Josie and the Pussycats (comic)

This article is about the Josie and the Pussycats comic. For other versions of the property, see Josie and the Pussycats.

Josie and the Pussycats (also known as She's Josie and Josie) is a teenage humour comic book about a fictitious rock band created by Dan DeCarlo, and published by Archie Comics. It was published from 1963 until 1982; since then, a number of one-shot special issues have appeared without regularity. It was adapted into a Saturday morning cartoon by Hanna-Barbera Productions in 1970 and a live-action motion picture by Universal Pictures in 2001. Two albums were recorded under the name Josie and the Pussycats: one as the soundtrack for the 1970 cartoon series and the other as the soundtrack for the 2001 motion picture.

History

Origins

Josie was created in 1958 by comic book artist Dan DeCarlo, who based her on his wife (also named Josie). After spending a number of years attempting to sell Josie as a syndicated comic strip, he instead sold it to his main employer, Archie Comics, so that he could develop it into a bi-monthly comic book series. The first issue of She's Josie appeared in February 1963, featuring level-headed, sweet-natured Josie James (later renamed Josie McCoy), her blonde bombshell friend Melody Jones (later renamed Melody Valentine) and the bookwormish brunette Pepper. These early years also featured the characters of Josie and Pepper's boyfriends Albert and Sock, Albert's rival Alexander Cabot III, and his twin sister Alexandra. Occasionally Josie and her friends would appear in "crossover" issues with the Archie characters. She's Josie was eventually shorted to just Josie, and was mildly successful during the rest of the 1960s.

Josie becomes Josie and the Pussycats

During the 1968 - 1969 television season, the first Archie-based Saturday morning cartoon, The Archie Show, debuted on CBS. The Archie Show, produced by Filmation Studios, was not only a hit on TV, but on the radio as well (The Archies' song "Sugar, Sugar" hit the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in September 1969 and went on to be Billboard's number one "Hot 100 Single" of that year). Competing animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions wanted to duplicate its success and contacted Archie Comics about possibly adapting one of their remaining properties into a show similar to The Archie Show. Archie Comics responded by offering to re-develop the Josie comic (which, by 1969, had lost its focus and popularity) into a comic about a teenage music band, and allowing Hanna-Barbera to adapt it into a music-based Saturday morning show.

Therefore, in 1969, many significant changes were made to the "Josie" comic:

In Josie #42 (published in August 1969), Josie met a heavily built blond folk singer named Alan M., who over time became Josie's on-again, off-again boyfriend (much to the chagrin of Alexandra, who was also immediately smitten with Alan M. and never missed an opportunity to try and steal him away from Josie).
In Josie #43 (published in September 1969), Alexandra discovers that her cat Sebastian is actually a reincarnation of an ancestor of the Cabot family, who was executed for consorting with witches. Whenever Alexandra holds Sebastian in her arms, she can cast powerful magic spells. This ability would seem to give Alexandra quite an edge in her competition with Josie for Alan M., but the magic spells she casts always seem to backfire in some way. Alexandra and Sebastian's witchcraft powers were not used in Hanna-Barbera's TV show.
In Josie #45 (or rather Josie and the Pussycats #45, as this was the first issue to bear that title, published in December 1969), Josie and Melody have decided to start a band called The Pussycats, and ask Alexandra to be their bassist. Alexandra accepts... but only if the girls change the name of the group to "Alexandra's Cool Time Cats." Expecting Josie and Melody to yield to her demands, Alexandra is flustered when she finds that her brother Alex has appointed himself manager of the Pussycats and found a replacement bassist in Valerie Smith (later renamed Val Brown), a new girl in school. The Pussycats make their now-famous leopard print costumes (complete with cat ear headbands and a long tail) and perform at their first gig (a school dance), as Alexandra, seething with bitterness and anger, tries unsuccessfully to use her witchcraft to get back at the Pussycats and Alex.

The re-imagining of the comic also resulted in three casualties: Albert, Sock, and Pepper, who were eventually phased out of Josie's world. From 1970 on, most of the stories in the comic book revolved around the Pussycats traveling around the country and the world to perform gigs, with Alan M., Alex, and Alexandra (and sometimes Sebastian) in tow. When the girls weren't off performing, they would be at home dealing with the various trals and tribulations of teenage life (often including Alex's jealousy of Alan M., Alexandra's jealousy of Josie, and Melody's overwhelming sex appeal). The Josie and the Pussycats comic ran until 1982, after which the girls would often be featured in various Archie Giant Series issues and special limited-run seires and one-shot books of their own. Reprinted Josie stories appear frequently in the various Archie digest reprint magazines.

Manga makeover

On March 2005, Archie announced that a Manga version of the title will be published under its helm, with the artistic talents of Tania del Rio, who was also responsible for the manga makeover of Sabrina, The Teenage Witch. del Rio and company will first tackle Josie and the Pussycats with an introductory story, “Opening Act” in Tales from Riverdale Digest #3 on June 8. The band appeared in its manga form earlier in issue #68 of Sabrina, The Teenage Witch.

Characters

Josie McCoy

A short-haired caucasian redhead, Josie is the leader and co-founder of the Pussycats. She is the lead vocalist (in the comics and the movie) and plays guitar. Portrayed as a sweet, attractive, and level-headed teenage girl, Josie is usually the stable center in the middle of the chaos surrounding her band and her friends.

During the early years of her comic (1963 - 1969), Josie dated a beatnik named Albert and a hippie named Sock. During and after the Josie and the Pussycats revamp, she dated Alan M. Mayberry.

In the cartoon series, her speaking voice was performed by Janet Waldo (the voice of Judy Jetson) and her singing voice was performed by Cathy Dougher. She was played by Rachael Leigh Cook in the 2001 live-action Josie and the Pussycats movie.

Melody Valentine

The co-founder and drummer for the Pussycats (she also sang occasional lead vocals for the TV series), Melody is a voluptuous blonde and speaks in a sing-song voice, denoted by the musical notes in her cartoon word balloons. She is an absent-minded, bubbly sort of character often taken to using silly, nonsense language.

In the comics, her extreme sex appeal (and its effects on the male population) is often use as a plot device. In the cartoon series, whenever the group is in a dangerous or potentially dangerous situation, Melody's ears would wiggle. In the Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space series, she adopts a cute little alien named Bleep. In the cartoon, she is the opposite of a typical "Diane Szalinski" character, in that she frequently gets brainwashed, but is already very dim-witted.

In the cartoon series, her speaking voice is performed by Jackie Joseph, and her singing voice is performed by Cherie Moor (later better known as Cheryl Ladd). She was played by Tara Reid in the live-action Josie and the Pussycats movie. Bleep's voice was done by Don Messick, the voice of Scooby-Doo, Astro, Dr. Benton Quest, Boo-Boo, and more.

Valerie Brown

A headstrong African-American young lady, Valerie performs back-up vocals (in the comics and the movie) and occasionally sings lead (nearly always in the TV series) for the Pussycats. In the comics, she plays the bass; in the cartoons, she plays tambourine. She is the character who saves the day the most often, thanks to her streets smarts and her mechanical and scientific genius. Notably, Valerie was the first African-American cartoon character on a regular animated television series.

In the cartoon series, her speaking voice is performed by Barbara Pariot, and her singing voice is performed by Patrice Holloway, sister of Motown recording artist Brenda Holloway. She was played by Rosario Dawson in the live-action Josie and the Pussycats movie.

Alexander Cabot III

Rich, snobbish, temperamental, and cowardly, Alex is the Pussycats' shifty and not-too-dependable manager, who often gets the group in hot water because of his crazy promotional schemes. Alex often dresses in flamboyant (and expensive) clothes and wears sunglasses. In the comics, he has a crush on Josie and is often trying to find ways to divert her attention from her boyfriend, Alan M. He is also Alexandra's twin brother. In the cartoon however, he has no such feelings for Josie, his personality is much more friendly(but far more cowardly), and he most often serves as a comedic foil for Alexandra's constant scheming.

The comic book version of Alex is reminiscent of Archie Andrews's rival Reggie Mantle, while the cartoon version is very similar to Scooby-Doo's pal Shaggy. Not surprisingly, his animated persona's voice is provided by Casey Kasem (as is Shaggy's). In a Scooby-doo "movie" episode-all three {playing cowardly and comic relief roles}- Alexander; Shaggy and Scooby-appeared in the same scene. He was played by Paulo Costanzo in the 2001 live-action motion picture.

Alexandra Cabot and Sebastian

Alexandra is technically a supporting character, but often overshadows the rest of the cast in both the comics and the cartoons. She is the twin sister of Alexander Cabot III.

Alexandra has black hair with a white lightning-bolt shaped stripe running through the middle of it. In contrast to the good-natured girls in the Pussycats, Alexandra is sneaky, conniving, snobbish, cynical, bitter, and mean. She is insanely jealous of the girls in the band (especially Josie, about whom she never has a kind word). Although Alexandra desperately wants to be the star of the band (and to rename it as "Alexandra's Cool Time Cats"), she is utterly talentless and can't sing or play well at all.

Alexandra has a serious crush on Alan M., and often tries everything she can to try and steal him away from Josie. Although she is not particularly fond of her cowardly snake of a brother, the two of them often join forces in order to try and separate Alan M. and Josie (so that Alex can have Josie, Alexandra can have Alan M., and everyone can live happily ever after...or so they think). Her personality in the cartoon is largely unchanged, and while she doesn't exactly have a sweet spot in her heart for Alexander, she certainly doesn't despise him, either. Alexander also doesn't participate in his sister's schemes to break up Josie and Alan.

Alexandra also has a black and white pet cat named Sebastian. In the comics, Sebastian is the reincarnation of a witchcraft-practicing ancestor of the Cabot family, Sebastian Cabot. Alexandra finds that, by holding her cat in her arms, she can cast powerful magic spells. (Alexandra and Sebastian's bond is represented in that they both have a matching white stripe in their middle of their hair/fur.) In the cartoons, Alexandra and Sebastian do not have magic powers.

Alexandra's voice in the cartoons is provided by former Mouseketeer Sherri Alberoni, while Don Messick (the voice of Scooby-Doo, Astro, Dr. Benton Quest, Boo-Boo Bear, and more) supplies the meows, screams, and Muttley-esque snickers for Sebastian.

She was played by Missi Pyle in the live-action Josie and the Pussycats movie. Sebastian does not appear in the live-action film.

Alan M. Mayberry

Alan M. Mayberry (known as "Alan M." in the comics, and as simply "Alan" in the cartoon series) is a tall, blond, muscular folk singer who serves as the Pussycats' roadie. He is also Josie's boyfriend.

In the cartoon series, he plays the role of the self-appointed group leader, similar to that of Fred from Scooby-Doo. His animated persona is voiced by Jerry Dexter. He was played by Gabriel Mann in the live-action film.

External links

Archie Comics titles

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