Norm Breyfogle on… Archie?


One of my top five all time favorite artists, and a guy who was hugely popular in the 1990s, was Norm Breyfogle. He was a mainstay in the Batman books for years drawing some of the best stories from that era, usually teamed up with writer Alan Grant. After what seemed like near-ubiquity at DC Comics he began to do sporadic work at Malibu, Marvel and then back at DC Comics again, before dropping out of sight from mainstream comics.

Every year I hope to be put in charge of DC Comics so I could make bringing Norm Breyfogle back to Gotham one of my top priorities, and every year my phone doesn’t ring…

Any day now. It’ll ring any day now.

The other guys can attest that when we’re hanging out I have a tendency to blurt out “I wonder what Norm Breyfogle is working on these days…” and then I’ll sigh and go about my business.

Lo’ and behold he’s got a book coming out this week! And it’s Archie’s Double Digest #202!

(By the way, before you snicker yourself to death, Archie’s Double Digest sells more copies than just about everything you read from Marvel and DC)

The current story in Archie’s Double Digest is part of the new line of Archie stories that eschews the classic cartoon look for a more realistic approach to the art. This is the third part of a four part arc that Breyfogle is drawing, which means I’m going to have to try to track down the previous digests. I’ve never read one of these books before,  but there’s a first time for everything!

There’s a short interview with Breyfogle over on Comics Continuum as well as a bunch of preview pages and character designs.

I’m telling you folks, the stars are aligning this year and I’m being slowly pulled back to Riverdale. And I’m powerless to stop it!

Comments

  1. Same here sir. And I never knew Norm’s name but looking at the google images i remember his art, it was awesome

  2. Archie digests and G.I.Joe were my "gateway comics" about 20 years ago.  It’s interesting to see that Archie still manages to sell so much product. 

  3. Betty looks…so sad.

    Is the realistic look here to stay for a while?  Or just for the Breyfogle arc?

  4. @drakedangerz  The "New Look" isn’t a line-wide change. Most of the Archie books look pretty much just like they always have. The "New Look" is just used on specific storylines, of which I believe this is the fourth. It was introduced with a Betty and Veronica story, then there was a Jughead tale, and a Moose and Midge arc, and now this current storyline.

    Other well known names I’ve seen in Archie Joe Staton, Al Milgrom, and John Workman, Jr. And I believe Terry Austin inks the Sonic the Hedgehog Book.

     

  5. I had totally forgoten about Breyfogle until I saw the solicite for this book.

     

    @Conor: Have you checked out this site, it is interesting to see this data sometimes

                 http://icv2.com/articles/markets/15820.html

     

  6. Very nice covefr art.

    Archie sells more than Marvel/DC?  Huh, if that’s the truth, I’m switching over to Archie!  I need to be on the winning team, that’s why I read Marvel, baby!

  7. I used to work at a big Borders store and it was crazy how often those Archie comics would sell and how often we’d see one person coming in to buy a copy of every digest/periodical.

    Seeing this less cartoony art on an archie book is kind of weird.It’s good, but I’ve also never really thought of archie as being a comic book. I don’t think I’ve EVER seen a comic store that carries them, just the big bookstores. I wonder if I should pick up a digest one of these days D:

  8. @MikeFarley-I know it’s not a line-wide change.  I’m asking if it is for the forseeable future for this specific book, or if it is just for this arc.

  9. Archie looks really bizarre in a more realistic style. His lips, it’s like he has had collagen put in them!

  10. I love Norm Breyfogle, probably my all time favorite Batman artist. His issues were the ones I was collecting and reading when I was growing up, I specifically recall his Tim Drake dressed in the new Robin costume on the final page of Batman and the Scarface and Idiot Root arcs. I would sign a petition to get him back on a Bat book.

  11. @drakedangerz–I believe it’s just an arc. They seem to be switching the "New Look" from book to book.  IT was previously in BETTY AND VERONICA and then JUGHEAD, and now ARCHIE.

  12. Those sales numbers blew my mind *_*

  13. I’m with ya Conner.  I love me some Breyfogle!  I remember his Batman fondly.  There’s a great spalsh page where Bats is busting through a window and he grabs the gangster’s ponytail and smashed his head on the floor.  It was beautiful.  His stuff on Prime was great too! 

    Glad to see he’s still doing work!!

     

     

  14. I loved Breyfogle’s stuff in Batman.  He’ll do a fancy job on this Archie stuff, but it would be majorly awesome to have him back in superhero comics.

  15. Breyfogle’s Batman is the stuff I grew up reading.  The Definitive Bat artist for me.

     The first Shadow of the Bat arc with Stelfreeze covers and Breyfogle interiors were the best work I had seen from DC at the time.

     Need a Definitive Breyfogle or Absolute Shadow of the Bat now!

  16. Aah…my youth. Jim Aparo on Batman, Norm Breyfogle on Detective!

  17. @rsmorley: Breyfogle didn’t do a lot of issues of SHADOW OF THE BAT. He did 1-5, 13, 65-67, and 75.

  18. I do love me some Breyfogle as well. And that last name is fun to say. For me, his version of Batman always trumped Aparo’s.

    Not sure if it’s worth it to go out of my way to find these digests, but if I happen to find one at my local shop soon, I’ll probably pick it up. 

  19. You know who needs to start drawing Batman again? Kelley Jones. I don’t even care what Batman does in that issue. He could be on the shitter and it’s scary.

    This is how desperate I am for more Kelley Jones Batman art:
    Batman #700: "On the shitter"
    written by Chuck Austin
    art by Kelley Jones
    $5.99

    I would buy that and maybe give it a 5/5… if it’s the same style as Gotham After Midnight.

  20. I am not a fan of Kelley Jones’s work on Batman.

  21. @Mangaman: I would agree with you almost all the way; if it wasn’t for the stinker of ‘Gotham After Midnight’ to disprove that. Still I love Jones work before that trade so yes, I would like to see him back on Batman.

  22. Oh yeah I remember this was announced a while back on Norms website. I kind of forgot about this but thanks for reminding me, this will be the first time I buy an Archie book since I was like 5

  23. Well hell, I might have to get this. I was introduced to Breyfogle on his Prime run rather than Batman. Remember Prime? Whatever happened to Prime?

  24. Norm seemed to be the first guy to draw Batman as a shape. his stuff is so dynamic. I’ve heard that when Shreck was in charge of Batman he pointed at Norms work and said this is what i don’t wan’t, in favour of the Lark and Maleev styles.

    he should draw at least one Batman book a year 

  25. I will never understand the appeal of Archie comics.

     

  26. Not to pick on Diabhol — and I’m not an Archie reader myself — but it always puzzles/amuses me to see fans of comics about people in capes punching each other (and this totally includes me!) expressing bafflement that different people want to read comics about teenagers having relationships.  I mean, how mysterious can it be?