Archie Comics Pubwatch: March 2023

Reviews Comics Pubwatch
Lisa Fernandes
Archie Pubwatch Featured Image

Welcome to the Archie Comics Pubwatch for the month of  March! I’m Lisa, reporting from a corner booth at Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe, and here’s this month’s news! In March’s Pubwatch, we link to some big interviews, preview some new covers, and more.

Archie & Me Podcast features exclusive Archie staff interviews

Betty and Veronica, Archie Comics

Click through to listen!

 

Big Ethel Energy Debuts a New Season

Ethel Muggs, a brunette white woman, poses among a group of grown-up Rivedalians at a nighttime party. There are lights strung up behind her. Ethel wears pale blue overalls and a blue and pink and purple-striped turtleneck and smiles with determination into the camera.

The second season is now several episodes old.

 

Jamie L. Rotante talks Betty: the Final Girl with Daily Dead

Blonde white thin Betty cooper stands in the foreground wearing a purple hoodie and a purple ribbon in her tied back blonde hair. She stares at the reader with her blue eyes in a darkly-shrouded woodland glen. in the distance stands a darkly-shrouded individual, the light behind them causing an eerie distortion.

Right here.

 

New Variant Covers from Great Wall of Comics, Mellow Fellow Trading  and Stadium Comics

It’s new variant cover time!

Dan Parent’s got an exclusive cover coming out at Great Wall of Comics, and this one covers The Cult of that Wilkins Boy #1. As of press time, it’s limited to 200 issues and comes complete with a COA, and there is a metal variant limited to 30 copies; the former costs $24.99 apiece and the latter costs $69.99. They are both available here!

Next up is a variant for Betty and Veronica: Friends Forever: Rock And Roll #1 by Parent which, as you likely know, we showed off last month. But we finally have some release specs on these beauties. Mellow Fellow Trading auctioned these off on the 16th. Standard covers are $10, Foil covers are $50, and are limited to 50 each, Metal variants were $100 and limited to 10, and 3 variants each exist of the etched metal, wood, and marbled paper variants.

Mellow Fellow trading also offered up these Josie and the Pussycats rock poster variants for Betty and Veronica: Friends Forever: Rock And Roll #1 by Bill and Ben Galvan. Bill Galvan is offering up some of his leftover covers for $30 each plus shipping on his Instagram.  There are 150 of each regular version in existence. The Josie cover has a metal tie dye cover limited to 50; 10 star foil variants; 3 each of the red and blue metal variants, 3 of the birchwood cover, and a single etched blue marble cover. The Valerie version sports the same number of regular covers, but has a silver metal variant that had a 30 print run, 10 gold foil copies, 3 apiece of an etched gold metal and etched black metal covers and birchwood covers, and 1 green marble printed cover. The Melody variant also had the same run of standard and variant covers, only with 3 Blue Metal covers. You can see the variants in action here.

Galvan has also produced an alt cover for Betty and Veronica: Friends Forever: Rock And Roll #1 which homages the cover of No Doubt’s Tragic Kingdom. Regular covers are going for $10, metal covers are limited to 50 for $50 a pop, ten metal covers are extent and retail for $10 apiece, and metal, marble and wood variants are limited to three each. Click here for more info.

Galvan also has another Mellow Fellow Trading cover for Betty: The Final Girl #1  which is available at Mellow Fellow Trading via WhatNot. It has a limited run of 150 standard variants, 31 metal, 10 silver metal, 3 each gold and black metal, 3 wooden covers and 3 blue marble. You can see more here.

The last Galvan exclusive was also put out through Mellow Fellow Trading cover for Archie: Happy Horror Days #1. Galvan is selling some of these covers for $30 apiece plus shipping if you DM him through his Instagram handle here.

The next stack of variants comes from Stadium Comics. First is Nuno Pereira’s variant cover for The Cult of that Wilkins Boy #1, which in itself is a tribute to the cover for Fantastic Four #48. The limited metal variant, available only in a two-cover pack, was limited to 25 copies, cost $59.99, and has sold out. Pereira’s standard variant is still available. It’s limited to 250 copies apiece and is here.

Stadium also has a variant for Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe of Horrors #1. This Veronica cover is also by Pereira, and is a part of his Pop Art series. It’s also limited to 250 copies, with 50 printed on a metal blood-spattered cover. The metal variant is sold out but the standard variant is available at $14.99 here.

The final Stadium variant covers Archie & Friends: All Action #1. It’s a part of Mariano Sanchez Lorente aka Mariano San’s cereal box variant series, this one featuring Archie Andrews. It’s limited to 250 covers and it, t00, had a metal variant which has sold out in a bundle at 25 copies for $59.99. The regular variant is worth $14.99 and is available here!

Archie Comics Tweets of the Month

Gleep!, Mondays, Mrs. Grundy and teen disco dancers STARING INTO YOUR SOUL.

Sugar Sugar of the Month

Redheaded Archie Andrews, a white thin teenager, gapes in horror as he's held aloft in the leafy grasp of a mutated hamburger. Also in the grip of the burger is thin, dark haired, thin white teenager Jughead Jones. Archie wears his purple, orange and black Riverdale varsity sweater and brown slacks and jughead wears a blue shirt, brown pants, red sneakers and a long black vest. The burger is stationed outside the gristly visage of Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe, but the sky is a menacingly orange and black shade. The burger itself has sharp teeth and a large tongue, and resembles Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors. It sits in a pool of blood and seems to be prepared to add Archie and Jughead to its conquests.

Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe of Horrors #1 
Ryan Cady (Writing); Amy Chase (Writing); Francesco Francavilla (Cover); Adam Gorham (Cover); Matt Herms (Colors); Liana Kangas (Art); Jack Morelli (Letters); Jordan Morris (Writing); Chris Panda (Art); Federico Sabbatini (Art)
March 22, 2023

The visceral nastiness is what carries this issue over into being this month’s Sugar Sugar; all of the stories feel much more complete than they do in Betty: the Final Girl. In the wrap-around story, Pops catches a couple of teens trying to dine and dash on him. they are roped into helping him clean up after closing, and soon find out several terrible truths about how his business runs. It’s a very EC comics take on the material, with a heavy sprinkling of cannibalistic gore. Kevin Keller’s story will draw the sympathetic nods of anyone who’s ever had to work in customer service, and Betty’s story is wonderfully triumphant. It’s gory, glorious, gloomy, and mordantly funny in turns.

Hotdogs and Hotshots

Jola Kitt - a white thin teenager with blue shoulder-length hair - stands confidently beside Betty Cooper and Veronica Lodge. Both Betty and Veronica are thin white teenagers. Betty has long, blond hair held up in a ponytail; Veronica has long dark hair that cascades past her shoulders. Jola wears sleeveless black teeshirt with a white skull on the chest and purple trousers with a black belt; she also has a red, heart-shaped tattoo. Betty's hair tie is black, and she wears a red-sleeved baseball teeshirt and clutches a green electric guitar with a green fretboard, neck and body. Veronica wears a blue babydoll top with a gold star on the chest and jeans with a black belt. She holds a red-bodied electric bass guitar. Behind them, on a dark purple backdrop, multicolored hot pink and dark purple splotches rain down.

Betty and Veronica: Friends Forever: Rock And Roll #1
Holly G! (Art, Cover, Writing); Jack Morelli (Letters); Rosario “Tito” Peña (Cover); Bob Smith (Inks); Glenn Whitmore (Colors)
March 8, 2023

Holly G!’s take on how Betty and Veronica make friends with new character Jola Kitt and become their own female-fronted band is completely delightful; Reggie and Archie learn a big lesson about limiting their bandmates and not talking over people, Veronica develops a new love interest, and Jola is a winning, smart, sly character who’s one of the best recent additions to the Archie fold.

 

World of Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest #23
Francis Bonnet  (Writing and Cover); Lily Butler (Art); Steven Butler (Art);  Tom DeFalco (Writing); Ben Galvan (Art and Cover); Bill Galvan (Art and Cover);  Ian Flynn (Writing); Jack Morelli (Letters); Rosario “Tito” Peña (Cover); Glenn Whitmore (Colors)
March 1, 2023

The A story here makes this one of the most important reads from this month’s batch of A-line Archie releases — if only due to its sheer “the heck”-ery. Cheryl and Veronica get into a tussle over the size of their yachts – which causes them to enter into piratical naval warfare (!!). Elsewhere, more Little Betty and Veronica shenanigans take them to a dangerous archeological dig.

Picks From the Timecops

 

Redheaded white teen bingo wilkin stands before a group of waving, black hands and arms, a guitar strapped around his shoulders. He's backlit by red and the entire scene is menacing.

Chilling Adventures Present…The Cult of That Wilkin Boy #1 
Cullen Bunn (Writing); Ben Galvan (Inks); Robert Hack (Cover); Matt Herms (Colors); Jack Morelli (Letters); Dan Schoening (Cover and Art)
April 19, 2023

Bingo Wilkin makes his first appearance in the Archie Horror universe, in which he sells his soul to the devil for power. It, presumably, does not go well for him.

Redheaded white teenager Archie Andrews poses in the foreground with a determined expression on his face. His thin, white teeange friends Betty Cooper, Jughead Jones and Veronica Lodge all look similarly determined. They wear suits similar to those worn in Sentai animes, with long spandex pants and white breastplates. Archie wears blue, Betty Pink, Jughead Gold, and Veronica purple. A robot with a grey fool's cap that resembles Jughead is in the background and it is red and purple and bears a grey fool's cap like him.

Archie and Friends: All Action #1
Ryan Jampole (Art, Cover); Daniel Kibblesmith (Writing); Jack Morelli (Letters); Rosario “Tito” Peña (Cover); Bob Smith (Inks); Glenn Whitmore (Colors)
April 5, 2023

Archie!  You’ve gotta pilot the EVA! Or in this case a big, giant mech. And as in all Archievese conflicts, Mr. Andrews’ biggest decision isn’t whether or not he should pilot the thing; it’s who he’s drift compatible with: Betty or Veronica. Let the games begin.

 

Archie Andrews, a red-haired white teenager drawn chibi style, stands triumphantly upon a cell phone. All around him, his friends zoom dynamically into the air with varrying degrees of enthusiasm against a purple to orange gradient background.

Bite-Sized Archie: Going Viral
Ron Cacace (Writing); Vincent Lovallo (Art, Cover)
April 26, 2023

If you’re fond of Archie’s webcomic, then look no further; this second collection captures even more of the gang’s adventures.

 

White dark-haired teenager veronica lodge and white, blonde-haired teenager betty cooper hula hoop out on a suburban street. Pale green grass, a white fence, and homes rise behind them. Veronica hula-hoops with a purple hoop; she wears a violet and white checked miniskirt, grey tights, and a red short-sleeved top. Betty's blonde hair is up in a ponytail, she wears a pink short-sleeved top, a pink belt, and a pair of pink shorts. They're both smiling and having fun.

Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest #313
Jim Amash (Inks); Steven Butler (Art); Ian Flynn (Writing); Ben Galvan (Art); Bill Golliher (Cover); Dan Parent (Art); Jack Morelli (Letters); Rosario “Tito” Peña (Cover); Bob Smith (Inks); Glenn Whitmore (Colors)
April 19, 2023

The Crusaders and the Superteens team up to take out the vicious villain Dr. Zardox! Elsewhere, Veronica cages the help of Wyatt Raymond when someone steals her designer purse.

 

Dark haired white teenager jughead jones stands in a white rowboat on a peaceful lake surrounded by green trees. He wears a purple puffer coat and a green lifejacket vest, and black pants. He has a hero sandwich dangling from the end of his fishing line. Red haired white teen archie andrews who sits as he fishes, a red shirt and orange life vest on. Archie's golden retriever, vegas, watches with amusement.

World of Archie Jumbo Comics Digest #129
Tom DeFalco (Writing); Ian Flynn (Writing); Bill Golliher (Cover); Dan Parent (Art); Rex Lindsey (Inks and Cover); Jack Morelli (Letters); Rosario “Tito” Peña (Cover); Bob Smith (Inks); Glenn Whitmore (Colors)
April 26, 2023

Classic Zip/Susie Comics/Archie heroine Ginger Snapp throws a rager when her chore-loving father gives her permission to take the whole summer off. Will the party go as planned? Elsewhere, Wyatt Raymond sets his sights on unmasking Pureheart the Powerful!

 

Blonde teenager Betty Cooper and dark-haired white teenager Veronica Lodge speak to their white-haired white friend Sabrina Spellman. They stand on a sidewalk in front of a grey stone wall and yellow flower-speckled green grass. There are bushes behind them. Betty wears a long-sleeved green top with denim shorts, Veronica wears a strappy purple dress, and sabrina wears jeans with a yellow teeshirt. Sabrina holds onto a broom and has suitcases beside her spackled with stickers promoting foreign lands. On her broom there's a sign reading Florida or Bust. Betty asks Sabrina "Sabrina, what's with the broom? Spring cleanin?" No," Sabrina says. "Spring break!"

World of Betty and Veronica Jumbo Comics Digest #24
Jim Amash (Inks);  Francis Bonnet (Art); Tom DeFalco (Writing); Holly G! (Art); Ian Flynn (Writing); Bill Golliher (Cover); Dan Parent (Art); Rex Lindsey (Inks and Cover); Jack Morelli (Letters); Rosario “Tito” Peña (Cover); Bob Smith (Inks); Glenn Whitmore (Colors)
April 5, 2023

She-Fox faces down a fearsome foe, while Powerteen and Superteen become curious about Pow-Girl’s origin story.

Leftover Fries
Archie Jumbo Comics Digest #339

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Lisa Fernandes

Lisa Fernandes

missmelbouvier@gmail.com
Lisa Fernandes

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