Everything's Archie: Mike Pellerito On The Effect of Digital, Bringing Jughead's Time Police to New Riverdale and More

(Photo: Gisèle Lagacé)Welcome toEverything's Archie, ComicBook.com's monthly column that will [...]

By Russ Burlingame

(Photo: Gisèle Lagacé)

Welcome toEverything's Archie, ComicBook.com's monthly column that will spotlight what's going on at Archie Comics, talking to the creative forces behind the publisher.

Everything's Archie is a conversation with creators, executives and editors that make Riverdale what it is today -- both nostalgic and evolving, welcoming and daring. It will also feature exclusive previews, reveals and more.

This week, we're once again talking with Archie President Mike Pellerito, about everything from the Dark Circle superhero line, to the upcoming TV series, the status of Lena Dunham's project at the publisher and more.

On top of that, he's got thoughts on reissuing DC's old Impact Comics material, a boatload of exclusive images and more.

A major thing we didn't talk about last time: How important is the digital component of things to your plans moving forward?

Digital is hugely important for us, and I'm glad you asked this question. When you zoom out and look at how much this company has transformed over the last six years under Jon Goldwater, it's really mind-blowing. It's been awesome to be part of it. For me, having been here for 15 years, I've got a front-row seat in terms of seeing how much has changed and it's been jaw-dropping. And I'm not just talking about editorial decisions – though we have been bold and forward-thinking there. But in terms of new markets and expanding the reach of the company and our characters. That's been a real source of pride.

We started our push into digital being very ahead of the curve. A lot of people forget we were the first major company to go same-day digital with our periodicals and graphic novels. We were also one of the first to really expand into other digital platforms beyond the standard. We launched our subscription service long before Marvel Unlimited and have built a pretty robust and proactive digital-first program. That said, the comic industry woke up and caught up. So it feels like we're all on even footing now. That's about to change. I'm very excited to announce here that we've brought on Ron Perazza as our SVP of Digital. Ron has a strong track record from his time at DC, Marvel and more. He's smart, savvy and he's taking a great approach to our digital presence and strategy. Expect some big news from us on that front very soon and in the coming years.

With a lot of your back catalog available on the app and new stories in the old house style coming along all the time, do you think there's a dissonance between older readers wanting that content and it being available digital-only?

I don't think so. One thing we've always strive for is to make our content as available as possible, be it in print or digital. We crunch the numbers all the time and see what works best. Sometimes we'll release something digitally first to test the market or gauge if that's the place for it. But in an ideal situation, we'd have everything available across the board. But it's a really interesting question.

Archie has a great back catalog of stories – not to mention a really a cool library of characters outside of the core Archie and teen titles. Cosmo the Merry Martian and Super Duck, for instance, have really been enjoyed digitally. I'm not sure if we thought there had been a print demand for them, but we now see them in a new light thanks to how the books perform on the app or via partners like Comixology.

So, in short – we feel like each platform feeds the others. If we have a print success, the hope is we can figure out how to translate it to digital and vice versa. In the case of our upcoming 75th, we've been putting up a ton of classic material. I'm talking, the earliest stuff from the 40s – and it seems to be resonating, in print and digitally, which is great.

We also try to keep threads connecting, even with the "New Riverdale" books. Jughead #2, by the brilliant Chip Zdarsky and super-talented Erica Henderson, features a nice hat tip to Jughead's Time Police, which also happens to be available digitally in its original form. So, it's all about finding opportunities to cross-promo and keep your backlist vibrant while pushing forward on the new stuff.

We broke the news last time of who would be following Fiona Staples. While she'll obviously be missed, response has been generally positive. Is that gratifying?

Yes. I can't say enough good things about Fiona, every single component of how she handles herself, her art and the tremendous respect towards the team around her and the production side has been amazing. She is the consummate professional. And what she brings to the story, the looks and feel of the characters is perfect. Fiona lead a great art team that includes great talents like Andre Szymanowicz, Jen Vaughn and Jack Morelli. We are amazingly lucky to have had the chance to make comic history with this team.

I'm not going to lie. It was tough coming up with artists to follow Fiona. But I think we nailed it with Annie Wu on #4 and Veronica Fish on the next two. The response was so resoundingly positive and upbeat, too, which is a great vote of confidence for us. I'm optimistic that the response to the books when they arrive will be upbeat as well.

Also, it should go without saying, but MARK WAID deserves so much credit. He's such a versatile writer and the backbone of this book. It's not easy to reimagine something so solidified in people hearts and minds. Hats off to an amazing group and an even better comic.

With the Big Two abandoning their numbering in favor of rebooting all the time and now Archie dropping back to #1 as well, some of the biggest numbers on the stands come from your Sonic comics line. What kind of plans do you guys have coming up for Archie Action?

Lots of stuff, actually! In my eyes, Sonic and that entire group of titles really are some of the best super-hero comics around. It feels like those great, classic Uncanny X-Men or New Teen Titans runs. It's just a fun, compelling book to read.

Older readers seem to miss out because they might think it's a kids-only book, but that's a mistake. Editor Vincent Lovallo is really taking the books in some great directions, especially coming out of the recent Worlds Unite crossover. He very smartly set up the first post-crossover arcs to be friendly to new readers.

It also helps that Ian Flynn is one of the best writers in comics. Sonic Universe has a great jumping-on point issue coming up (#83) that's very Eggman-centric and just awesome, awesome fun. Sonic #280 is also a good introductory issue - the land masses have become detached and are floating around the planet and Sonic has to reset the continents or risk Eggman making the ultimate land grab. Literally. It's part of a bigger overall story, but it's a nice place to hop on these titles.

While the Mega Man books are disappearing for now, obviously we've had plenty of characters crossing into the Sonic and Mega Man books. Can we expect to see any familiar characters swinging through the Sonic titles now that he's got a little area all to himself?

SEGA and Capcom have been really great and generous to allow us to play with their toys. They get a lot of world building that's a lot more valuable than just a simple toy in return.

Mashing up different characters and brands is tons of fun and also a cool way to cross-pollinate between two similar audiences, as seen by Worlds Collide and more recently, Worlds Unite. With Sonic, the focus is really to bring the games into the comic sphere as organically and capably as possible. The Sonic comics are the one place where all the different versions of Sonic have found a home.

We've also had some great conversations with Capcom on other ways we can partner in addition to the great run we had on Mega Man. More on that as they become more concrete.

Sonic and Mega Man are some of the most iconic and best characters in comics and the long, healthy run both comics have had is a huge testament to that.

The Riverdale show being compared to Twin Peaks really concerned one of our readers; in a recent conversation he said "Well, if it's that, then it isn't Archie." Do you have any words of encouragement for readers who look at some of the new material or the future plans and don't see what you're seeing?

It's a great question, but I think Roberto has proven that you can place the Archie characters in any situation and remain true to the core of who they are. The Afterlife concept really didn't become clear to me until the first issue.

Roberto is such a brilliant writer and such a fan of the Archie characters that he knows how to stay true to the essence of the characters no matter the setting or backdrop. So to that fan I say, relax! It may not be the ride you were expecting, but the best ones never are.

Another question that came out of that same conversation: is Lena Dunham's project still on the schedule somewhere?

Yes. But it's not something we are going to rush. It's a real honor to have such a major force in Hollywood want to put her stamp on the Archie characters. When it's ready, its ready.

Forgive me if this was something that existed before and I didn't know it, but what went into the decision to give Jughead a kind of tragic backstory in the new Archie Universe?

All the credit goes to Mark. It was something he locked into very early on, and it just works. It made a lot of sense, especially they way Jughead is always seemingly at odds with Veronica, Reggie and the other "upper crust" of Riverdale.

You recently reissued Mark Waid's Legend of the Shield series through the digital app. Any plans for any more of the old Impact stuff?

Impact really was a wonderful run on the Archie/MLJ, now Dark Circle heroes. All the credit goes to DC, they really had some great stuff there – and the talent, WOW!

Dark Circle Editor Alex Segura is really taking a smart and unique approach in terms of new and classic content. He continues to push the envelope and reset perceptions with the fresh releases but is also curating the back catalog, so people can get a sense of past interpretations of these iconic characters digitally. We've even been releasing some new content in digital exclusives like New Crusaders: Dark Tomorrow, Mighty Crusaders: The Lost Crusade and a Sam Hill graphic novel, in addition to the classic Impact and Red Circle stuff.

There's a really deep well of great material there and I'm glad we're finally getting it out there in a concentrated way.

Okay, so give us this: What's the thing that you're most excited about in the next month?

A lot. But top of the list is Jughead #1. Chip and Erica really put together a great, great comic, a brilliant first issue. Fingers crossed the world loves it as much as we do.

And what do you think is the stealth hit waiting to happen that maybe the market doesn't have its eye on?

Dark Circle. Black Hood is one of the darkest comics out there, not by Archie standards, by ANY standard. The Shield is one of the cleverest spins on this type of hero around. The Hangman is a crime horror mash-up I can't remember the likes of in recent memory.

In many ways Dark Circle feels a lot like Joe Quesada's Marvel Knights imprint from years back. And we all know how well that all turned out.

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