Archie Re-launch

This is not a news site, so I decided to let yesterday's Archie Comics announcement mix a bit in my brain before I commented. I'm not a fan of knee-jerk reactions, so I tend to think and compose a bit before I provide an opinion.

It was announced that Mark Waid and Fiona Staples will be re-launching Archie with a new number one issue next year. Effectively they're retooling and rebooting. Archie Comics is committing to it, too. They say this is their new step forward.

Archie is as American as can be. He's a timeless staple of pop culture that premiered in Pep Comics #22 in 1941 and has consistently been published since. He's a symbol of our teenage years and hormones.

Times change. Culture morphs. The brains at Archie Comics have been all over this for the past few years. From their introduction of openly gay Kevin Keller to their Life with Archie series that tackles adult issues through the eyes of their iconic characters, they always work with care and precision.

This is just the natural progression of that. I've been expecting something along these lines for a while now. The only thing that surprises me is that they didn't so it sooner. But again, like I said above: care and precision.

I'm late to the Archie club. My interest piqued a couple of years ago and I began picking up their Double Digests. I found them amusing and relaxing compared to the frantic and often violent comics I normally read. In short they were a breath of fresh air. So I picked up the "Best of" books that began coming out and never looked back.

It's no secret I'm a huge fan of Mark Waid, so good on ya, Archie Comics, for picking a master of the written word. Fiona Staples is also an excellent choice for art (for the first three issues). Again: care and precision.

Now, there will be people that are resistant to the change simply because it's change, but I've found a lot of Archie fans open to different things. This is reflected by the sales and openness to support the recent and often surprising efforts of Archie Comics. Then you'll have people that haven't spent a dime on Archie books in years, or ever, that are going to come out of the woodwork to complain. That's only because he is such a part of Americana.

I haven't read a word of it, but I trust Archie Comics. I trust Mark Waid and I trust Fiona Staples. This will be on my pull list and I hope others will give it a fair shake.