The issue starts off with a fantastic Ruiz/Koslowski cover. In particular, I really like the way they draw Sabrina. Nice attention to detail, too, with the patch on Betty's jeans, Jughead's empty lunch bag, and the hot dog in Hot Dog's mouth. The art throughout is equally good.

In the story, the "little" versions of the Big 5 Archie characters (Archie, Betty, Jughead, Reggie and Veronica) plus Chuck (Chuckie) and Sabrina are entering their pets into the Power Pet Pageant. Archie has his trusty Spotty (dog), Betty has Caramel (cat), Jughead has Little Hot Dog, Chuckie has a flying squirel () named Glider, Veronica has Little Fifi (dog), Reggie has a lizard (Spike), and Sabrina has her cat Salem. Fun hijinks follow once Reggie and others attempt to fix the results. Salem casts a spell about halfway through allowing the animals to hear each others' thoughts; the spell is still in place at the end of the story, which will presumably lead to next issue since the "Power Pets" are guest starring again.

This was a fun story, and if you like the Little Archie characters, you'll probably enjoy it. Or, even if you've never read anything Little Archie but are familiar with the teenage Archie characters, this would be a good introduction to the "Little" world.

My only complaint isn't so much about this individual issue but more about the company's overall handling of the Little Archie franchise. One interesting thing about the Little Archie comics is that its cast didn't overlap with the regular, teenage Archie cast 100% -- more like 60% to 70%. There are quite a few Little Archie characters who never (or very, very rarely) show up as teenagers, and vice versa. In the Little Archie comics, there were characters like Little Ambrose, Sue Stringly (sp?), Fangs Fogarty, Evelyn Evernever, etc. Since we don't see very many Little Archie stories these days, it kinda bums me out that when we do get a Little Archie story, we don't get to see any of these classic characters. I think it's cool that they introduce characters like Chuckie (Chuck wasn't a classic Little Archie character), but I'd hope there's room for everybody.

A few questions:
* Why do they use the names "Little Archie," "Little Jughead," and "Little Sabrina," but characters like Betty, Veronica and Reggie just get their normal names?
* I know we've seen Spotty before, and I am 99% sure we've seen Little Archie stories with Caramel and Salem. But have Little Hot Dog and Little Fifi ever been a part of Little Archie continuity before? (Glider and Spike were created just for this story from what I can tell.)

Enjoy the book!

EDIT: Forgot to mention this when I first posted, but I realy like that the Archie books have always had letter pages. I know that DC is going back to letter pages (not sure about Marvel), but props to Archie for sticking with them. And I like that they are usally in the voice of the comic's title character. I thought that "Archie's" response to the person saying that the Riverdale kids were too good to hang out with a gay person was particularly good (and Reggie's interjection was funny).

And, here's some more wacky continuity for you.  In Little Archie, Archie owned Spotty.  Then, in the New Archies, he owned a terrier style dog named Red.  Then in some early Bob Bolling teen Archie stories, he is seen with Spotty again.  It's almost like he got Spotty as a kid...then when he was 11, he sent him away to live on some farm while he played with Red, and then at age 16, Red ran away from home and Archie decided he wanted Spotty back. 

Quote from: Captain Hero on April 24, 2011, 12:16:31 PM

And, here's some more wacky continuity for you.  In Little Archie, Archie owned Spotty.  Then, in the New Archies, he owned a terrier style dog named Red.  Then in some early Bob Bolling teen Archie stories, he is seen with Spotty again.  It's almost like he got Spotty as a kid...then when he was 11, he sent him away to live on some farm while he played with Red, and then at age 16, Red ran away from home and Archie decided he wanted Spotty back. 

Ha. Never knew that. I wonder why they didn't just use Spotty for the New Archies.

My honest assessment...they never bothered to research it. 

Maybe Red was in the cartoon? (I don't know; I've never seen an episode.)

It's kind of interesting that, as of right now, the Little Archie gang was around in the late 1990s / early 2000s!