Josie and the Pussycats, Vol. 1

2.5 stars.

I was excited when I saw this at B&N on the shelf. Of course, I love me some Archie Comics, and I grew up reading all the different characters. And I'm cool with the new take on the Pussycats. I really enjoyed Val and Mel, and I'm glad Alexandra has a bit more depth. But I don't feel like Josie's and Alan M.'s development was very well drawn. It's told rather than effectively shown, how Josie behaves. I wasn't quite buying it at first. The choice to make Alan M. nearly 30 was perplexing to me too. But whatevs, I can handle the choices. But I wasn't so fine with the absurdist plots with badly written action. It dragged the story down. And whilst it WAS very clever, I feel as though it was more interested in being clever than actually communicating a coherent story, even an absurdist coherent story. Yay for the feminism, but nay for the overweening cleverness.