Just got this one today. Really bizarre in a few ways, but I certainly appreciate the story length- no "seven page wonders" here.

-The storylines from the Betty-marriage portion appear to have merged into the Ronnie-marriage one. Moose hooks up with the blind New Age girl, and Jughead starts to make pals with Midge. Though the Moose/Midge break-up scene was quite well done.

-OK, Mr. Lodge attempting to BRIBE Archie into divorcing Betty and come marry Ron to make her happy was FURIOUSLY out of character, and rather creepy. I mean, huh?

-Cute pop culture references abound as Betty describes the list of guys she dated "just like Archie"- Richie Cunningham, Andy Hardy, Zach Morris, and more .

-Time-travelling Dilton appears to be at the heart of this, showing some continuity with the older stories.

-A cute moment with Miss Grundy & Mr. Weatherbee, though it has a certain sad element to it as well (for obvious reasons).

It was released to the Direct Market (comic book stores) yesterday, it will be on newsstands 2-3 weeks after that.

Overall, I liked it.  The celebrity headshots and movie casting pages just screamed to me they are trying too hard to appeal to that market.

I did like Norm Breyfogle's art for the most part, except for the lines across every character's faces, and it seemed rushed in some areas.

I would have liked if the lettering was consistant, there are a few places where there were obvious lettering edits done later.

just read it enjoyed it quite a bit. I thought merging the backstories for both alternate timelines was actually very well done. We get to see some of the plots hinted at in the main series, get some questions answered and new questions forming.

Veronica story-- favorite bits: watching the Moose/Midge/Jughead/Ilana story unfold; Ethel and her fiancee (heh!), Betty's other boyfriends, as noted above; Cheryl's surprising guest appearance (you won't like it Tuxedo!) and a surprise announcement from Moose all strung together by Lodge's greed-- very well played out!

Betty story-- I can easily see Lodge using anything at his disposal to make his daughter happy. And I practically cheered when Archie  stood up to him. I also liked the surprise guest star in this story! (Not counting Dilton!) The scene with Mr. Weatherbee and Ms. Grundy was also very sweet. Heck even a Mighty Crusader made an appearance!

Overall, I like that the writer and artist get 22 full pages for each story continuation-- it gives them some great room to develop the characters. I also like that despite the two very different stories, the subplots are the same in both-- that seems very complicated to me but actually makes the stories flow together well. (Heck you can't read comics continuity for years and not enjoy stuff like this!) The Tiger Beat wannabe pages I can live without, but really enjoyed the rest of the book. Looking forward to issue #2!

Gregg

-Time-travelling Dilton appears to be at the heart of this, showing some continuity with the older stories.

If it was who I thought it was at the end, it would be dimensional travelling really wouldnt it?

I got this yesterday and finally gott o readingi t today.  I enjoyed it overall.  Didnt care for the Archie/Veronica story, but never cared about that relationship.  I thought the Archie/Betty story was good, and even continued the theme from the Gets Married story arc (ie the A/V one focusing more on the business world and how Archie doesnt fit, as opposed to the A/B being about love).

Miss Grundy being terminal was something I hadnt expected to happen.

Long winded, sorry, but it's an issue I've been curious about:

What is the target demographic of this magazine?  Is it the same pre- and young teens who read the standard Archie stories?  Is it a somewhat older bunch that the company is trying keep or capture as they seek more mature fare?  Or is this is an attempt to keep the "Gets Married?" rubbernecks coming back?  I mean, if it's just cashing in on a story that caught the media's attention, that's fine, and good for them.  But if it's meant to appeal to a certain segment and to last more than a few issues, who is it for?

I don't know much about these crazy kids today, but I don't see pre- and young teens being all that interested in reading about the love lives of two old fogies or about characters struggling with cancer, unemployment or depression.

Yet these stories are not sophisticated enough to be interesting to older teens moving onto Young Adult or Adult fiction.  Archie, as represented here and in Archie 600-606, is an adult with adult problems, but only adult as that might be imagined by an 11 year old.  So I'm thinking this is aimed at that child who has matured enough to want more than gags about two dates on the same night, but who isn't yet mature enough for actual YA.  Like, say, a girl who wants to read her older sister's copy of Twilight but who doesn't understand it when she tries.  That seems like a very thin slice of the book buying public, if that's the case.

OTOH, if it is supposed to be targeted to young adults, the company needs to stop trying to appeal to children in the same book.  DC and Marvel do this just fine with their characters, producing one line of books for adults and another for children.  It's not a crazy idea for Archie.  I mean, Detective Comics, for example, was produced for the exact same audience as Pep Comics, only its characters got to "grow up" and so stayed relevant.  Heck, even Archie's own Red Circle heroes are grown up over there, and a couple have even stopped wearing tights.

I'm not saying Archie Comics should do this, or that it would be an easy sell, or that there would be any demand.  But if they really want an older readership they would have to try, otherwise this magazine is certain to go the way of Archie's mullet.

Well, finally got it in the mail. The print quality is top notch. Norm's art is also top notch. Great inking, coloring & lettering too (except for the last minute edits on a few word balloons which happens from time to time.)

Now read, it's easy to see why these 2 stories needed to be combined in such a format. Looks like they'll be tied in some way (Dilton.) The look of the mag, with the teen pics, does feel a bit weird considering how the stories inside are full of adult drama. I'm leaning more towards the Veronica story right now, as it feels more logical somehow. The Betty one feels a bit off, but that may fix itself in time. There are lots of new characters introduced in the Betty one, so that didn't help it for me. But again, time will tell. There's certainly something good in both. They're also very fast-paced. Looking forward to the next issue!

Thanks for posting that. That review has been getting quite a bit of attention on Twitter, but I hadn't gotten a chance to post it yet.

I preferred that Archie/Veronica story, there was more of the gang and hope that Betty and Reggie would get together . 
I do agree that the stories don't seem to fit for their target audience.  I wonder if kids who don't really know Archie Comics think that the movie will be of the married life and wonder why teen stars would be cast (since I assume the movie will be of their life in high school)?
 I loved the seriousness of the stories and nearly everything it had to offer.  I've never heard of the artist before, though.  I was so surprised at some of the plot twists.