Archie Kickstarts 3 New Titles with Top Creators

[Crimebuster]

Archie Comics has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the release of three companion titles to their relaunch of Archie #1: Jughead, Betty & Veronica, and Kevin Keller.

 

Betty and Veronica will be written and drawn by Adam Hughes.

 

Jughead will be written by Chip Zdarsky of Sex Criminals and Howard the Duck fame.

 

Kevin Keller will be written and drawn by Dan Parent, with inking by J. Bone.

 

Archie is looking for $350,000 to launch these three new titles. CEO Jon Goldwater explained in an interview with CBR that Archie Comics wants to relaunch the entire universe essentially all at once, but as a small, privately owned company, without Kickstarter they will have to play the long game and wait to see in the future how the Archie reboot from Mark Waid and Fiona Staples is doing.

 

There are some pretty sweet incentives. For regular joes like me, the coolest option in my opinion is the $50 pledge, which gets you among other things a Kickstarter exclusive variant of Archie #1 with a new cover by Fiona Staples.

 

There are higher level pledges, including one where you get that variant signed by both Waid and Fiona, and a retailer incentive where you get 10 copies of the variant plus a bunch of other stuff. And there are pledge levels for super rich fans, including ones where you get put into Afterlife with Archie or Sabrina as a character, or appear on the cover of an issue of Archie.

 

Here's a link to the Kickstarter.

 

 

A taste of what you might expect from Adam Hughes if the campaign gets funded - here's his variant cover for Betty and Veronica #275:

 

[Wally's Comics]

not to be a spoiled sport, but I thought Kickstarters were for companies that don't have money???

 

With the recent successes of Archie comics in various universes (undead, beloved PC characters, Archie's death) along with the prices of moderns they would have plenty of money?

 

 

I must be missing something...

 

 

[Crimebuster]

not to be a spoiled sport, but I thought Kickstarters were for companies that don't have money???

 

With the recent successes of Archie comics in various universes (undead, beloved PC characters, Archie's death) along with the prices of moderns they would have plenty of money?

 

 

I must be missing something...

 

 

 

 

I think the answer is simply that they don't actually have that much money.

 

Archie CEO Jon Goldwater addressed this in a message at Bleeding Cool. In part he said:

 

"I’m sure the first question you have about this is “Well, why does Archie need our money?” That’s a good and fair question. We understand and value every purchase our fans make. We’ve chosen to be fully transparent when launching this Kickstarter, as we have been in the past with all our initiatives. Let’s face it: we are not Marvel or DC Comics. We don’t have their bottomless bank accounts. We don’t have their corporate infrastructure.

 

We can’t launch 20 titles a month. We can’t flood the market with double-shipped books.

 

We are a privately owned company that has built a track record for being innovative, forward thinking, progressive, relevant and agile. Over the last six years, while I’ve overseen Archie Comics, we’ve acted more like a new publisher than one that’s been around for decades. We are the oldest start-up in history."

 

He added:

 

"Help us build a New Riverdale and vote with the one ballot that will get the attention of the Marvels and DCs of the world: your dollar.

 

Be a part of something new and vibrant. Support the little guy fighting to make some noise and show the slow-moving goliaths of the comic book industry how it’s done: through hard work, great storytelling and tactical and calculated risk-taking."

[Crimebuster]

Jon Goldwater has put out a new statement addressing further the reasons why Archie Comics is doing a Kickstarter:

 

"We’ve gotten a lot of questions about why we’re asking for this money and what it means for these books, so to be completely transparent:

 

A few months back, Archie got a huge opportunity—we got the chance to set up some rack space at Target and Wal-Mart. The opportunity was unexpected but important. It also meant a diversion of resources that we did not anticipate. It’s the good kind of surprise. But it didn’t come without a price.

 

That being said, we knew ARCHIE #1 was going to be a huge success. How could it not be? Mark Waid + Fiona Staples + Archie!

 

So we wanted to maximize the opportunity and present our fans with more #NewRiverdale content, from some of the best creators out there. Minus this Kickstarter, would these books come out? Yes, eventually. But we don’t want to wait—and we don’t think our fans want to wait. Hence, this call for help in building a #NewRiverdale.

 

Thanks for listening, as always!"

[DougC]

They need to adjust their goals to be more money friendly as it jumps right from 200 to 750 completely missing the $500 sweet spot for large company kickstarters. The sketch offered at the $200 should be limited to 5, then when that fills up put up another one for $250 limited to 5, and repeat. These guys really needed to look back on what other comic related KS's have done to learn from the mistakes made and what and at what price to offer things.

 

I wish these guys the best but this might be a hard sell to fully fund; they should have tested the waters first with a single book offered to work out the kinks (which where will be many). I have created and successfully grown a KS to completion and it is not for the faint of heart, especially when thing go wrong.

[Crimebuster]

Yeah, I really hope they know what they're doing with this. It's going to be really embarrassing for the company if they can't meet their goals.

 

They seem to be adjusting on the fly. I've already gotten 5 update emails from Jon Goldwater on this since I pledged, three of which were answering questions about why they need funding. They've also added a bunch of new reward options, so it's possible they might add one in that $500 range you suggested. They've added some nice ones so far due to fan feedback, such as Kickstarter exclusive variant covers for Jughead #1 and B&V #1, as well as a bundle for $80 where you get all 22 Archie #1 variants. Plus some lower priced ones aimed at Kevin Keller and B&V fans.

 

One thing Archie has going for it is that they have shown themselves to be pretty savvy in terms of getting a lot of media attention. Stories about their events and gimmicks have regularly appeared in USA Today and sites like CNN.com. If they can get their contacts in the mainstream media to hop aboard and hype this up, it will help a great deal.

 

We'll see. It's an interesting experiment, anyway. I feel like this is sort of the comic book version of the Veronica Mars kickstarter movie. If it works, I bet we'll see more major and mid-major publishers trying this with large scale projects.

[Jimmy Linguini]

$750 for 10 of the kickstarter variants. And they make it sound like its a great "deal" when you can just buy them for $50 each.

 

Whats the over/under it doesn't get funded?

[Crimebuster]

$750 for 10 of the kickstarter variants. And they make it sound like its a great "deal" when you can just buy them for $50 each.

 

Whats the over/under it doesn't get funded?

 

Besides 10 copies of the Kickstarter variant, the $750 option for dealers also includes a full page ad for the dealer that runs in Archie comics for a month.

[Quicksilver Signs]

I guess the publishers have figured out how to cut out the middle man on variant sales

[Jimmy Linguini]

$750 for 10 of the kickstarter variants. And they make it sound like its a great "deal" when you can just buy them for $50 each.

 

Whats the over/under it doesn't get funded?

 

Besides 10 copies of the Kickstarter variant, the $750 option for dealers also includes a full page ad for the dealer that runs in Archie comics for a month.

 

[ComicConnoisseur]

not to be a spoiled sport, but I thought Kickstarters were for companies that don't have money???

 

With the recent successes of Archie comics in various universes (undead, beloved PC characters, Archie's death) along with the prices of moderns they would have plenty of money?

 

 

I must be missing something...

 

 

+1

Don`t they also have a big Archie TV series coming to Fox called Riverdale?

This is the company that sells the comic book hits Sonic and Megaman.

Throw me in the camp as this strikes me odd as well that they need a Kickstarter.

 

[cbaileypacker]

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/05/11/comic-stores-boycott-archie-over-kickstarter-as-archie-signs-deal-with-targetwal-mart/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

 

This is hot garbage. Now we are suppose to help them pay for the artist they can't afford? Get a clue Goldwater. What a joke.

 

Now he says they have to do it because they spent all their money on Target and Walmart shelf space, and can't pay for their artist and employees. Won't y'all step right up and pay for our company's inability to manage their own spending? Screw this Goldwater guy.

[Crimebuster]

Yeah, I just read the same article:

 

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2015/05/11/comic-stores-boycott-archie-over-kickstarter-as-archie-signs-deal-with-targetwal-mart/

 

I have to admit I don't entirely understand the vitriol from the retailers. The second retailer quoted here is upset that Archie is marketing directly to the customers, but other than getting copies of the first issues as a reward, the only reward I see that maybe does this is the year-long subscription to current Archie books, which of course is already available through Archie's website anyway. While these rewards might cut into sales of the #1 issues, Goldwater has said that the Kickstarter amount is enough to fund production on 6 issues of each of the three titles, so retailers would still be the go-to place to buy the rest of the series.

 

If some of the retailers on the forums here could comment, I'd certainly be curious to hear their thoughts.

 

Archie has been exploring alternate methods of distribution for a long time now, and very little of their sales are through the direct market. Archie still does newsstand sales, and has been pushing heavily into digital for years.So it's possible they either aren't concerned with the direct market, or are just out of touch with how the retailers in the direct market think.

[Crimebuster]

Here's another article. The Comics Reporter's Tom Spurgeon had some issues with Archie's Kickstarter campaign, so he interviewed Jon Goldwater about his concerns:

 

http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/cr_newsmaker_a_short_interview_with_jon_goldwater/

 

 

 

 

[Dano]

The two questions he declined to comment on are my reason I won't be backing this KS.

 

Dan

[Prince Namor]

As a retailer, glad I heard about this right before Final Order Cutoff tonight.

[Firespitter]

This smells fishy. I like the Afterlife run, but the infrequent and constantly bumped release dates on this and Sabrina title don't instill confidence in a company that is financially "Just fine".

Especially on a Whimpy-esque "If you give me your money today, I'll gladly give you 12 comics in a timely manner tomorrow." sort of way.

 

Also, the asking for crowd funding, and then in the same breath saying "We don't need the money at all, it's just another means of bringing these titles to the fans faster" has a ring of falsehood.

It's making my spider sense tingle. Like like the guy on the corner holding the sign that says "Homeless; Please give. God Bless." And I look down and see that he's wearing more expensive shoes than I have on.

 

It's probably all in my head but this has a sour taste.

[Crimebuster]

As a retailer, glad I heard about this right before Final Order Cutoff tonight.

 

How does this sort of thing affect retailers? I don't really have an understanding and would like to get a better idea. Thanks.

[Crimebuster]

Whats the over/under it doesn't get funded?

 

I don't know that much about Kickstarter, but to my eyes, it seems a little iffy. Archie has gotten this news out to a lot of mainstream media sites, including USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, and the Onion's A.V. Club, as well as sites like IGN. Right now they're at a shade under $21,000 funded. Given that they are probably getting more media attention now than they are likely to get for the rest of the campaign, I would think they would have wanted a bigger initial surge. Most projects seem to have a big surge over the first three days or so, then they die off, before a big surge in the final 48 hours. Archie has a lot of media resources available to them, but it looks to me like they're going to need to do some work to get this funded.

[Prince Namor]

As a retailer, glad I heard about this right before Final Order Cutoff tonight.

 

How does this sort of thing affect retailers? I don't really have an understanding and would like to get a better idea. Thanks.

 

As a supporter of Archie Comics, I'm certainly not enthused to get 'extra' copies of these books, knowing that a certain amount of potential in-store sales could possibly be siphoned off before the books even released.

 

I'm sure Archie doesn't feel the Direct Market is the place to grow their core titles, even though Afterlife with Archie owes it's success to it.