Josie and the Pussycats in Space # 1-5

Title: Josie and the Pussycats in Space # 1
Publisher: Archie Comics
Story by: Alex de Campi
Art and Cover by: Devaki Neogi
Lettering by: Jack Morelli
Coloring by: Lee Loughridge
Price: $ 3.99 US
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
Website: www.archiecomics.com
Comments: The art is plain. The characters blend into the backgrounds. 
  Why are Josie and the Pussycats in Space? The story seems weird as they are on an alien planet. They travel by space ship. We are shown the girls are appreciated by their fans.  
  The band for Valerie has become to much like work and not play. So things are stressed. 
  On their next cryosleep the girls have an unexpected occurrence. 
  The Captain is called Captain Hot Stuff. 
  This comic lacks good art, a good story that explains somethings like why the Pussycats are in space and I assume the future. The set up for the horror coming has little to no build up. 
  The Josie and the Pussycats personalities are not played up. They seem bored at being in space and doing a band tour. More pep was needed and more anything to make it interesting. 


Title: Josie and the Pussycats in Space # 2
Publisher: Archie Comics
Story by: Alex de Campi
Art and Cover by: Devaki Neogi
Lettering by: Jack Morelli
Coloring by: Lee Loughridge
Price: $ 3.99 US
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
Website: www.archiecomics.com
Comments: Josie, Melody and Valerie are on a space ship and in trouble. 
  The art is boring. The girls are drawn plain. 
  The story has the band and crew on the ship with them mostly standing around doing nothing. 
  The Cabot twins are introduced. Their role is small in this book. So is the alien terror as it is rarely seen. For a sci-fi horror story there is no horror and the sci-fi is not done very well. The space ships are of a simple design so they are not at all eye catching. 
  This comic uses Josie and other characters from the regular comic but has them as if they are new totally separate and different from the original versions. You would not even recognize them if not for the names being the same. The girls do not even perform. 
  The alien definitely needs to be used more. When it kills there should be some build up of suspense. 
  This comic could have had so much potential. 


Title: Josie and the Pussycats in Space # 3
Publisher: Archie Comics
Story by: Alex de Campi
Art and Cover by: Devaki Neogi
Lettering by: Jack Morelli
Coloring by: Lee Loughridge
Price: $ 3.99 US
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
Website: www.archiecomics.com
Comments: The art is listless. Even with the deadly alien attacking it does not come across as exciting or thrilling it is just there. This does drag on and on. Josie, Melody and Valerie end up sitting around. We get to watch them sit. 
  The faces at times are drawn to plain and lacking detail. Things just move along so slow. The characters are not interesting at all. Nothing about them makes them stand out. 
  The interaction between the characters of Josie, Melody and Valerie just is not here. The Captain of the ship provides slight comedic relief. 
  The outer space alien is not handled right to make it threatening. The explosive nukes look good and finally ad a second of excitement to the comic. 
  The fact that Josie and her band are musicians is not played up. They could just be a couple of girls.  
  The idea of a rock band in space battling an alien is good. The presentation needs to be done better here. 


Title: Josie and the Pussycats in Space # 4
Publisher: Archie Comics
Story by: Alex de Campi
Art and Cover by: Devaki Neogi
Lettering by: Jack Morelli
Coloring by: Lee Loughridge
Price: $ 3.99 US
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
Website: www.archiecomics.com
Comments: The art is so one dimensional. It is just plain ordinary with nothing to make it stand out. 
  The girls and a few surviving crew members are shown fighting an alien. The fight scenes do not show very much. 
  The story is written for a very young audience. The way it moves along and delivers what is happening its for children. It is so simple. The characters are lifeless. In this situation you would think they would be afraid, scared and showing it. The art and writing both need to add emotion to them. 
  This comic is over fast and you will be thankful for that. It could have been a halfway decent comic if the story was handled better adding in some excitement and the art was used to build suspense and add a frightening horror movie quality to the story. That did not happen. 
  Josie and the Pussycats here are just there, they needed to do more. 


Title: Josie and the Pussycats in Space # 5
Publisher: Archie Comics
Story by: Alex de Campi
Art and Cover by: Devaki Neogi
Lettering by: Jack Morelli
Coloring by: Lee Loughridge
Price: $ 3.99 US
Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
Website: www.archiecomics.com
Comments: The Pussycats are still having trouble in space. One alien is still out there and Melody is most at risk while the rest still are as well. The sense of danger is not high though. There is no building of suspense. 
  The art is extremely simplistic. It needs more life in it. More poses to show off the girls. More action scenes. 
  The story moves along so slowly and the characters are not gotten into. You do not get to know them so you would care more about what happens to them. The Pussycats do make it back home. This is where our story ends but does it end? The ending should be thrilling and pack a cliffhanger but it just ends. 
  Josie and the Pussycats could  have been used to have some fun in space and be in peril yet they are just a couple girls in a bit of danger. There are next to no thrills. The usual characteristics of these characters are not brought out. The alien creature is a danger yet it is not presented as much of one. It is there but that is about it. 
  The best part about this series occurs in this issue, the end. 
  

Richard Vasseur