Ape Entertainment announces two Richie Rich titles in fall

From Ape Entertainment

July 29, 2011

“Ape Entertainment makes fans twice as RICH”

Two New Ongoing Richie Rich® Titles To Be Released This Fall

San Diego — Ape Entertainment and Classic Media are pleased to announce two new ongoing Richie Rich® titles. Due to the overwhelming success of the initial limited series, the first of Ape’s new ongoing titles under the KiZoic “young reader” imprint will be “RICHIE RICH: Rich Rescue”. The 2011 mini-series featured an updated globe-trotting version of Richie Rich and friends traveling the world helping those in need. Responding to fan and retailer demand spurred by the success of the re-envisioned Richie Rich, Ape Entertainment will revive the classic title “Richie Rich GEMS” as an ongoing series to reprint classic Richie Rich stories originally published by Harvey Comics.

“Our fans and retailers have spoken and they are thrilled to have Richie Rich back,” says Ape Entertainment COO Brent E. Erwin. “We have been receiving a ton of comments from them telling us how much they enjoy the newRichie Rich. Retailers have been asking us for a reprint title in standard comic format, so we are pleased to be able to offer them Richie Rich GEMS once again” commented Erwin.

With the return of “Richie Rich GEMS” (28 pages priced at $3.99), Ape will pick up and continue the numbering with issue #44 where the original series left off. The GEMS title will reprint classic Richie Rich stories from previously published Harvey Comics titles, and the stories have been re-colored to accommodate the higher quality printing practices of today’s market. In addition, each GEMS issue will also feature a brand new “Classic Richie Rich” story by legendary creators Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon.

Scheduled for a November 2011 release, “Richie Rich: Rich Rescue” #5 (28 pages priced at $3.99), will feature a “Super Hero” parody sporting 3 classic homage covers, one of which is a special retailer incentive.

Richie Rich: Rich Rescue can be described as part James Bond and part Indiana Jones with Donald Trump’s bank account. In this series, Richie Rich is an altruistic adventurer who travels the world helping the less fortunate. Join Richie and the gang from Rich Rescue on exciting, all new adventures sure to excite an all new generation! Richie Rich GEMS brings back to print the fun and adventures of Richie Rich the poor little rich boy, and features the classic stories of Richie Rich and his friends originally published by Harvey Comics.

For more information on Ape Comics, visit www.apecomics.com
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"I think the advent of the direct market was a bigger factor in the shrinking of the mass audience than the cover price, because comics were so cheap for so long that I can't really think they were a budget-breaking expense for the average kid."

I dunno. Five cents was more money in the '70s than it is now. Today, a price hike from 20 cents to 25 cents seems like nothing -- it's like getting free comics! But remember, in those days a movie ticket cost less than $3, and a pack of cigarettes was under $1. Ditto for a gallon of gas (except during the oil embargoes). And people still complained about the high cost of living -- as they always have and always will.

It was really a variety of factors that killed the big, general audience that comics once had. Price hikes, comics vanishing from drugstores and grocery stores, the demise of newsstands and candy stores in many cities, the retreat into the comic shops. Once the audience shrank to fans and collectors, the industry no longer had to print those war, western, romance and humor comics. It could be all superheroes, all the time, and the fans ate it up.

Replies

Emerkeith Davyjack July 30, 2011 at 7:38pm

...I bought #s 1 & 2 ofr the miniseries , I'm glad they're successful...:-)...I doubt I'll buy both , especially the all-new one , regularly but YAAYY !!!!!
Captain Comics July 31, 2011 at 11:40am

It is nice to see Richie Rich back on the stands. Reminds me of the days of yore, when dinosaurs walked the earth and the comics rack at the drugstore would have comics of all kinds. I'd only buy the superhero stuff, of course, so I never knew someday I'd be nostalgic for the stuff I didn't buy!
George July 31, 2011 at 4:41pm

Capt. Comics said: "I'd only buy the superhero stuff, of course, so I never knew someday I'd be nostalgic for the stuff I didn't buy!"

Surely you bought Sgt. Fury and Sgt. Rock, and an occasional Archie book!
Captain Comics July 31, 2011 at 6:26pm

I did buy Sgt. Fury, but I was never much of a Sgt. Rock fan -- I'd only pick him up on light weeks. And I did buy Jughead all through junior high. And by college I was buying pretty much everything but Archie, from House of Mystery to Weird Western Tales. But in the 1960s, I pretty much only bought superheroes, or superhero lite (like Adam Strange). By the time I would have even considered picking up Richie Rich or Hot Stuff (as a completist), Harvey was out of business.

So I never bought them when they were available, but it seemed like they were an important part of the landscape and I missed them when they disappeared. Does that make sense?
George July 31, 2011 at 7:09pm

Yep, that makes sense. I also miss the days when there were so many genres to choose from. In the '60s, it was possible to be a comics addict without ever touching a superhero book! I mainly bought superheroes, but also the occasional war, western or humor book. Aside from "Sgt. Fury" (and "Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD"), the only books I collected were superheroes.

Comics lost their mass audience of kids and casual buyers when the direct market took over, and superheroes became even more dominant. (The direct market had to reflect the hardcore fans' tastes.) However, comics had probably been losing that mass audience since the early '70s, every time a price increase made them less affordable to kids on allowances.
ClarkKent_DC July 31, 2011 at 9:30pm

George said:

Comics lost their mass audience of kids and casual buyers when the direct market took over, and superheroes became even more dominant. (The direct market had to reflect the hardcore fans' tastes.) However, comics had probably been losing that mass audience since the early '70s, every time a price increase made them less affordable to kids on allowances.

I think the advent of the direct market was a bigger factor in the shrinking of the mass audience than the cover price, because comics were so cheap for so long that I can't really think they were a budget-breaking expense for the average kid. But comics became harder to find once the corner stores, newsstands and local pharmacies decided they didn't want to dedicate the shelf space to such low-profit items, and the specialty shops meant a special trip to one particular store if there was one near where you lived.

I think that hurt more than the price.
Dagwan July 31, 2011 at 9:50pm

Man, I wish someone had bought any of the Richie Rich comics that have already come out from APE in my store.

The only kids comics I can move more than an occasional copy of these days are Sonic the Hedgehog and Young Justice. Kids TPs,on the other hand, do much better in my store. Bone ,Star Wars Clone Wars, the Marvel Adventures line, Beanworld ('natch!), and the Oz collections sell steadily.

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." -Groucho Marx

Check out the Secret Headquarters (my store) website! Comics and Games for Everyone!

I used to listen to WOXY.com; It was the future of rock-n-roll! RIP WOXY
George July 31, 2011 at 10:44pm

Looks like they have Richie in a superhero costume on the cover shown here. Is that supposed to sell it to the fanboys?
George August 1, 2011 at 12:53am

"I think the advent of the direct market was a bigger factor in the shrinking of the mass audience than the cover price, because comics were so cheap for so long that I can't really think they were a budget-breaking expense for the average kid."

I dunno. Five cents was more money in the '70s than it is now. Today, a price hike from 20 cents to 25 cents seems like nothing -- it's like getting free comics! But remember, in those days a movie ticket cost less than $3, and a pack of cigarettes was under $1. Ditto for a gallon of gas (except during the oil embargoes). And people still complained about the high cost of living -- as they always have and always will.

It was really a variety of factors that killed the big, general audience that comics once had. Price hikes, comics vanishing from drugstores and grocery stores, the demise of newsstands and candy stores in many cities, the retreat into the comic shops. Once the audience shrank to fans and collectors, the industry no longer had to print those war, western, romance and humor comics. It could be all superheroes, all the time, and the fans ate it up.
Lumbering Jack (M'odd-R8-Tr) August 1, 2011 at 5:39am

It's curious that they are presenting two different Richie Riches there. The "Richie Rich" title features a young-teen Richie and "Gems" features the standard, pre-pubescent Richie.

I tried the Free Comic Book Day "Richie Rich" comic, and thought it was OK. I don't think I'd ever buy it at the $2.99 price though. It would have to be three times as thick or crazy-good for me to pay that much for a Richie Rich comic.

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