The Pop Culture References In Josie & the Pussycats #4

Tonight’s Super Bowl LI Halftime Show by Lady Gaga was one of the best in recent memory, but it reminded us: this week saw the release of a new issue of Josie and the Pussycats from Archie Comics.

That’s relevant because, like Gaga, they build a brand that feels very image-centric, but manage to still make great music and stand up for their individual identities as musicians and as women.

And this week in particular? WOW, there was a lot of fun, snappy pop culture references in this book. Since Gaga isn’t above that kind of thing herself — and since it’s really our bread and butter here at ComicBook.com — we figured it might be fun to use the Super Bowl as a pretense to look at some of the fun in this week’s Josie and the Pussycats #4 from writers Marguerite Bennett and Cameron DeOrdio with artist Audrey Mok.

We’re not going to include stuff like Alan M’s jokes about The Godfather, since he literally namedrops the movie in the comic…but here’s what we spotted. Let us know if we missed anything!

SAILOR MOON

This one borders on being given away by the look of the panel and the background art that matches the Sailor Moon logo, but it stops short of self-identifying, so we’ll count it.

You may recognize Melody’s moves from the following:

BATMAN V SUPERMAN

The resolution in the fight between Batman and Superman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was famously (infamously) resolved when Batman was shocked out of his hate for the Man of Steel because Superman uttered his mother’s name — which is the same name as Batman’s own — since she (Martha Kent) was in mortal danger at the time.

Josie and the Pussycats riffed on that idea this week with a line that none of the band members are suited to crimefighting since none of their mothers share that name…which seems like a fair enough logic.

THE UNTOUCHABLES

The Untouchables has been a frequent topic of conversation among comic book fans lately, with so many references to the film — which centers on Elliot Ness’s pursuit of Al Capone — in a recent episode of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.

Here, Josie and the Pussycats riffs on one of the same lines — “he brought a knife to a gunfight — that Legends did.

GUNSMOKE (?)

We’re not totally sure whether the “Doc Charles Gang” is meant to refer to Doc Charles Adams from Gunsmoke, but we think so…and that’s enough to rate at least a mention.

Especially since they come back twice in the issue.

ROMAN HOLIDAY

Roman Holiday, referenced several times throughout the issue, is a 1953 romantic comedy directed and produced by William Wyler and written by John Dighton and Dalton Trumbo, though with Trumbo on the Hollywood blacklist, he did not receive a credit until the film’s 2003 DVD release.

It stars Gregory Peck as a reporter and Audrey Hepburn as a royal princess out to see Rome on her own. Hepburn won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance; the screenplay and costume design also won.

CATS

Some famous cats — Catwoman from Batman Returns, and the cats of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats — get name-drops, too.

It’s in the context of Valerie’s reluctance to embrace style over substance, as Alan M wants them to do to become big stars.

ALMOST FAMOUS

The reference that really made us want to write this article: a nod to Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe’s quasi-autobiographical film about following a fictional band called Stillwater as a teenage stringer for Rolling Stone.

The film starred Jason Lee, best known to most of our readers as the guy from Mallrats and Chasing Amy but likely better known to most of the world as the star of My Name is Earl and Memphis Beat. Hence the SECOND joke on this panel.

A HARD DAY’S NIGHT

A pretty overt namedrop but since it lacks any context, we’ll just point out anyway that “A Hard Day’s Night” is the name of a song by The Beatles, and a feature film by the same name which starred the band.

TITANIC

“Draw me like one of your French girls” may have been meant to be taken at least relatively seriously in Titanic (it’s actually a bastardization of the quote, but we’ll roll with it), but since then this and various other similar uses have made it a recurring joke in pop culture.

STAR WARS & MAN OF STEEL

Another two-references-in-one-panel thing, and this is hilarious.

When told that they “killed it” with their performance, Melody makes a reference to both the Star Wars prequels and Man of Steel in the same comment.

THE CRUCIBLE

This is a quote from Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, and a joke on the fact that shortly before this, the band was discussing whether or not one particular character was “The Devil.”