difficult to guess it wasn't selling well, or they would've at least sent the last 2 to press. Could this sum up where IDW's own books licensed from Marvel are heading? It tells how Marvel's fallen, and by extension where any company they're doing a joint project with could be headed too. When the stories are bad modern ones, you can't be surprised if it won't sell any better under Archie's management than under Marvel's own.
Originally launched in June 2017, Archie's Marvel Comics Digest contained reprinted material and was intended to expand Marvel's "reach and exposure" according to VP of Sales David Gabriel - utilizing Archie's popular digest format and distribution channels outside the direct market such as to large chain retailers.
Archie solicited Marvel Comics Digest #9 and #10, but cancelled both of those earlier this week.
Labels: Archie, indie publishers, licensed products, marvel comics, sales
Archie is still a thing? I thought they were going big into progressive and identity politics, or did that not work out so well?
https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/1/26/13149304/archie-comics-riverdale-evolution
My impression is that conventional format Archie comics (that is, 32-page magazines), sold in comic book specialty shops, had been rebooted and had gone full PC and SJW, with scripts by Mark Waid and Nick Spencer, and "realistic" art by Fiona Staples. But the digests (which are still sold at some grocery store check-out counters) are mostly reprints of kid-friendly stuff from the 1980s and earlier.
Similarly, IIUC, the Marvel digests were mainly reprints of Silver & Bronze Age stories featuring characters that kids would recognize from current movies: Black Panther, Avengers, Venom, Ant Man & the Wasp.
"When the stories are bad modern ones, you can't be surprised if it won't sell any better under Archie's management than under Marvel's own."
The stories included some of the old standards, like the Ditko-drawn Spider-Man for example.