Little Archie and the Power Pets

Archie Comics has announced a new format that they describe as “value-priced, digest-sized paperbacks” for their December releases. The first example, Little Archie and the Power Pets, will be a 5″ x 7″, 80-page, full-color trade paperback priced at $4.99 US.

Based on the subject matter, cover art, and creators listed — writer Angelo DeCesare and artist Fernando Ruiz — at least part of the book will be a reprint of Archie & Friends #154-155. That would only account for about half the promised page count, though. The rest will be made up of “bonus behind-the-scenes features and comic stories”, which could be almost anything.

The book will be on sale in the comic market at the end of December and via mass-market retailers in January 2012.

While Archie is promoting this as good value, by comparison to some of their other formats, it’s actually a price increase. This book is 80 reprint pages for $4.99. A Double Digest, on the other hand, is 160 reprint pages for $3.99. Then again, the same month, Archie is offering one of their “standard” collections at $9.99 for 128 pages at 6″ x 9″. If one doesn’t care about a few more square inches, the Power Pets are the better deal. So who knows?