When everyone thinks of Archie Comics, they rightfully think about Archie and the gang. Beyond the odd licensed property (such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Megaman) the company doesn’t usually step outside of the Riverdale town limits - but lately, the company seems to have gotten a bit restless.

It started with a few strange reprints found inside the pages of the Double Digests line. First, they began to touch upon some of the old weird Mad House tales, and now they’ve expanded that initiative to include things like reprints of Wilber and Ginger and even going so far as to recently feature some Young Dr. Masters - an adventuring sexy Doctor series that lasted for a whole two issues. The experimentation doesn’t just end with their reprint material either - it applies to some new content that the company has been putting out. In addition to releasing some Riverdale based stories in a digital only format, the company has been releasing a new Jinx series exclusively online. The series features the same cast of characters you read about when they were “L’il”, now dealing with all of the random drama of a high school setting. It an interesting kind of series, hewing closer to iCarly fare than your more typical Riverdale kind of teenage drama in a format that very few publishers are attempting nowadays. You might not believe it, but Archie Comics is probably the most progressive comic book publisher when it comes to making its content available digitally. They were the first company to go day-and-date digital with their entire line, and are the only who price their digital books at a lower price than what you can find on the stands. Seriously, the day-and-date stuff is all $1.99, and most of their back issues stick to the 99 cent price point, because they get it. They know exactly what they should be doing, and exactly how they should be pricing their books - and they’ve been pulling in a pretty good chunk of cash as a result.

Now today, the company announced another exciting new digital initiative - alongside the return of some of their older, forgotten characters.

from the New York Times article (click to read)

The New Crusaders will be a new series offered in early 2012 via digital subscription. Set in a time far after Archie’s Red Circle superheroes were in their prime, the series will feature a set of new heroes, being trained by The Shield in order to help out those in need. Here’s a little from the article itself:

The premise of the digital series, written by Ian Flynn and illustrated by Ben Bates, begins with the heroes largely in retirement in a suburb called the Red Circle. Their enemies find and dispatch the heroes, forcing the next generation, who will be overseen by The Shield, to save the day, thus paving the way for The New Crusaders, the title of the series.

Tonally, the stories will be similar to “The Incredibles,” Mr. Goldwater [the co-chief executive of Archie Comics Publications] said. “They are not going to be water-downed superheroes, but they are not going to be dark either.”

Archie’s latest digital initiative will be similar to Netflix, Mr. Goldwater said. “It will be a nominal monthly charge with access to new comics and thousands and thousands of pages from the archive.”

For an equivalent, picture what would happen if - for the price of an issue of Justice League once a month, you would get access to the newest issue the moment it hits the stands and have access to the team’s entire library of old adventures. Pretty nice deal, yeah? And true: you won’t actually own those comics. But really, this system would be just like Netflix. And you’re fine with that deal for the most part, right?

What this initiative represents, is two-fold. One: it’s a company broadening the content they offer in a fiscally responsible way (no printing costs really take out a big part of the risk). And two: it’s a company taking a look at a digital subscription format that has worked - the Netflix model - and is modifying it for a new medium. It’s forward looking and its daring, and somehow, it’s even fairly low risk. What’s the damage it’ll do to their bottom line if it doesn’t work? Whelp, the cost of scanning. And even then, it’s a format that costs a negligible amount to keep in the public eye. No reprint costs. No rescanning costs. It’s something that can sit around and make cash dollars.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Archie Comics is doing something right - and as they continue to announce books and initiatives like this, they are ensuring their survival, where others are not. It’s the future of the industry - or at least it holds the potential to be. How great would it be if this actually worked…