What Lurks in the Longbox? #32 - The Best Comics You're Not Reading!

Archie Comics continues to smoke the competition in storytelling, value and pure creativity,  Unlike other publishers, this company's "events" are not about forcing the reader to buy dozens of various titles to get the whole story.  In most cases, the story is self-contained within one title and limited to a small number of issues.  If there are variant covers, they are usually produced in the same volume as the "regular" cover.  This means no premium price, which in turn means readers can choose the cover they prefer (or both, if they so choose), without worrying about their comics buying budget. 

Over the past couple years, Archie has released fun and creative crossover events with everyone from rock band legend Kiss, to the cast of American Idol, and even the President of the United States.

This year will be no exception, as the Archie Gang prepares to meet the cast of the Glee television series, and then two of the most popular video game characters on the planet will square off against each other, as Mega Man meets Sonic the Hedgehog in the "Worlds Collide" crossover event.  For those readers that prefer a slightly more serious Archie story, there's the monthly Life with Archie: The Married Life publication, which started as a spin-off from the "Archie Gets Married" storyline that was published in 2009.  Each issue features two stories, one from the parallel universe in which Archie married Veronica, and the other from the universe where Archie married Betty.  The series is written by veteran comic book creator Paul Kupperberg, and has featured great art by Norm Breyfogle, Fernando Ruiz and others.  The magazine format is also a great value for the money, with issues running upwards of 64 pages for only $3.99, which is often the cover price for a typical 22 page comic from "The Big Two." 



Mega Man takes on Sonic in the upcoming Spring crossover event.

If that isn't enough, Archie fans can also look forward to this year's Free Comic Book Day offering, as the publisher releases a free 92 page World of Archie digest for the tenth anniversary of the day that serves as the comic industry's national holiday.  If you haven't checked out Archie comics lately, you owe it to yourself to grab a few titles at your local comic shop, and find out what you've been missing! 

The Riverdale gang meets the McKinley High gang this Spring!