If you don’t want to go to the trouble of reading the entire review, I’ll give you the short version: Buy it!

Why did I buy this?

Josie and the Pussycats, Cheryl Blossom, Sabrina (little version), and of course, Betty and Veronica.  Heck yeah, I’m interested.

What rocked?

Pretty much the whole thing.  Even the B-list stuff was pretty agreeable.  I’ll go over some highlights. 

Dan Parent’s cover was eye-catching, as usual.  I like that look for Veronica, with the longer hair, parted in the middle.

“Culture Shock.”  It’s good to see our Japanese exchange student, Kumi, back.  This effort is much better than the last one.  While Kumi’s personality is still fairly undefined, at least her mother’s and little sister’s have been made clear.  Archie, Jughead, and Betty are invited over to Kumi’s house for a little Japanese food and culture in this story, and it works pretty well.  The writer, Misako, missed a rather obvious gag as Kumi’s little sister asked about Betty and Archie, “Hey, is she his girlfriend?”  At which point, Jughead should have answered, “Wouldn’t we all like to know?” 

I hope Kumi, herself, gets a stronger personality next time.  I’ll throw this out, playing off of something her little sister said.  Show Kumi in class daydreaming about Archie, Jughead, and Reggie.  She imagines herself and each of them as archetypal manga characters in a story.  For example, Kumi as the magical princess and Jughead as her forbidden love.  (And have manga Sabrina make a cameo.  “Hey, stop stealing my bit!”)

“Dates and Debates.”  May not be the greatest story, but it was hard not to enjoy Betty and Veronica’s combative banter.  There should be plenty of this in any given B&V story.

Little Sabrina in “Winging It.”  Just simply lots of fun, well written and illustrated.  I don’t know if it’s this iteration character or that Archie Comics was using (frankly) a better grade of talent on these Sabrina stories that makes them so appealing. 

“The Magic Word.”  I liked the twist at the end.  However, this concept of Archie crossing over with Harry Potter needs to be explored further.  What if Riverdale High was actually a school for young wizards?  (And then Sabrina shows up again, “Hey, you’re still stealing my bit!”)

Veronica in “What’s One More Blossom?”  Jason Blossom and Veronica go out on a date to make Cheryl and Archie jealous.  Hissy ensues.  “Jason, stop interfering with my friends, enemies, or whatever!” This story had me rolling.  And nice to see Archie characters actually kissing for a change.  Kinda sexy.  (Technically not a spoiler, because I’m not saying who’s kissing.)

Josie and the Pussycats in “Bad News Boys.”  It’s safe to assume this originally came out sometime near the movie.  I love the art style.  Awesome.  Melody has seldom, if ever, looked more appealing.  I’m going to stop here before I embarrass myself further.

“Fizzed.”  The Archie gang is trying out a new soft drink.  This story is notable for Jughead’s T-shirt.  The graphic is up in my gallery.

What didn’t rock?

“Betty’s Fashion Parade.”  Reader submitted fashions are a great concept for Archie Comics.  Drawing them this badly isn’t.  That’s it.  It was only one page, and even then, the other two fashion pages were well done.

Recommendation?

Your life isn’t complete without this issue.  Enjoy.

Thanks for another great write-up, jdh!

Anybody who's read the issue, please feel free to put in your comments or disagreements.  I like to think of these kind of threads as offering constructive criticism to anybody reading from Archie Comics, as well as opinions to other readers.

I do plan to post my own review eventually, but I have a lot of catching up to do until that point.

Once I finish reviewing "Bad Boy Trouble!" in B&VDD, I'll get caught up on reviewing the regular digests.