In space, no one can hear you rock!
Creative Staff:
Story: Alex de Campi
Art: Devaki Neogi
Colors: Lee Loughridge
Letters: Jack Morelli
What They Say:
Josie and the Pussycats are the hottest band in outer space! But with fame and fortune comes turmoil as internal conflicts are threatening to tear the group apart. But that’s nothing compared to the alien horrors they’re about to encounter as they find themselves adrift in the vastness of space! Even if the Pussycats manage to stick together as a band, will they be able to survive the horrors that await them in the final frontier?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
It’s a proven fact that adding “space” to anything makes it better.
Opera?
Boring.
Space Opera?
Now you’ve got my attention!
To be fair, it’s difficult to make Josie and the Pussycats better, but Alex de Campi, Devaki Neogi, Lee Loughridge, and Jack Morelli do their very best to give us a rollicking and pretty damn scary adventure with our favorite band in space.
Josie, Valerie, and Melody are in the middle of their galactic tour and are getting ready to do some USO show. They meet their Public Affairs Officer liaison, the hunky Captain Mayberry, and get ready to board the USSF Greendale for their next gig. Before they go, though, they say goodbye to their fans, who share many things with the Pussycats: stories about how their music helped them through tough times, food (“No eating fan food!”), and presents, including a black unicorn stuffy which may or may not be an alien life form that assimilates people (hint: it is).
The Pussycats go into hypersleep, expecting to wake up one month later at their gig destination.
They don’t.
They come to in the dead nowhere between hyperspace gates, the ship operating on reserve power, artificial gravity off, and no sign of the crew. The survivors soon discover that missing their gig is the least of their worries when they learn they’re being hunted by this living black mass that devours people and takes their place. Can the Pussycats survive? Can their career? You’ll just have to read to find out!
It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Alex de Campi’s writing. Her work has a wonderful mix of influences, from literature to grindhouse cinema, and she fuses it into something that’s uniquely hers. Even if you didn’t know she wrote a comic, all it would take is a few pages to realize it’s one of hers. You can tell through the dialogue, and the general punk rock attitude.
All of those elements are on display here, but I have to admit, this one didn’t quite do it for me. Not the same way that her other work has. It’s not something I can quite put my finger on, but there’s some x factor missing that prevents this from reaching the same level of enjoyment for me as some of the other comics I’ve read from her. That’s not to say that this is bad by any means—it’s just not very memorable.
There’s plenty that does work here, and it might work better for you. The comic captures the Pussycats perfectly, and the horror is great. de Campi, Neogi, and Loughridge do a solid job of creating atmosphere, presenting menace, and giving us plenty of scares. The black ooze is also a great and Neogi draws it in some really nasty ways that make it threatening and disgusting, which is how a monster should be.
Neogi’s line work is clean. It’s not quite the same as the house style as the main Archie comic, but it’s definitely in that area. Neogi is great with pacing, body language, and facial expressions, but where he really excels is in drawing the monster.
Loughridge does a great job of making you feel the cold of space and the blood-pumping moments of excitement and terror when the monster strikes, using striking color palettes based on the emotional context of the scenes.
In Summary:
I won’t spoil the ending, but this is labeled Josie and the Pussycats in Space, Vol. 1, and given what happens in the denouement, I’m very interested in seeing where the story will go. Even though I wasn’t blown away by this first installment, I can see it leading to some very interesting places, so I’ll definitely be here for volume two, should that happen. Dr. J gives this a…
Grade: B+
Age Rating: N/A
Released By: Archie Comics
Release Date: April 22nd, 2020
MSRP: $6.99
