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Adding to their slate of classic comics reprints, Dark Horse is set to publish the Archie Archives, hardcover reprints of every Archie story starting from the very beginning, starting early next year. According to Dark Horse publisher Mike Richardson, the series will run indefinitely. “The first story, some readers may not recognise the style,” he told The Beat. “It evolved quite a bit after that, but even the earliest stories are fun to look at and read.”

The books will be in the hardcover, dust jacketed format used for other Dark Horse reprints such as Tarzan.

Richardson said he’s looking at reprinting other Archie characters, as well.

In addition, Dark Horse is also putting out more material from the Harvey Comics historical archives, with a Casper 60th Anniversary Special Edition, a hardcover reprinting of the very first Casper story. Dark Horse has already published several collections of Harvey characters, including Richie Rich and Hot Stuff, and more is on the way. Richardson said he’s happy to put out more material for younger readers, and this classic material has been well received by kids and collectors alike.

11 COMMENTS

  1. The Press Release said:

    “IDW Publishing is proud to announce a partnership with Archie Comics to reprint some of the property’s most iconic stories in deluxe hardcover and trade paperback editions. Under the agreement, IDW will reprint sequential newspaper strips for the first time, offer multiple collections of the very best Archie comics material from the past seven decades, and add to the brand’s digital presence.”

    I suppose the terms are vague enough so that they might only apply to the newspaper strips, but you can see where the confusion comes from…

  2. Ooh, I can’t wait for them to get to Sabrina. I wonder how long it will take them to get to the TV series-induced relaunch– those were my first comics.

  3. Ooh, I can’t wait for them to get to Sabrina.

    You and others might be interested in this history of Sabrina, by Archie Comics archivist Paul Castiglia. The first SABRINA series began in 1971; the relaunch happened in 1996.

    ARCHIE comics were some of the first comics I read. A cousin kept her copies at her grandfather’s house. I read SAD SACK comics before I ever read any superhero comics, but that’s because I didn’t buy them, either.

    SRS

  4. I dunno. IDW’s press release said something about collections of Pureheart the Powerful and the other Archie heroes, as well as artist-centric collections, so it seems as if they plan on reprinting the comic books as well.

  5. Here’s text from the Archie Comics press release:

    In addition to reprinting original strips by series creator John Goldwater and original artist Bob Montana, IDW will also present Best Of volumes that showcase the work of Archie artists, such as Montana, Dan DeCarlo, and Stan Goldberg. “Archie has had so many talented artists throughout its history, each with their own take on the characters,” said Goldstein. “We want to offer fans the best from each of those eras, especially since much of this material has not been in print since its original publication.” [. . .]

    IDW will also publish special collections of Archie’s Madhouse and Archie as Pureheart the Powerful, a comedic super hero series that ran during the 1960’s. Award-winning creative director and editor Craig Yoe will oversee many of these special volumes.

    Dark Horse’s more comprehensive project will apparently include material that is mainly of historical interest.

    SRS

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