She's Josie #4
She's Josie #4 (November 1963) is an early-series issue that showcases the creative voice Dan DeCarlo and writer Frank Doyle were establishing for the title in its debut year — a teen-humor comic deliberately calibrated to feel slightly older and more sophisticated than the main Archie line. The issue is a strong example of how Melody Valentine's irresistible-beauty gag, which would become one of the series' most durable comedic engines, was already fully developed just four issues in, with multiple stories built around boys helplessly distracted by her. It also demonstrates the editorial format of the early She's Josie run, combining short humor stories, dedicated fashion pin-up pages for both Josie and Melody, a Li'l Jinx backup strip, and teen-celebrity text profiles — a package that set the template for the series through the 1960s.
In "League Leader," Josie and Pepper tackle their Girl Guide Woodsman test with backpacks and short shorts, determined to prove their outdoor skills—only to be led by Alex to a surprisingly elaborate jungle built right on his estate. Written by Frank Doyle and brought to life with Dan DeCarlo’s signature style, inked by Rudy Lapick, and lettered by Victor Gorelick, this 1963 adventure captures the charm and humor of the era, with Bob White’s cover perfectly capturing the playful spirit of the story.
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Dan DeCarlo developed the Josie concept as a proposed newspaper strip called Here's Josie in the late 1950s; after syndicate rejections and a detour co-creating Willie Lumpkin with Stan Lee, he brought the strip samples to Archie's Richard Goldwater, who greenlit it as a comic book. DeCarlo designed all the characters — with Josie's look and name drawn directly from his French-born wife Josie DeCarlo, and Melody's distinctive sing-song personality partly inspired by her as well — while Frank Doyle, Archie's prolific head writer, handled the scripts from the start. By issue #4, the creative team of DeCarlo (pencils), Rudy Lapick (inks), Bill Yoshida (letters), and Doyle (scripts) was fully in stride, with DeCarlo intentionally pitching the series as a slightly more mature alternative to Riverdale, featuring characters implied to be a couple of years older than Archie and his gang.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover-dated November 1963; the fourth issue of the She's Josie series, which launched with its first issue cover-dated February 1963.
- Creative credits: scripts by Frank Doyle, pencils by Dan DeCarlo, inks by Rudy Lapick, letters by Bill Yoshida, cover art by Bob White, edited by Richard Goldwater.
- No first appearances in this issue — all cataloged characters (Josie, Melody, Pepper, Albert, Alexander Cabot III, Mr. Tuttle, Sock) debuted in She's Josie #1 (February 1963).
- Stories include 'League Leader,' in which Melody is made president of a school Anti-Superstition League, and 'Jungle Fever,' in which Alexander Cabot III takes Josie and Pepper to his father's gadget-filled artificial jungle to help them pass a Girl Guides woodsman test.
- A fourth story features boys crashing into walls while distracted by Melody's beauty, prompting Josie and Pepper to disguise her as an old woman — a gag that became one of the series' signature recurring comedy setups.
- The issue includes dedicated Josie's Fashions and Melody's Fashions pin-up pages, both penciled by DeCarlo — pages from this exact issue were later highlighted by comics historians as exemplary of DeCarlo's fashion illustration style.
- A Li'l Jinx backup story ('Star Bright, Star Fright!') by Joe Edwards appears in this issue, reflecting the anthology format used throughout the early She's Josie run.
- The issue also contains a text feature profile on actor Richard Chamberlain (then famous as TV's Dr. Kildare), typical of the celebrity tie-in content Archie used to appeal to teen readers in this era.
Cast · 9 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Josie and Pepper, clad in backpacks and short shorts, are looking for a forest so they can pass their Woodsman test for the Girl Guides. Alex takes them to a specially-built jungle in the back of his estate.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).