Rob Imes
03-15-2005, 07:23 AM
Okay, "R.I.P. Laugh" does seem like an odd juxtaposition of words. But my title refers to the cancellation of the long-running Laugh Digest Magazine, published by Archie Comics. The 200th issue of the digest appeared on grocery-store checkout aisles everywhere last week, marking the final issue of the publication. The title's replacement is a digest called Tales From Riverdale, whose first issue will appear next month. (There is also a new Jughead digest series on the way, meaning that collectors of such things will have two #1's this year for a format that rarely has a new #1 to buy.)
Laugh Digest was originally a companion to the regular Laugh anthology comicbook. Laugh began in 1946, the year that MLJ became Archie, dropping their emphasis on superhero comics in favor of teen humor like the Archie titles which had become popular.
During the run of the original Laugh, I think that I bought only one copy new off the rack, #393. Like Pep, it was an Archie comic that had history going back to the Golden Age, but by 1987 tastes were changing: long-running anthology titles were getting the axe in favor of character-specific titles, and publishers were renumbering for the sake of a new #1. Archie Comics was no different. In 1987, familiar titles like Archie & Me, Archie's Pals N' Gals (whose digest version still exists), and Pep were cancelled, with the titles for a short time being rotating features in the Archie Giant Series Magazine (until it, too, was cancelled). Titles such as Betty and Veronica, Jughead, and Laugh started over with new #1's. But while the other two re-numbered titles are still published today, the new Laugh ended its run after 29 issues.
The only thing carrying on the tradition of Laugh after that was the Laugh Digest, a slight connection to the Golden-Age and MLJ admittedly. Before last year, I'd only bought one copy of the Laugh Digest, back in 1984 when the Red Circle/Archie Adventure Series enticed me into giving the Archie humor titles a try. But as a rule I tend to stay away from the digests for some reason, even though they are probably the most visible and easily-found comics in America today, and they are better-looking now than they used to be. However, they don't run as many older (pre-1970s) stories as they used to.
A recent exception was Laugh Digest #197, which came out around Halloween last year, and which I thumbed through at the checkout line. I noticed that they had a little "Madhouse" section inside, consisting of 11 pages of reprints from that horror-humor comic of the 1960s. So, I bought my second Laugh Digest, twenty years after having bought my previous one. It's always nice to know that something is still going on, always around, even if you aren't actually buying it yourself. But now that feeling will soon go away. There will be no more "Laugh" logo to greet you at the checkout. The "Laugh" title that has adorned an Archie comic every year for nearly the past 60 years is finally being retired.
Laugh Digest was originally a companion to the regular Laugh anthology comicbook. Laugh began in 1946, the year that MLJ became Archie, dropping their emphasis on superhero comics in favor of teen humor like the Archie titles which had become popular.
During the run of the original Laugh, I think that I bought only one copy new off the rack, #393. Like Pep, it was an Archie comic that had history going back to the Golden Age, but by 1987 tastes were changing: long-running anthology titles were getting the axe in favor of character-specific titles, and publishers were renumbering for the sake of a new #1. Archie Comics was no different. In 1987, familiar titles like Archie & Me, Archie's Pals N' Gals (whose digest version still exists), and Pep were cancelled, with the titles for a short time being rotating features in the Archie Giant Series Magazine (until it, too, was cancelled). Titles such as Betty and Veronica, Jughead, and Laugh started over with new #1's. But while the other two re-numbered titles are still published today, the new Laugh ended its run after 29 issues.
The only thing carrying on the tradition of Laugh after that was the Laugh Digest, a slight connection to the Golden-Age and MLJ admittedly. Before last year, I'd only bought one copy of the Laugh Digest, back in 1984 when the Red Circle/Archie Adventure Series enticed me into giving the Archie humor titles a try. But as a rule I tend to stay away from the digests for some reason, even though they are probably the most visible and easily-found comics in America today, and they are better-looking now than they used to be. However, they don't run as many older (pre-1970s) stories as they used to.
A recent exception was Laugh Digest #197, which came out around Halloween last year, and which I thumbed through at the checkout line. I noticed that they had a little "Madhouse" section inside, consisting of 11 pages of reprints from that horror-humor comic of the 1960s. So, I bought my second Laugh Digest, twenty years after having bought my previous one. It's always nice to know that something is still going on, always around, even if you aren't actually buying it yourself. But now that feeling will soon go away. There will be no more "Laugh" logo to greet you at the checkout. The "Laugh" title that has adorned an Archie comic every year for nearly the past 60 years is finally being retired.