As I noted last time, the Archies were gearing up for a major Battle of the Bands against Josie and the Pussycats right before they lost half of their membership to the dimensional divide. Archie and Kevin commence auditions and immediately recruit Rachel, Blaine, and Mercedes to the band. However, Alexander Calbot III, the guy who manages the Pussycats, had bugged the auditions and decided that the Pussycats will crash and burn if they find themselves competing against this new group of Archies. He immediately decides that he will steal the best of the new Archies singers -- Mercedes Jones! Hardly unprecedented for Mercedes to switch groups. How will the Archies handle this defection? And how will the Pussycats handle becoming an instant quartet??
Next, Sue Sylvester finally shows up. I gotta say, they did a good job of translating this crazy lady to comics! For whatever reason, she has decided to take down Jughead -- and take off his infamous crown!! I don't get the super-science explanation behind it, but both universes will die if certain events occur -- including if Jughead takes off his crown. Either way, Sue has a new mission and Jughead has a new enemy, so that should be fun!
Speaking of universe-destroying events -- apparently nobody can kiss nobody. Everyone has to stay low-key or else. Unless they're joining the Archies or the Pussycats or starting a new glee club in Riverdale. But I digress. Dilton and Artie manage to stop Veronica and Finn from destroying the universes, but someone needs to warn Betty away from Puck before their first date begins!
Speaking of teen love, this issue featured the lustiest version of Kevin Keller that I have ever seen in my life -- and I loved it! We need to see more of this in the future! Figure that it would take Glee's Blaine to turn Kevin into a horn-dog -- if only for a panel or two.
There were a couple let-downs:
* What happened to Nancy, Reggie, and Ginger? They crossed over to Lima and then disappeared. I'm hoping that their presence within this tale actually does something for the story besides add background characters.
* Where is Becky?? I'm really hoping that my favorite Cheerio makes it into this storyline!!
There were a couple crack-ups, too!:
* Stilted dialogue. For those who wonder if Sue Sylvester and Rachel Berry actually speak like that in the television show, rest assured that they actually do sound like that in the television show.
* Puck Makes the Moves on Betty!! Can you imagine a more mismatched pair? Betty's gonna need a heavy-duty chaperone to survive next issue's date!
Once again, this was a fun comic book. The premise is goofy, but it's working better than I'd envisioned. So check it out!