In addition to its plans to bring Mega Man back to comics on a monthly basis, venerable publisher Archie Comics announced a number of other initiatives and revivals at last weekend's New York Comic Con. Such projects include the return of Archie's Katy Keene and Josie and the Pussycats properties, as well as a reprint of and new title based on the very obscure "Sam Hill, Private Eye" series from 1950, and a revival of "Cosmo the Merry Martian," also a forgotten book from the 1950s.From ICv2:

Modern readers probably don't associate Archie Comics with hardboiled detective sagas, and indeed back in 1950 Archie created a new imprint, Close-Up Comics, to publish the adventures of "America's Hard-Boiled, Wise-Cracking Sleuth," but it should be interesting to be able to read these classic private eye adventures from the prime era of crime comics, and also to see Archie Comics launch an updated contemporary version of Sam Hill, Private Eye later in 2011.

Archie Comics will also continue to develop new projects around its core Riverdale Universe, if you can call it that. Following the success of its magazine format "Life with Archie" title, which explores alternate realities of Archie's married life with Betty and Veronica, respectively, Archie Editor-in-Chief Victor Gorelick saw fit to develop "Betty or Veronica" a new bi-monthly magazine in the same format that follows the lives of teenaged Betty and Veronica and their solo adventures around the world as part of a student exchange program. Additionally, Gorelick told ICv2 that the publisher has plans to launch a miniseries starring Kevin Keller, Riverdale's first openly gay character.

More From ComicsAlliance