Lasting only about a week and pockmarked with criticism, the Archie Comics Kickstarter that hoped to build a new Riverdale has been cancelled. The announcement came down on Friday in an update from the publisher on the Kickstarter’s page.
Much of the criticism around the campaign was centered around the idea of a major publisher turning to a crowdfunding platform to fund its project as opposed to using more traditional means. There were also questions about how much input and involvement on the campaign would come from the comics’ creators.
While they (obviously) didn’t met their goal, Archie Comics still intends to publish the books, just on a more delayed schedule. Most of the new series have been pushed back at least a month.
According to a statement from Archie Comics Publisher and CEO Jon Goldwater, they grew concerned as the criticism and conversation surrounding the campaign turned from talking about the books to criticism about the campaign itself.
Once that happened, we decided it was time to stop. While we don’t mind putting ourselves under the microscope or answering questions, the creators involved didn’t deserve that level of negative attention. Though we fully expected to get funded, we felt it was time to step back.
The update on the website goes on to say that those who contributed to the Kickstarter will get special thank-you gifts.
We would love to keep in contact with all of the fans who wanted to contribute to our project. If you were one of our Kickstarter backers, please send an e-mail to [email protected] so that we may gather your e-mail addresses and send you all special thank-you gifts as tokens of our indescribable appreciation.
Big stars and companies posting crowdfunded campaigns asking for money isn’t that new of an occurrence. It’s just that this Kickstarter happened to have a combination of factors that pulled in more ire than mirth. Still, it’s good to see that the books are coming out anyway.
(via Comic Book Resources)
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