Josie and the Pussycats #46
Josie and the Pussycats #46 (1970) holds a precise, documentable distinction: it is the first issue of the newly retitled series to feature Valerie — Archie's first African-American character — on the cover, giving her visibility that the previous issue's interior debut did not. The issue arrived on newsstands in direct synchrony with the Hanna-Barbera animated series, which debuted on CBS on September 12, 1970, and in which Valerie became the first African-American female character to appear as a regular on Saturday-morning television. As the very second issue published under the Josie and the Pussycats banner, #46 also established the storytelling template — touring-band adventures, Alexandra's witchcraft rivalries, Alex's jealousy of roadie Alan M. — that would define every subsequent issue through the title's 1982 conclusion.
In "Alexandra's Retreat (part 1)," the Pussycats take the stage at a resort for their first big performance, but Alexandra’s lingering resentment takes a magical turn when she calls on her witchcraft to summon something that dislikes cats—only to accidentally conjure a rat. As she tries to undo the spell, she ends up vanishing from sight, leaving the audience stunned and the night full of unexpected surprises. Written by Dick Malmgren and brought to life with Dan DeCarlo’s signature art and Rudy Lapick’s inks, this 1970 issue features a cover by DeCarlo and Lapick, capturing the whimsy and tension of a moment that’s equal parts spellbinding and mischievous.
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
The series reached issue #46 as the direct editorial product of a calculated Archie Comics retool: following Filmation's success with The Archie Show in 1968, Hanna-Barbera sought its own Archie property, prompting Archie Comics to transform the long-running solo Josie title into a music-band vehicle beginning with issue #45. The creative team of writer Frank Doyle, penciller Dan DeCarlo — who had originally created Josie as a proposed newspaper strip based on his wife — and inker Rudy Lapick carried the series into this new format with letterer Bill Yoshida also on board. Editor Richard H. Goldwater oversaw the transition, and the Hanna-Barbera co-development meant the comic and the cartoon were being shaped simultaneously, with the comic introducing the new lineup first and the TV show following months later.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Issue #46 is the first cover appearance of Josie and the Pussycats as a group (confirmed by Key Collector Comics), one issue after Valerie's interior debut in #45.
- Valerie Smith (later also known by the surname Brown) is Archie Comics' first African-American character, introduced in #45 (December 1969) and appearing here in her cover debut.
- The Hanna-Barbera animated series premiered on CBS on September 12, 1970 — the same season this issue was on sale — making Valerie the first African-American female character to appear regularly on Saturday-morning television.
- Interior stories in #46 include the multi-part 'Alexandra's Retreat' arc (parts 1–4, culminating in 'The Rat Takes the Cheese'), in which the Pussycats play their first resort gig while Alexandra uses witchcraft to sabotage them, as well as a two-page 'Pussycats Fashions' feature; all stories carry pencils by Dan DeCarlo, inks by Rudy Lapick, and letters by Bill Yoshida.
- The full cast indexed for this issue — Josie McCoy, Valerie Brown, Melody Valentine, Alexander Cabot III, Alexandra Cabot, and Alan M. Mayberry — exactly mirrors the character lineup codified for the Hanna-Barbera animated series.
- Dan DeCarlo originally conceived Josie as a syndicated newspaper strip titled 'Here's Josie,' modeled in part on his wife; after publishers passed, he brought it to Archie editor Richard Goldwater, who greenlit it as a comic book debuting in 1963.
- Valerie's surname in the original comics is consistently 'Smith'; the name 'Brown' entered use via the 2001 live-action film and later promotional materials, and both surnames appear across different Archie media.
- Stories from this era of the title were reprinted in various Archie digest and giant-series collections, and the complete animated series — closely tied to this comic's format — was released on a two-DVD set in 2007 that included a documentary on Dan DeCarlo's career.
Cast · 8 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
When the Pussycats play their first gig at the resort, Alexandra, still resentful at being left out of the group, asks her witchcraft powers to conjure up something "that doesn't like cats," which turns out to be a rat. When she tries to get rid of the rat, she accidentally makes herself invisible, which impresses everyone in the audience.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).