Josie and the Pussycats is the eventual title of a long-running Archie Comics feature starring the redheaded Josie. Josie was originally created by Archie mainstay Dan DeCarlo as the star of a proposed newspaper comic strip. She instead ended up becoming an Archie spinoff character, debuting in Archie's Pals and Gals #23 (Winter 1962-1963) shortly before getting her own title, She's Josie.Originally, she was something of a Distaff Counterpart Archie Expy, a levelheaded and easy-going girl whose best friends were Dumb Blonde Melody and Brainy Brunette Pepper.Following Filmation's success with The Archie Show in 1968, Hanna-Barbera sought to develop its own Archie property. Since The Archie Show also produced a number of hit records by The Archies, Archie Comics revamped the Josie property to support similar crossover possibilities. Josie became the headliner of a band, Valerie, a new girl at school, was introduced as that band's new bassist, and Josie's series was retitled Josie and the Pussycats in late 1969. The animated Josie And The Pussycats debuted in September of 1970.Josie and her friends have remained regular Archie Comics fixtures. Although the Josie and the Pussycats title was canceled in 1982 (followed by a brief revival on the heels of the 2001 feature film), the characters have regularly appeared in Archie titles. In 2010, Valerie became a love interest for Archie Andrews, a romance that was explored (as with his longtime romantic interests Betty and Veronica) in What If? stories that show an older Archie and Valerie marrying and having a baby together.
This comic provides examples of:
Alliterative Name: Josie, sometimes, though the comics are inconsistent about whether her surname is Jones or James, or whether it's McCoy as in the 2001 film.
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Josie's friends Pepper, Albert, and Sock vanished from the feature in the 1969 Re Tool, though Pepper returned for a brief cameo in a 2007 story.
Darker and Edgier: For a while in the early '70s, the comics featured adventure and even horror stories in addition to the typical Archie-style humor. This trend may have reached its apex with the story "Vengeance from the Crypt". In this story (no doubt inspired by The Exorcist), Josie is a victim of straight-up, no-kidding Demonic Possession! (Don't worry, Satan is ultimately banished by the Cabot family Bible!)note Josie and the Pussycats #72 (1973)
Dumb Is Good: Melody may not have a very big brain, but she certainly has a very big heart, making her one the nicest Archie characters, especially in the animated series!
Alexandra, of Veronica Lodge. Same attitude (though Alexandra almost never gets a Pet the Dog moment), same dark hair (with a white streak in it), same role towards the Nice Girl Josie. The only difference is that Alan M, her romantic target, scarcely reciprocates her feelings at all - that, and the fact that she had magic powers for a time.
Josie herself is a near-Expy for Archie
Pepper has a similar role to Jughead.
Follow the Leader: Archie Comics knew a good setup when they had one. A story about a redheaded hero being fought over by a blonde and a brunette, while having a brunette rival and a quirky, dark-haired best friend.
Fur Bikini: Josie and the Pussycats wear them occasionally. Melody sometimes will wear one in contrast to one-pieces worn by Josie and Valerie.
Gender Bender: In the Archie Comics story "The Great Switcheroo", Sabrina the Teenage Witch's cat, Salem, casts a spell that changes the sex of everybody in Riverdale. This includes Josie and the Pussycats, who perform as "Joey and the Junkyard Dogs".note Archie #636 (2012)
Hot Witch: Alexandra, in a number of stories, was secretly a witch, with Sebastian as her familiar, and would often use her magic or mischief or to get back at Josie for perceived wrongs — though it would almost always backfire on her in some way. The original concept was that she was descended from a warlock named Sebastian Cabot, who had re-incarnated as her black-and-white cat — and so, whenever she held Sebastian in her arms she could cast all kinds of spells. It would vary from story to story whether she needed Sebastian or not; in some stories her powers wouldn't work without him, while in others she was fine working magic even if he wasn't around. It also varied wildly whether Alexander knew about her magic or not,
Informed Deformity: Several early issues imply Pepper is supposed to be unattractive.
Large Ham: While this fell to Alexandra in the cartoon, Alexander often exemplified this trope in the comics.
Love Triangle: A minor one between Josie, Albert, and Alexander at first, though Alexander was clearly somewhat unwanted. With the "Pussycats" retool came Alan M., and then it became purely unrequited on Alex's part.
Re Tool: She's Josie was a fairly simple series, featuring Josie as a red-haired everygirl who had a snarky, odd-dressing best friend, a nice blond and a nasty brunette fighting over her, a rich rival, etc. Basically a Distaff Counterpart Archie. When Hanna-Barbera asked the Archie company for another group to mimic the success of "The Archies," Josie suddenly shifted into being defined by her existence in a band. Best friend Pepper was dropped, Black Best Friend Valerie was added, and the focus of the feature became "traveling band" instead of a regular teens in high school.
Standardized Leader: Josie suffers from this at times. Alexandra is the main plot driver, and Valerie is the main problem solver, leaving Josie not very much to do.
There Are No Adults: Teenage musicians just wander around performing in strange places with no parents, or chaperones, or other authority figures... and everyone's okay with this.
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