“Yesterday’s” Comic> Josie And The Pussycats

I’m going to assume this is a summer concert.

Josie And The Pussycats #1

Archie (1993)

The Grand Comics Database says that Dick Malmgren and Rudy Lapick worked on some of these stories, but aren’t credited in this collection. This comic has five stories, four of which are reprints collected from the Josie (previously known as She’s Josie) comic, and one new story. The comic was not originally about a rock band. Just Josie and some friends doing what characters in an Archie comic does.

After the band was introduced, Hanna-Barbera produced a TV series based on them, and later sent them into outer space. The cartoon adventures weren’t too far off from what they actually went through, although they only dealt with normal criminals. Oh, and Alexandra is an actual witch in this, with Sebastian the cat as her familiar. I wonder if she ever dealt with Sabrina? Also, Melody’s word balloon usually have a musical note, which I think indicates she sings all her sentences, which doesn’t work as well in a comic. (Oddly, Cheryl Ladd, who voiced Melody on the show, never did that. They had her keep the “dumb blonde” stereotype, though.) Finally, Alan gets called Alan M. I don’t know why Alan wasn’t enough. Well, let’s look at the stories in this issue. (A second issue was published the following year.)

“Rock And Roll” is the new story, so all credits are as listed above. The Pussycats are going to perform for a club owner with some kind of bad reputation, which is just fine for Alexandra, who uses her magic (which she shares with Sebastian and thus needs the cat to do her spells) to teleport there before them, wearing the Rock Of Jibralta, a stone that is cursed. Alexandra is spared from the curse thanks to her shared magic with Sebastian. Somehow, Valerie knows someone who has the dirt on Zack, that he’s a jewel thief. Too bad she finds that out after he stole it. Luckily for the gang, Zack gets hit by the curse, thus being easy to catch. I liked this story. It’s also a good introduction to the characters (except Alan, who only gets one or two lines after popping up out of nowhere) and how the comic version works compared to the cartoons and that live-action movie.

“Decisions, Decisions” (Josie & The Pussycats #45; December, 1969)

This one was really short. It’s also the debut of the band and Valerie. Josie and Melody decide to start a band called the Pussycats but need a third. Apparently Alexandra is the only other person they know but she won’t join unless they change the name to give her top billing. To save them from that (and get closer to Josie so I’m guessing Alan wasn’t in the picture at the time), Alexander finds Valerie, who has a great voice and can sing. Somehow they already have a theme song (and trust me, the TV show’s was better–“Hey, Hey We’re The Monkees” this isn’t). and Alexandra isn’t happy with her brother. I’m not sure if the others knew about her magic like they did in the first story. It’s a decent intro to the new character and what would become the story of the comic, that of the band.

“Pussy Footing” (same issue)

Josie debuts the band’s new outfit. It also shows that a snap of the fingers breaks Alexandra’s spell, which she uses to make the Pussycats sound like real cats for being snubbed just as Alexander gets them a gig for the school dance. Why not just make these two stories one story? They’re both short and it’s basically two parts of the same story (the band’s debut) anyway.

“What Kind Of Ghoul Am I?” (issue # 64; September, 1972)

The Pussycats are asked to play for royalty at a spooky mansion, and find themselves running from monsters. It turns out to be a trick by two guys who wanted Alex’s dad to hire them for a TV show but couldn’t afford a pilot. (Nowadays you just need a camera and half-decent video editor. I’m proof of that.) It’s a fun little adventure and the girls get them back.

“Up, Up, And Away” (issue #58; October, 1971)

Alex comes up with the idea of having the girls do a photo shoot in a balloon, but Melody sends it off on a series of misadventures. Not much else to say. It’s a fun story like the others.

The closest thing to a disappointment I have is that every story revolves around the band. I would have liked to have seen at least one pre-band story to see how the comic used to be, or even a later story that put the characters in a situation where promoting or performing wasn’t tied into the adventure. Otherwise, it skirts the problems of doing a story centered around music in a media format without sound, and they’re fun stories. I never got into Archie or Sabrina and their crews but I wouldn’t mind reading more with these characters.