This story reunites Hermione Lodge with her childhood best friend Beatrice Witterstone (AKA Batty). Batty and Hermy were frequent rival back in their teen years, ostensibly over a boy. They lost track of each other since Veronica has never heard of her before this issue. But Batty is hosting a fashion show and has invited her old chum Hermy to watch. Apparently hoping to model childhood grudge-keeping, Hermione dragged along Ronnie and Betty to enjoy the fireworks!
That said, there is a completely different set of fireworks going off at Batty's fashion show. The show seems to be jinxed! Water pipes are exploding. The runway has collapsed. Wardrobes are malfunctioning. It's a mess! It's a big enough mess that all of the models except Katy Keene have abandoned the show due to safety concerns!
Batty is on the verge of ruin unless she receives a lot of recruiting help from Betty & Veronica -- not to mention some secret jinx-busting by Sabrina the Teenage Witch (sans zombies)! What follows is a delightful binge-fest of familiar and not-so-familiar Archie Comics/MLJ girls, including Josie & the Pussycats, Midge, Cricket O'Dell, Ginger Lopez, Nancy, Tomoko, Shrill & the other New Kids, Ginger Snapp, Suzie, Marcy, Samantha Smythe from "That Wilkin Boy," Laurie & Linda from "Wilbur," and many, many more -- though surprisingly no Toni Topaz!
I will leave it up to you to determine if the fashion show -- as well as Hermy & Batty's friendship -- survived this issue!
Here are a couple highlights from BETTY & VERONICA #271:
Check out these flashback outfits from Hermy & Batty's teen years. I guess they inspired the wardrobes from The New Archies!
Alexandra Cabot and her cat Sebastian play significant roles in this issue. It isn't often that we fans are reminded of their magical heritage and powers. Fortunately, Sabrina didn't forget!
"Fashion Fantabulous!" is easily the most fun issue that I have read since I began regularly reading BETTY & VERONICA two years ago. The story is both engaging and vibrant and the artwork is wonderful. It was written by Tom DeFalco, penciled by Fernando Ruiz, and inked by Bob Smith.