For almost seventy years, Archie Andrews has been America’s typical teenager. His well documented first appearance came in the pages of Pep Comics #22, published in December 1941 by MLJ Magazines, about five years before the company would adopt the character’s name as their own.

Today, of course, Archie Comics Publications is a thriving, multi-media enterprise with characters in comic books, trade paperbacks, and on television and digital media, but the company certainly hasn’t forgotten where they came from.

Among the other projects they have lined up surround Archie’s seventieth anniversary, they have partnered with Dark Horse Comics to release chronological, hardcover archive editions of Archie, Betty, Jughead, and Veronica in Dark Horse’s archive 200-250-page format.

The initial plan is to release three volumes of each individual title per calendar year, with each volume retailing for $49.95, and according to Dark Horse publisher Mike Richardson, the series will run indefinitely.

“We have seen the quality and care Dark Horse has put in to restoring and collecting material for their archival series, and we are looking forward to making our early MLJ library of classic material available to a new generation of  kids and collectors,” said Archie Comics co-CEO Jon Goldwater.