Archie Kickstarts 3 New Titles with Top Creators

[InvstmntComcSuply]

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!"

 

This doesn't pass the sniff test.

If the Target and Walmart opportunity caused a "diversion of resources" it would imply that those resources would have been used for these other titles. However, isn't this the first we have heard of them?

 

I recall an ownership struggle at Archie from a couple years ago. Just spitballing here, but it seems more likely that said struggle resulted in a costly settlement where no one wants to add additional capital, or more likely, one side is using every bit of business revenue to buy out the other, and no investor wants to loan capital, given ownership uncertainty.

 

I still find it surprising that a corporation asks its customers to prefund what would be considered normal operating expenses. They are in the publishing business, right?

[Ares]

Why does Archie even need a Kickstarter?

[GACollectibles]

Unfotunately Target and Walmart aren't just a retailing opportunity for certain items, you actually have to purchase space to display your product. From a friend who recently explored this option I understand it's a large multi-100k cost commitment. This could be what chewed up their existing operating cash.

[techtre2003]

Unfotunately Target and Walmart aren't just a retailing opportunity for certain items, you actually have to purchase space to display your product. From a friend who recently explored this option I understand it's a large multi-100k cost commitment. This could be what chewed up their existing operating cash.

 

I think that's the answer right there. The Kickstarter is more about them getting into these retail stores than it is about the new titles. They even said the titles were going to happen anyway.

[InvstmntComcSuply]

Unfotunately Target and Walmart aren't just a retailing opportunity for certain items, you actually have to purchase space to display your product. From a friend who recently explored this option I understand it's a large multi-100k cost commitment. This could be what chewed up their existing operating cash.

 

So, a business decision made in the interest of profitability, has left them cash poor. This is a privately held multimillion $ company specializing in publishing. All other avenues of injecting operating cash, come at some cost, but a kickstarter to fund publishing...

 

Not the best avenue of trading on the companies goodwill in my opinion.

[Crimebuster]

I noticed a couple things in the details of the rewards that were a little puzzling.

 

The individual rewards all list estimated arrival dates. Since there are different reward options for each of the three new titles, each of which says they will be sent as soon as the title is available for sale, this gives us estimated release dates for each of the new titles:

 

Life with Kevin #1 - August

Jughead #1 - September

Betty & Veronica #1 - December

 

This is a lot closer than I would have thought. Honestly, I don't even see how it's possible to have a new Jughead series ready for September given that they don't have an artist yet. The only way these release dates are feasible at all to me is if these books are already being worked on by the creators, funding or not. I know Goldwater said the books will eventually come out whether they get funding or not, but it was presented like a 5-year plan or something, rather than a situation where the books are already in development right now.

 

Also, Life with Kevin appears to be digital only, which does make me question the costs involved. Obviously, the book is going to be way less expensive to produce if you don't have to print or distribute it.

 

Of course, as long as we get a new Jughead series, I don't care how they do it. They can turn their home office into a meth lab for all I care. But some aspects of this Kickstarter are a bit weird. I'm feeling pretty skeptical right now that they will get funded.

[Crimebuster]

They also added a new reward tier that may be of interest. For $100, you can get all three Kickstarter Exclusive variant covers - Archie #1, Jughead #1, and Betty & Veronica #1 - and each will be signed by their respective creative teams.

[rjrjr]

 

My favorite quote that has come out of all this controversy (from Bleeding Cool's forums):

 

"Kevin Keller is to Archie what the Inhumans are to Marvel."

 

It is fun when fans go off on a tangent for a particular agenda. And yes, I have been known to do that from time to time myself.

[Crimebuster]

New interview with Jon Goldwater responding to questions and concerns about the Kickstarter:

 

http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/archie-comics-publisher-responds-to-kickstarter-criticism

[Crimebuster]

The Kickstarter has been officially cancelled.

 

Message from Jon Goldwater:

 

"We launched the “New Riverdale” Kickstarter as a unique and innovative way to celebrate the company’s upcoming 75th anniversary and to bring attention to some new titles that we are extremely excited about—JUGHEAD by Chip Zdarsky, BETTY AND VERONICA by Adam Hughes and LIFE WITH KEVIN by Dan Parent and J. Bone. We decided to dive into crowdfunding as an energetic, interactive and different method to raise money to help expedite the launch of these titles. The chance to engage with you, our fans, directly was really appealing to us, and we’re extremely grateful and honored by the support and pledges we’ve received.

 

While the response to these new titles has been amazing, the reaction to an established brand like Archie crowdfunding has not been. Though we saw this as an innovative, progressive and “outside-the-box” way to fund the accelerated schedule we wanted to produce these books, it became another conversation, leading us further away from the purpose of this whole campaign: to get these amazing books in the hands of fans faster than we could on our own. While we fully expected our goal to be funded, it was no longer about the books and how amazing they will be. We don’t want that. This is why we’re shutting this Kickstarter down today.

 

We don’t regret trying something new. It’s what Archie’s been about for the last six years. We will continue to be a fearless, risk-taking and vibrant brand that will do its best to embrace new platforms, technology and ways to interact with you, the fans. As a company, we have always prided ourselves on pushing boundaries and challenging expectations and perceptions.

 

The wonderful New Riverdale titles we wanted to launch will still come out—albeit not as quickly as we would have hoped had we attained the funding via Kickstarter. We believe in these books and know they’ll find an audience in comic shops, fueled by great stories and amazing creators.

 

We’d like to thank the great team at Kickstarter for their guidance and feedback and the entire staff at Archie Comics for their endless hours of hard work and dedication to this very special initiative.

 

And, most importantly, to you, our fans that pledged money to this Kickstarter—we thank you. Not only do we thank you, but we still want to interact directly with you. Your dedication, love of Archie and his friends and endless positivity are examples to all.

 

We would love to keep in contact with all of the fans who wanted to contribute to our project. If you were one of our Kickstarter backers, please send an e-mail to publicity@archiecomics.com so that we may gather your e-mail addresses and send you all special thank-you gifts as tokens of our indescribable appreciation.

 

Your support means the world to us."

[Mayor006]

I had every intention of backing this to get the alt covers, sounded like a pretty decent deal BUT I think they were just expecting too much. Nobody thought originally that the Veronica Mars movie would bring in as much as it did and now it seems that's what everyone uses as a benchmark. They had a LOT of supporters already and just weren't going to come close to that goal. I don't blame anyone for crowdsourcing anything. If people want to show their support by backing it they will, otherwise it just falls to the wayside, just be realistic in what you are looking for. Honestly, if they had tried this one book at a time instead of everything all at once, they might have pulled off a successful funding and then been ready for how to proceed on the next book.

[InvstmntComcSuply]

We will continue to be a fearless, risk-taking and vibrant brand

 

We would just rather take risks with your money rather than ours

 

 

Did anybody else read Goldwater's "risk-taking" comments like this? I know he likely meant about their stretching the PC boundaries, but I am sure there were other finance guys who were also initially scratching their heads with: "how is it risk taking, letting the public fund their operations"?