Archie's Pals 'n' Gals #23

History

Dan DeCarlo conceived Josie in the late 1950s as a pitch for a syndicated newspaper strip he called *Here's Josie*, naming and modeling the title character after his wife, Josette 'Josie' Dumont, a French-born former model he had met on a blind date in Belgium in 1945 during his U.S. Army service. After the strip was rejected by syndicates and DeCarlo's attention was diverted by his collaboration with Stan Lee on the short-lived *Willie Lumpkin* newspaper strip, he brought the Josie concept to Archie Comics, where publisher Richard Goldwater approved it as a comic book property. The 'Tongue Twister' story in #23 was scripted by staff writer Frank Doyle — who also scripted several of the issue's other Archie-gang stories — with DeCarlo on pencils and his son Vincent DeCarlo handling both inks and lettering on that story. The broader issue also featured Harry Lucey on pencils for Archie-gang stories and Samm Schwartz on at least one additional story, reflecting the anthology format Archie used to showcase its stable of house artists.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Published December 1962; the issue contains the story 'Tongue Twister,' which introduces Josie (James/Jones), Melody (Jones), and Pepper alongside teacher Miss Finch in a six-page story.
• The 'Tongue Twister' story was scripted by Frank Doyle, penciled by Dan DeCarlo, and inked and lettered by Vincent DeCarlo.
• Josie was created by Dan DeCarlo, who based the character's name and visual design on his real-life wife, Josette 'Josie' Dumont DeCarlo — including her bouffant hairstyle with a ribbon.
• The issue also contains several Archie-gang stories featuring Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle, and Jughead Jones, with Harry Lucey and Samm Schwartz among the contributing artists.
• Josie and Melody (but not Pepper) went on to form the core of Josie and the Pussycats when their title was renamed with issue #45 (December 1969), at which point Valerie replaced Pepper as the third member of the band.
• The characters debuted in their own solo title, *She's Josie* #1, cover-dated February 1963, which was later retitled *Josie* with issue #17 (December 1965) and *Josie and the Pussycats* with issue #45.
• Josie and the Pussycats were adapted into a Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning animated series that debuted on CBS on September 12, 1970 — the first Saturday morning animated series to feature a regularly recurring female Black character (Valerie) — and into a live-action Universal/MGM film in 2001.
• The issue's square-bound annual-style format was shared by Marvel and DC annuals of the same era and is noted by collectors as a format that proved particularly susceptible to wear over time.

Cast · 6 characters

Full credits

Variants (1)