Your New Purveyor Of ‘Cinematic’ And ‘Mature’ Comics Is… Archie Publications?

Of all the comics companies out there, Archie has actually been the most interesting of late. Chuckle all you want, but in between the Double Digests and reprints, they’ve been putting out books like The Fox, Afterlife With Archie, and murdering the company’s ginger mascot in cold blood. And now apparently, they’re going to get edgy on us.

The company’s superhero imprint, Red Circle, has been rebooted as Dark Circle Comics. Alex Segura, the editor (and, full disclosure, a guy I joke around with on Twitter) talked to USA Today about the plans:

There’s an audience for creator-driven superhero stories that don’t require you to read 10 other titles or a decade’s worth of continuity just to get a sense of what’s going on. These are not superhero comics for kids, nor are we trying to make everything-for-everyone comics. These books are on par, content-wise, with anything Image, DC or Marvel are putting out — hopefully better.

One of the more fascinating tidbits is that books will be five issues and then rest, instead of being continuous ongoings. That also lets them turn around the trades faster, of course, but it’s nice to know there’s a beginning, middle, and end to every book.

It’s also pretty interesting not least because, well, this is Archie we’re talking about. Still, as we noted above, this has been in the works for a while. Afterlife with Archie has taken what should be a terrible concept and given it depth and emotional weight. It’s worked so well they’re taking the same tack with Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Segura, it should be noted, is a crime novelist when he’s not busy sending guys like me press releases for Archie, so that may be a hint at the general direction the books will take.

Either way, if nothing else, it’s something unique from a comics publisher we take for granted. And hopefully this means we’ll finally see a sequel to the greatest Punisher story of all time.

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