josie and the pussycats

The problem with "sexiest women in comics" lists is that they tend to get wrapped up in the presumptive male gaze and the assumption of a male readership. Basically, you end up with a bunch of sexist ideas about what men want women to be. So we wondered, what would such a list look like if the male gaze was taken out of the equation? We gathered some of our queer female and non-binary writers to nominate, vote for, and write up our own list of the hottest female characters in comics, from a queer perspective.

I'm not sure that there's anyone out there who needs to be sold on picking up Josie and the Pussycats right now, but if you've been on the fence about continuing with it, consider these facts about next week's issue. First, there are hints --- multiple hints --- that the band is going to be going to space, and that it's going to happen sooner rather than later. Second, a scene in a previous issue is accurately referred to as "the emotionally revelatory jet ski chase." And third, well... Melody straight up becomes Sailor Moon in this issue. Okay, so maybe she doesn't become Sailor Moon, but it's close enough for me! Check out an exclusive preview of Josie and the Pussycats #4 from Marguerite Bennett, Cameron DeOrdio, and Audrey Mok, and see for yourself!

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from our years on the Internet, it’s that there’s no aspect of comics that can’t be broken down and quantified in a single definitive list, preferably in amounts of five or ten. And since there’s no more definitive authority than ComicsAlliance, we’re taking it upon ourselves to compile Top Five lists of everything you could ever want to know about comics. In celebration of the unique relationship between comics and music, we've put together five of the best fictional musical acts in mainstream comics.

The Holidays are upon as, and the year is basically gone. And as you know by now, that mean that here at ComicsAlliance, we're looking back at the best that comics had to offer in 2016. So here, to give you warm feeling as you head into your holiday weekend, are the best Archie Comics covers of the year.

I'll admit that when Archie relaunched Josie and the Pussycats, I had my doubts as to whether Alexandra Cabot could really fit into the restructured and slightly more realistic take on the Archie Universe. See, while her primary role as Josie's power-hungry but tone-deaf antagonist was pretty standard teenage rival stuff, her more distinctive trait involved a witchy bloodline that allowed her to cast spells whenever she was holding her cat. It made for some weird stories, but I was worried that Alexandra's over-the-top abilities might not have survived the reboot. Now, though, I can see that I was wrong. When Josie and the Pussycats #3 hits shelves this week, she's back in full force, literally riding around on a giraffe and interrupting Josie's concert with an even more sinister force than dark magic: Capitalism! Check out a preview!

Last week, Archie Comics announced that a new Josie and the Pussycats comic was on the way, and there are a lot of different directions the creators could take it in. They could head back to the original premise of a scrappy, up-and-coming but relatively unknown high school band, they could pick up on the movie's premise of the Pussycats as world-famous celebrities, or they could even do what the cartoon did back in the day and send them off to space. Or, I suppose, they could put the focus back where it was in the early '70s, when they were constantly battling against Lovecraftian horrors and trying to cleanse the Earth in purifying flame.

It took the folks at Archie Comics a while to get into the whole variant covers game. If memory serves, they only did their first one within the last ten years or so, but nowadays, they're making up for lost time! With every new series that gets announced, Archie goes all-out in getting some of my favorite artists to provide variants --- and when the all-new Josie and the Pussycats #1 hits shelves in September, it's not going to be an exception. To that end, today brings us the exclusive reveals of not one, not two, but three covers for the new series, from artists Gisele Lagace, Marguerite Sauvage and Robert Hack!

With Archie and Jughead already established as hits and Betty & Veronica back on the schedule for next month, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before the ongoing Archie Comics reboot got to one of the most hotly anticipated relaunches in the history of the company: Josie and the Pussycats. Now, it's finally happening. In September, Josie, Valerie and Melody will return to their own series for the first time since 1994 with an all-new Josie and the Pussycats #1, written by Marguerite Bennett and Cameron DeOrdio, with art by Audrey Mok and variant covers by Veronica Fish and Francesco Francavilla.

Over the weekend, Archie's chief creative officer and writer of the Riverdale pilot, Roberto Aguirre Sacasa tweeted that newcomer Casey Cott will be playing Kevin Keller, Archie's first out gay character. Furthermore, white not officially confirmed, Irie Hayleau and Ashanti Bromfield are rumored to have been cast as The Pussycats as Valerie and Melody respectively. Original story follows below:

With Archie and Jughead already part of the reboot, Betty and Veronica on the way soon and Sabrina the Teenage Witch reimagined as a gothic Lovecraftian horror story, the one major title that seems missing from Archie's current lineup is Josie and the Pussycats. It seems almost inevitable that we're going to get them at some point --- especially considering that we've been due for a Josie revival for coming up on fifteen years now --- but it doesn't seem like one is planned. Tthat doesn't mean you can't catch up on the classic adventures of Midvale's greatest rockers with the latest installment of the Archie 75 Series. It's a 75-page digital collection set to collect stories from the long history of the Pussycats --- dating back to before they even were the Pussycats --- and you can check out a preview right here!