From http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=94511

With more than 60 years of a certain…shall we say, style behind them, Archie, Betty, Veronica, and the whole Riverdale gang will be getting a new look in 2007, courtesy of artist Steven Butler.

Rather than moving to a manga style, which has worked on Sabrina by Tania del Rio, this change will move the art towards a more contemporary comic book style, more realistic, and less cartoony. The move, an Archie Comics representative told Newsarama, is a continuing experiment and exploration with the characters, showcasing not only their timlessness, but theur adaptability as well.

The first of the “new look” Archie and company will appear in May’s Betty and Veronica Double Digest #151, in “Bad Boy Trouble” written by Melanie J. Morgan. In addition to the look, the stories themselves will change format, switching from short tales to fuller-length stories. As such the digests will contain four stories, spanning issues #151-#154 which will run 25 pages each, when fully told.

Look for more on Archie’s changing look later this week on Newsarama.