Friends, countrymen, lend me your long tails and ears for hats—the Pussycats are back! In this series kick-off, Josie’s getting the band together to help achieve her dreams of musical stardom. But for the group to last, it needs a strong foundation of friendship and trust. Can the girls get going, or will Alexandra’s plotting put a stop to the whole thing?
Writing
After the popularity the new Jem comic and increasing attention the different Archie series have been receiving recently, it’s no surprise they would eventually try to revamp this trio of kitty eared rockers. It’s interesting to see how they introduced the characters. For starters, they aren’t together at the start and haven’t been singing for years like with the movie version. Instead, Josie is the only one who has been dedicating herself to music, and her roommate Melody has dedicated herself to as many charities as possible and dating on a whim. It was impressive of writers Marguerite Bennett and Cameron DeOrdio to update her comically airheaded nature from the original series to something more believable such as her being an individual who gets distracted by animals.
There is something to be said about the new portrayals of Valerie and Alexandria and how extreme they come off. Valerie is portrayed as a living goddess, between being a Veterinarian and her ability to sing so good it calms the animals, she is appears to have no faults. Meanwhile Alexandria is portrayed as evil as possible, doing everything she can to ruin Josie’s chances at obtaining her dream of becoming a musician. Still, they are intriguing characters to watch and it will be interesting to see them become more human as the series progresses.
Artwork
Artist Audrey Mok and colorist Andre Szymanowicz employed some very emotional drawings to the characters with some expressive facial designs. They also took a page out of the Jem comic by showcasing the singing as a transcendental experience where the lyrics seem to wash across the audience. It’s a more effective way of showing the characters singing then simply having one panel and the character has a large balloon of dialogue with a note next to it.
Conclusion
This new book is a perfect way to introduce a new group of fans to these characters. It also is making great use of the Archie universe by having characters appear just enough for establishment, such as when Jughead was seen visiting the vet with his dog. It’s a good read and this may just become a comic for readers to look forward to as it keeps coming out.