Archie Comics unveils new logos
Archie Comics has unveiled a new logo that will appear on all of its comic books, digest/double digests and graphic novels. The new Archie Comics’ logo will make its first appearance on the Archie Comic publications scheduled for the newsstand on-sale starting the week of September 15, 2008. The first two titles will be Veronica #190 and Archie Digest #247.
The trade dress includes new logos for the titles as well as logos for characters including Little Archie, Cheryl Blossom, Reggie and Josie and the Pussycats.
It seems like Archie’s been using this rounded logo forever – since at least this 1960 cover:
It looks like “Little Archie” on the digest cover is retaining the classic rounded “Archie” logo, while the current “Archie” gets the more blocky new lettering. Of course, the classic “Archie” logo is also maintained on the “The Archie Library” swoop on the left-hand side.
See more of the new logos after the break, along with some more commentary.
Another example of the new Archie Digest logo, here on the Christmas issue. Pretty sure Archie has used that Christmas lettering before.
I think I like the “Archie” used on the Double Digest better than I like the “Archie” they’re using on the regular digest. Not sure about that “Double Digest” underneath it — it’s got kind of a 1950′s diner feel to it, but I’m not sure how much it ties in with the Archie logo they’ve got on it. I definitely don’t like the “‘s” tacked on in a whole other font.
I think the new Betty and Veronica logo is supposed to be a mix of modern and classic, with the cursive B and V and the slanted rest of the names. The Betty and Veronica logo has undergone more changes than the Archie logo throughout its history, though I believe they’ve all had the bubble-type lettering, just slanted and outlined in different ways. I do think I like the faces up there.
This digest also has the logos for Sabrina and Josie and the Pussycats — these both look to me to be similar to the classic logos for those characters.
Here’s what Betty’s new logo looks like on her own book. It’s different, but I again like the face in the logo, and the cursive style writing isn’t a bad fit for the character. The B might be a little thick for my idea of a teenage girl, but they might have wanted to stay away from anything that suggested the Barbie B.
Here again, the double digest version gets branded differently. I wouldn’t have thought about drawing distinction between the logo in the digest and double digest form, but it looks like that’s something the Archie folks have decided is worth trying. I believe Cheryl Blossom’s logo shown here is similar to her classic one. Katy Keene’s has been changed from her formerly all-caps version.
Jughead’s logo seems more typically “his” than the rounded, Archie-style one he had before, bringing in his beanie and his picture. Still don’t like the tacked-on “s.”
The e-mail doesn’t show if the Jughead’s single digest has a different logo (though I don’t even remember for sure if there’s a non-double Jughead digest). Also, it doesn’t show if the main “Archie” book is changing from its classic logo. My non-professional opinion would be it’s an attempt at modernization, with mixed results. Anybody with more professional logo experience want to weigh in?
– Matt Price
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