I was really excited about this month’s Header because it’s the 60th anniversary of Josie and the Pussycats debuting as a comic book; ok, it was just called Josie and it was a lazy female version of Archie. The Pussycats shift happened in 1969. Still kicking myself on forgetting Sabrina the Teenage Witch‘s anniversary a couple years ago.
Regardless, I was a big fan of Josie as a kid when it was a Saturday Morning Cartoon under the Hanna-Barbera studio. The show was more than just a modified Scooby Doo. Josie and her crew didn’t solve mysteries, instead they were a power trio touring the world while constantly stumbling and foiling Bond villains. Oh there was the formulaic chase sequence to a song you’d never remember (this filled several minutes to save on dialog); there was a pet who snickered; worst of all, I recall it had a laugh track. When they went to outer space the following season, then my love of them solidified. The outer space bit became a new ploy for future Hanna-Barbera shows: Jabberjaw, set in an underwater future; and for reasons I will never understand, The Partridge Family re-incarnated to be The Jetsons.
What few people knew was how Josie was a show in which Hanna-Barbera took a stand for civil rights against the network’s wishes. Many affiliates in the Deep South refused to carry the cartoon due to the Black member Valerie. Seriously? It was the early Seventies and yet the bigots just couldn’t grapple with reality…oh wait, decades later, we’re continuing this argument. Hanna-Barbera stuck to their convictions, Valerie remained. Today, they gave her the bass and song-writing credits. I mean, even when I was a little kid I knew the band couldn’t sound like they did with just a drum kit, guitar and tambourine.
Twenty-two years ago there was a movie with three popular actresses as the trio (two have been forgotten); a soundtrack written by artists I respect and love (Jason Falkner, Jane Wiedlin and Adam Schlesinger) and its music stuck to what the fictional band was like, not the usual shitty collection of every awful genre the majority have today. Kay Hanley was the singing voice of Josie. Other great supporting actors were present: Seth Green, Breckin Meyer, Eugene Levy, Alan Cumming and Indie Princess Parker Posey! The plot shifted from the trio’s rise to an overnight sensation or flavor-of-the-month to what I mentioned in the cartoon (the big reveal), all with numerous injections of humor (poor Tara Reid is assumed to be as dumb as Melody). Obviously it bombed. Universal didn’t know how to sell the movie to the correct audience. I think they went with young Mills during their Boy Bands obsession when it was really a Gen X flick. Why? Gen X grew up with the cartoon, the humor was Gen X focuses and while Mills hadn’t blossomed into their “everything is offensive” stage yet, it’s sacrilege to mock Boy Bands. Trust me, nothing is worse than the wrath of today’s brainless Swifties or any era’s fans of Training-Bra Music.
Today, the comic book has been revamped and I love it! Found out they have been back to space, need to bug my store about these trade paperbacks. An incarnation of the ladies appeared on Riverdale too. I’m sure there were assholes complaining about Josie being a Black woman. Hey, they cast an American for a change! A Kiwi is Archie and you can be assured, all-American Midwest town Riverdale is either a Vancouver ‘burb or a set outside tax-shelter Atlanta. Me? I’m fine. The whole Riverdale Universe is on CW and its core audience runs way younger than me. Greg Berlanti doesn’t give a crap what I think, he prove it when he made Green Arrow the Wal-Mart Batman.
I love the upside. Riverdale‘s popularity spills over into more non-formulaic comics being made! Their relatively new owners have taken chances too. Sure I will always be a diehard fan for the Dan DeCarlo style, Dan Parent is really great at it too! But seeing them written and drawn by the pros of the superhero world and in situations involving vampires, the Predator, the Adam West Batman and meeting The Ramones, what’s not to love?!