There's still no indication as to when Ape Entertainment will restart its "rebooted" RICHIE RICH title. Indeed, if the latest Ape releases and solicitations are any indication, then the company appears to be pulling back a bit on its RICHIE commitment, in the manner of a "shrinking violet." Symbolic of the horticultural hesitation are the RICHIE RICH DIGEST releases that have just recently begun to appear. Now, when I think of a comics digest, I think of a chunky collection that delivers fair value for the money: WALT DISNEY COMICS DIGEST from Western Publishing, the "classic" Harvey and "Gladstone I" digests, Gemstone's DONALD DUCK ADVENTURES and MICKEY MOUSE ADVENTURES... and, yes, I'm even willing to throw in DISNEY ADVENTURES, provided that we only count the issues with Disney Afternoon -related material. For Ape to be flogging these 48-page (!) slick-cover pamphlets as "digests," however, I have to stretch the definition of "digest" so far that it snaps back into my face like an over-strained rubber band.
Ape's Web-site description of RICHIE RICH DIGEST is, to put it charitably, somewhat misleading. The "wealth" of additional RICHIE material that appeared in the one RRD issue that I perused appeared to consist of nothing more than one five-page Warren Kremer-drawn story, plus a gag or two. If Richie were that "wealthy," then he'd be forced to run Rich Rescue 24/7 just to make ends meet. What Ape should have done here is obvious -- collect all the parts of the initial RICH RESCUE saga into a trade paperback, perhaps throwing in a few "classic" adventure stories to "make weight." How hard can a decision like that be to make? Or, maybe there's an ulterior motive for Ape's apparent madness. Perhaps Ape's elongated re-release of the early RICH RESCUE material is an attempt to stall for time while the final details (whatever they might be) of the regular title are being worked out. If so, then the company is going to as absurd an extent as did Fenton Crackshell when he was trying to delay getting shot by the Banana Republic firing squad in "Allowance Day."Wait, it gets worse! Here is the blurb for RICHIE RICH GEMS TREASURES (sic??), solicited in this week's PREVIEWS...
Get ready for thrills and chills in this collection of stories taken from issues #44-47 of the critically acclaimed RICHIE RICH GEMS title! This collection reprints the 4 new stories that were done by Richie Rich's creator Sid Jacobson with art by long-time fan-favorite Ernie Colon! Each issue reprinted digitally re-colored classic RICHIE RICH stories, and there are short stories from the all-new RICHIE RICH: RICH RESCUE series!The fact that the original Jacobson/Colon stories are headlined takes a bit of the sting out of the revelation that RRGT will be reprinting material from... a reprint title. What really concerns me is the inclusion of RICH RESCUE material. Um, wouldn't this include some of the same material that was just recently reprinted in RRD? How many "variations of repetition" are you planning to feed us, guys?
At this point, Ape is my only source of new newsstand-style comics, so you'll pardon me for getting a bit exercised over exactly what the heck is going on here.
Chris,
ReplyDeleteSince I already have the several issues there have beeen to date of Ape's regular Richie Rich title, I asked my regular comics shop to special-order the first digest not by any means, for the Rich Rescue reprint, but specifically for that "'wealth' of additional RICHIE material" that Ape's solicitation said would be there. I was underwhelmed by the product I ended up buying. I had the same seasoned expectations of a "digest" as you, and you've done a really nice job of accentuating how those expectations were foiled.
Quote: What Ape should have done here is obvious -- collect all the parts of the initial RICH RESCUE saga into a trade paperback [...]
Apparently, they're actually planning to do that!
http://ape-entertainment.com/comics/licensed-properties/richie-rich/
Scroll down and peruse the plug for Richie Rich: Welcome to Rich Rescue. It's listed as being 104 pages, priced at $14.99, and described as "[c]ollecting the hit miniseries which saw the triumphant return of Richie Rich after 20 years away from comics!" They're reprinting the stories from the "regular" (irregular?) title in trades and the digests!
Quote: "Get ready for thrills and chills in this collection of stories taken from issues #44-47 of the critically acclaimed RICHIE RICH GEMS title! This collection reprints the 4 new stories that were done by Richie Rich's creator Sid Jacobson with art by long-time fan-favorite Ernie Colon!"
My head is spinning. As far as I can tell, Richie Rich Gems #44 has been the only issue distributed to date (however, successive issues might have been -- it's on my pull list, but my shop tends to miss it), along with Richie Rich Gems Winter Special and Richie Rich Gems Valentines (sic) Special. In other words, the regular title is barely on its feet but there have already been two "specials", so a "special" spinoff like Richie Rich Gems Treasures seems an anachronism! And that it will reprint stories that have just been printed in the regular title, presumably in the same format, is perplexing -- it's not like it will be reaching an entirely different audience.
Given how long the regular title has been on hold and how quickly material is being recycled, I'd have to guess that there's a tight budget behind these comics. There's good talent, like Aaron Sparrow, working at Ape, who I'm sure don't want the company's Harvey line to be in this state.
I'm definitely interested in the Buck O'Rue collection. I have a lot of catching up to do before I get to the final volumes of Popeye and the Krazy Kat Sundays, but I'm glad that the comics aspect of News and Views won't "go dark" in the coming months!
(Are you still thinking of doing a DuckTales 25th anniversary retrospective?)
Ryan