It was a weird week in the comics world, which results in a rather eclectic edition of Comics Disassembled, as I look at the things I liked or didn’t like from the week of comics, led by a surprising turn for an upcoming launch.

The Archie Line, Adding and Subtracting

Further details were revealed about what exactly the Archie line from Oni Press will look like — if only in the sense that we now have full resolution covers, I guess — and within that drop came the most interesting tidbit since the original announcement. Let’s get to what the books are to start, though.

As you may recall, the three launch titles are Archie, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Archie in Hell, with the creative teams of each being, respectively, writer Ben H. Winters and artists Fábio Moon and Nick Cagnetti, writer Corinna Bechko and artist Kano, and writer Patrick Horvath and artist Tyler Crook. You might have noticed something a little different in there. Wasn’t W. Maxwell Prince writing Archie? So, why is Ben H. Winters writing it now? Well, it seems Prince is in fact out and Winters has replaced him on Archie. Well, officially, this is what I was told by an Oni spokesperson.

“(W. Maxwell Prince) had a late-breaking scheduling conflict and had to bow out, but everyone at Oni is still huge fans of his work, obviously. The rest of the teams and schedule for the first wave of books — including Fabio Moon on art duties for Archie, beginning in September — are still on deck as originally announced.”

The latter part is undeniably true, as the rest of the creators are still around and the potential is definitely there, particularly with Archie in Hell and its elite creative team of Horvath and Crook. But the loss of Prince — someone whose presence was a promise, one of an extremely idiosyncratic take on these beloved characters, and one that would feel very of the moment — stings, even if everything I’ve heard about Winters (who previously worked on EC’s Cruel Universe and Benjamin, both at Oni, and is an award-winning novelist and TV writer) speaks to the quality of his existing work. For that reason, it’s very possible that this ends up being a lateral move or even an improvement on the original flavor. But this was undeniably a shocker, even if I’m sure there’s good reason for the move.

We’ll see what comes from these books, especially considering the fact that Oni President and Publisher Hunter Gorinson’s pitch of Archie at ComicsPRO this year was so appealing. It now sounds like the book’s concept may be different than what Prince’s was originally, even if it also appeals. At least we’re still getting that glorious Stuart Immonen cover, though, so I’m fully onboard. But this was a real surprise, and easily the standout takeaway from the information that hit this week. I suppose we’ll see what Archie, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Archie in Hell have in store for us when they hit in September, October, and November respectively.

Dark Horse, Recognizing

Remember last week when I wrote in this very column about Dark Horse Workers United, the union employees of Dark Horse Comics (and Things from Another World, the comic shop wing of the company) were attempting to bring to life? More specifically, the part where I talked about the chances of the publisher voluntarily recognizing said union? To be specific, I said, “Will (they voluntarily recognize the union)? Probably not, or at least not initially. Companies typically hate recognizing unions.” Remember that?

Well, please keep in mind that as much as I might actually know, sometimes I, quite like Jon Snow, know nothing.

That’s because wonderfully, delightfully, surprisingly, Dark Horse elected to voluntarily recognize this union, with its interim CEO in Jay Komas even underlining how unconventional that move is in the announcement, saying, “Voluntary recognition is an unusual step for employers, but in doing so Dark Horse intends to reaffirm its commitment that this new leadership wants to do things differently and enter into good-faith bargaining.” That, my friends, totally rocks. The whole statement from Komas does, actually, as it’s the rare example of someone running a company saying all of the right things. By the time he states that they are looking forward sitting down at the bargaining table with the union, I actually kind of believe it! Kind of!

We’ll see what happens from here, but this is an encouraging one after a turbulent…uhhhh…quite a while from Dark Horse? While some might disagree — and have already privately — I don’t think the publisher would do this if they believed they were on the ropes in a serious way, and this feels promising for both today and tomorrow. I’ve been wrong before. Even just last week. But this is a very, very cool and unexpected thing.