For some odd reason, the Pussycats took an odd turn into the horror genre. This seems like an extreme version of a Scooby Doo cartoon. This is weird and how dare the writers put Melody in this kind of danger!
And then there’s this infamous story from 1973, Vengeance from the Crypt. Unlike the nice clean reproductions in the
rest of this volume, this one looks like color photocopies of the comic. It’s almost like the originals were lost or
perhaps burned in a furnace, which would make all sorts of sense. In short, Josie is possessed by an evil book
and has to undergo an exorcism led by Alexandra of all people. I can appreciate the message, but was this
really the place for it? Also, the girls
are mostly in bikinis in this just like a teen slasher film.
The rest of the 70’s, 80’s, and the 90’s passed with much
more standard Josie and the Pussycats hijinks.
I bought a couple of Josie comics off the rack in the 80’s. I did love them, even if they were a bit
goofy and totally not fitting in with the other comics in my collection.
Josie’s publishing was spotty during this time, as the
group lost their own title and were mostly in Archie’s TV Laugh Out and then, Laugh. (The Archies/Sabrina/Pussycats crossover
story isn’t reproduced here.) My
comics were from the Archie Giant Series, which would feature Sabrina at times,
who also didn’t have her own title.
Sabrina would make a comeback in the 90’s supporting the Melissa Joan
Hart TV show. The Pussycats would
briefly get their own title back in the mid-90’s.
The Pussycats returned in the early 2000’s supporting their theatrical movie. (I actually enjoyed it, though I think I’ve only seen it once on TV.) They were a regular feature in Archie and Friends. Holly G and Rex Lindsey did a good job on these stories.
It was the Archies versus the Pussycats in a video game battle of Rock Hero. Only Part 2 of this two-part event is reproduced here, but you aren’t missing anything. The Archies/Pussycats/Madhouse Glads/Bingos battle of the bands is not mentioned in this volume. Maybe that happened after it came out.
This sort of, but not directly, led to Archie’s romance
with Valerie and a wedding story. Hey,
why not? He’s dated everyone else. While Josie might be his cousin (possibly not
canonical) is there any explanation for his lack of interest in Melody? Why aren’t of these guys interested in Melody
(except me)? Heck, Alexandra looks
pretty good. Why
didn’t Archie date her? He’s got plenty
of experience with rich, unpleasant young women.
Gisele Lagace took a turn with the Pussycats. I adore this woman’s work on Archie comics,
as well as her own creations.
In 2016, a new look Pussycats were introduced to go with
the new Archie series. This departs from
the standard “house style” for the characters and maybe updates them a
bit. It’s okay. I’m ambivalent towards the more “modern”
Archie that I’ve read.
I’ve felt that Archie should have been relaxing their
directives on style well before they finally committed to it. (They did disastrously try it earlier with
the New Look in the early 2000’s.) As
far as content-wise goes, you can’t really make Archie comics “realistic”
without making them not Archie. By
definition, the Archie gang is always perpetually stuck in high school (except
for Lil’ Archie, of course). They can’t
age. This Josie story does a good job
though of being kid-friendly without being childish.
As if to prove my point, the volume finishes with this Riverdale crap. Why even discuss that show? Did it have its merits? The show’s producers did know their Archie
lore very well. It’s what they did with
it that’s so questionable. For the show,
they race-swapped Josie and Melody to black and made Valerie irrelevant.
I saw one episode with these “Pussycats.” “Josie,” while standing in her mother, the
mayor’s, mansion lectured Veronica on what an intrinsically hard life she
lives. How could a musician be so tone
deaf? (Her dad was also rich and famous
in the music industry. I’m sure that
wasn’t helping her musical career.)
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