And if none of those fit the bill, give the Spire Archies a try.

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Okee-doke, gang, one last call for your 2026 Comic Book Industry Predictions! Just go to that post, read the instructions, and let fly your forecasts! I’m planning to start looking at the 2025 predictions next week, so get ready to read all that…or to skip ahead a month, whichever you choose.

But today I’m going to try to respond to a comment left on Wednesday’s post by Andrew, who inquires

“I’ve often thought about trying to get into ‘The Archie Multiverse’ but where to start? My preference would be to start with a good overview, greatest hits, collection.”

That indeed is a tricky issue, as there is so much Archie to be had. You could easily scoop up a few dozen of the digests and get a wide variety of stories. But if you want something a little more curated, there are some options:


This is a thick book that is described thusly by Penguin Random House:

“This full-color, year by year anniversary collection features over 400 pages of some of the best Archie stories by the greatest Archie creators as selected by noted Archie historians and is the one essential volume for any Archie fan and fans of the comics medium.”

This appears to still be in print, unlike the “Archie Americana” series:


…which was divided up by decade and included notable stories from each period. These I have read, at least the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s volumes, and they’re excellent. Full color, good content. You just may have to search for them.

Then there are the books Archie put out focusing on specific artists:


…which are nice, and have the advantage over the other books if you prefer a consistency in art style.

My personal favorite era of Archie Comics is the ’50s and ’60s…by this point the “house style” had been settled upon, while still allowing some measure of variety in art. Speaking of which, the drawings are given a little more room to breathe, versus the more cramped pages of later decades. Gags are funny, expressions are top notch, it’s really what I think of when I think of Classic Archie.

The ’70s era is fine, too, though it is slowly beginning to evolve into the design and style of the ’80s, which, as I said, feel like they’re just trying to force too much onto each page. But many of the virtues of the earlier decades are present here, too, so there is still fun to be had.

There are other Archie collections ‘n such out there, including a series of hardcovers reproducing the initial Archie-related stories in chronological order, if I recall correctly. There’s no shortage of Archie volumes out there. And again, if worse comes to worse, you can always jump into the giant pool of Archie Digests and pull out what seems interesting to you.

12 thoughts on “And if none of those fit the bill, give the Spire Archies a try.”

  1. Looks like Betty is turning 16 based on the candles. I wonder if that was a big editorial decision or if DeCarlo just slapped them on there…like how Betty’s cake just says “Betty”, no need for a Happy Birthday message. And Jughead is about done with the drama and ready to tear into it.
    My favorite artist, regardless of decade, was always Samm Schwartz. I like his angular style and expressive body language.
    And how could you neglect to mention the fever dream that is Little Archie?

  3. Smicha – I think canonically the Archie gang is 16 years old or thereabouts, which should make all the people excited about the pin-up shots feel at least a tad guilty.

    And yes, Little Archie is great, but let’s ease folks into that madness.

  4. I mentioned to Andrew about the books separated by decades in the comments, but it might have been missed.
    I forgot it had the Americana thing going. Those did sell, and for first time, we had a display in the double window.

    Mike: an aside. Have you ever posted about your window displays?

    And I had Little Archie wiped from my mind. Wow. But I do remember when they were all superheros. How long was that fad?

    I’d get a giant grocery bag from an auntie who bought Archies from the machines that spit them out and there was the random BEYOND THE UNKNOWN or CONAN. Everything else was Archie, maybe 75 books every visit.

    Thinking on that, in the 70s, I bought comics at a pharmacy and there was an issue of Conan and the interior was a Jughead comic. Didn’t buy it, even though it would just be a novelty.

    Mike: did you ever write about Sparta, Illinois and how every comic was printed there until the early 80s with First Comics not involved? These are not my predictions for 2026.

  5. As a Gen-X Brit, my sole knowledge of Archie (who has never caught on over here) comes from one of the digests given to me as a present in the late 1970s by my friend’s father when he returned from a business trip in the US.

  6. As I mentioned to Andrew yesterday, that is what sold at our shop. The digests. It makes sense you would see those. We never took in Archies for commission. No one wanted them. Not even in back issues on the cheap.

    Digest-size is what made us money. I think we had one digest on the pull list, but we knew how many sold from the display each month. Right around then, DC had their own digests. Those were iffy.

  7. God, Reggie sucks. Just seeing him on the cover of that Decarlo volume really gets my goat. It’s telling that he’s the only”pal” without his own title.

  8. MIKE:SLIDING IN WITH PREDICTIONS FOR @)@^. Rather, 2026.

    1/Mike will propel himself to fame by claiming to be King of Outer Space. FIFA inexplicably gives him an award.
    2/Mike will start a GoFundMe to make a new BARB WIRE film starring Sydney Sweeney.
    3/A new Netflix series similar to TO CATCH A PREDATOR will have an episode to adults who still read, own, or talk on social media/old-timer blogs about cartoon 16 year olds. I’m concerned if they will bring up Josie & The Pussycats.

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