Well, it’s about time! Archie Comics has finally collected the ten stories featuring the “new” Katy Keene that appeared in Archie & Friends #101-110--and what a wonderful collection it is. Not only do we get the stories, pin-ups, and a paper doll page, we also get a NEW twenty-two page origin story for Katy. Yep, we finally learn how a small town girl from Stemville, Michigan became an international superstar.

When eighteen-year-old Chicago University student Katy is asked to model for a department store ad, she agrees. Not because she’s looking to become America’s Next Top Model, but because she needs money for textbooks. When the ad leads to opportunities for more jobs, she makes it clear her education comes first. However, her new career, part-time though it is, strains Katy’s relationship with her boyfriend, and she’s soon asked to make a choice.

Here is where writer Andrew Pepoy shines. It would be easy at this point for readers to roll their eyes, say “Poor Katy. Wish I had her problems” and give up on her as a shallow fashion-plate. Yet, in a great scene, Pepoy has Katy acknowledge that her problems are pretty good ones to have:

I know that other people have real problems to face, and mine seem so small, but I need and want all three things right now. I know I need to make some choices, but I just don’t know what to do.

In one sweep, Pepoy makes Katy into someone everyone can relate to. Who hasn’t thought something along the lines of Katy’s interior monolog? Pepoy takes the perfect fantasy and grounds it in reality.

It’s a shame that Pepoy then has circumstances take the choice out of Katy’s hands to some extent as that would have been an interesting storyline to see play out, but what he chooses to do works almost as well. Her rise to fame is fast, and the story doesn’t dwell on the details of how it happened. However, even her quick rise to stardom is believable since full-blown celebrities actually seem to appear out of nowhere on a regular basis in the real world.

Katy at least has the advantage of being a genuinely nice person. More than one story in the collection deals with her keeping a level-head and remembering that celebrity isn’t everything. Parents don’t need to worry about their daughters following the exploits of this idol.

Model Behavior isn’t all about the drama and glamour. There’s also romance and humor as three different men vie for the starring role in Katy’s life while Katy’s younger sister, MacKenzie, and rival model Gloria Gold end up in some pretty funny slapstick situations.

Additionally, Katy’s fashion shots are absolutely beautiful. Pepoy goes with an idealized realistic look that’s attractive without being overly sexy. On the minus side, he has a problem with consistency. At times he has a very smooth, flowing line. The characters look like they’re moving across the page. In other panels, though, they’re stiff like mannequins and look like they’re on top of the background rather than part of the scene. It can be distracting. He also has too many close-ups that feature pop-eyed, open-mouthed fish faces. Still, the good panels far outnumber the bad.

His page layout is easily followed, looking more inventive than it is. He sticks pretty much to the grid, but he layers panels and erases borders to achieve a more open look.

Colorists Stephanie Vozzo and Rosario Pena use a uniformly bright palate for the majority of the book. It’s pretty and subtly emphasizes Katy’s sunny nature, but I found myself enjoying the darker hued stories a bit more just because they offered a contrast.

Despite my nit-picking, which is done totally in the spirit of making future stories even better, this is a fantastic book. It’s one to read and re-read many times.

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