Hey, let's check in with our trio of sweethearts and their pals (and that witch Alexandra) from Midvale, U.S.A., in the middle of the dale and just over the river and across the dale from Riverdale, which explains all those 1970s crossovers between Josie and Archie and both of their entourages. What are the odds that two relatively talented teen bands would evolve within the same county during the same era? Why, the Riverdale/Midvale/Greendale area has given rise to more bands at the same time than Seattle did during the nineties! Remember when everyone in the nation was rocking out to the macabre music of the Groovie Ghoulies? Why, sure you do. The Pussycats, the Archies, and the Ghoulies were all headliners at the Steve Jobs-founded 1976 music super concert FilmationStock. You know what they say: if you can remember being at FilmationStock, you weren't really there. Mama Bull once told me that she met Papa there for the first time. She was wearing flowers in her ears, which later, she ate. (The flowers, not her ears.) They listened to the great rock sounds of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids, The Brady Kids, The Junkyard Band, The Super Seven, and Rick Springfield.
Unfortunately, the roads aand parkways around FilmationStock were blocked by large traffic snarls caused by the Ark II, Mentor's RV, the Batmobile, the microscopic flying sub Voyager, and a cartoon U.S.S. Enterprise. Joint state governors Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott sent in Lassie's Rescue Rangers to tackle the situation. Later, Earth was destroyed, but by the star year 3732 young adventurers set forth into the stars aboard man's most magnificent achievement in the conquest of space, the man-made planetoid Space Academy.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves here. What were the kicky teens and ginchy young adults of Midvale up to in the mid-to-late 1970s? Knowing the youth of America of that time...up to no good. But at least they were doing it accompanied by the rich delicious taste of Hostess Snack Cakes: Twinkies, Fruit Pies, Cupcakes, and Ding Dongs, which were known west of the Mississipi as King Dons. (That's why the Archie/Valerine romance will never truly work out...he calls 'em Ding Dongs and she calls 'em King Dons.)
It's one of the most controversial points of discussion within comics fandom: what is the best movie ever based on a comic book (or strip)? And sure, lots of people will tell you it's The Dark Knight or Spider-Man 2. You can make a case in your argument for Iron Man or Superman II or maybe something a little more recent: Scott Pilgrim or Watchmen, or maybe you're the kinda moviewatcher/comic book reader who prefers the more sedate cinematic translations of Ghost World, Persepolis or American Splendor. Or take yer pick: X-Men Origins: Wolverine, The Spirit, Elektra, Jonah Hex, Ghost Rider, The Phantom, The Shadow, or Dick Tracy...Barb Wire, Men in Black, Catwoman, Brenda Starr. Don't forget Tank Girl. (I actually kinda really liked Tank Girl.) Fantastic Four, several Punisher movies, all those Batman flicks (don't forget Batman: Mask of the Phantasm!), League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Over the Hedge, Steel or Daredevil. Or that Roger Corman FF flick. You know, since taste is subjective, I'm not even going to argue if you want to tell me that the greatest movie ever based on a comic book was Howard the Duck or that Captain America movie where the Red Skull was Italian and he has a nose.
Yep! Based on the characters created by Dan DeCarlo (and we darn well know they are, Archie Comics!), the 2001 Josie and the Pussycats movie is a heckuva lotta fun with a light comedic touch spoofing subliminal advertising. Not to mention it features several of my favorite contemporary pop actors: Rosario Dawson Alan Cumming, Parker Posey...heck, even just the three of them put together outweight the casting of Tara Reid, prior to the complete replacement of every one of her body parts with plastic and silicon. You know that conspiracy theory guy who comments every time Scarlett Johansson is mentioned on the internet? Telling us that Ms. J is a scientifically-created, mind-controlled clone of a "nice" girl (coincidentally also named Scarlett)? Heck, every time this Mr. Sergei Galabekian comments on a website, I can believe that he practically wrote all the mid-nineties Spider-Man comics, what with the expertise he has on cloning! Anyway, my point, and I do have one, is that maybe we need to get Sergei on the case right now of what happened to all the original discarded parts of Tara Reid, and can we reconstruct them back into this version?
But of all the products fake-hyped in the film—you can count a stack-load just in that trailer above—the one very obvious one is delicious snack cakes. Who doesn't love sweet treats, pies and cakes to nosh on, full of rich creamy frosting and covered in delicious glistening sugar? In other words, why aren't Josie & Co. hawking for Hostess Cupcakes, Fruit Pies, and Twinkies?
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