Dynamite Comics: Betty Boop - Issue#1

With all the comic book reboots of classic franchises and icons occurring lately, one can only wonder why it took so long for someone to finally get around to Betty Boop.

The first issue of the long awaited Betty Boop comic series finally arrived this month from Dynamite comics, and it turned out to be well worth the wait. There are eleven cover variants, and as you can see from the above image, I couldn't help picking up a few.

After reading through issue#1 for the first time, I felt suitably pleased by the appropriate noirish feel (Betty just belongs on stage in the smoke-filled 1930s nightclub) combined with the charm of the original Fleischer Studios cartoons. There's also something both fresh and classic to Giselle Lagace's art style, and I'm very happy with the look and feel she brings to the pages. Betty does look a little taller, which is totally cool with me. 

It is a lot of fun to read, with a surreal and lighthearted horror story, by Roger Langridge, called Enter the Lizard that introduces several funny antagonists, such as Lenny Lizardlips and Dolly, a sinister Gothic ghost witch from Hell. Fans of the original cartoons will be pleased to see Betty's Pre-code pals Bimbo and Koko the Clown, as well as Grampy and Pudgy and even the lesser known Sally Swing from the later days of the original cartoon series. I wouldn't be surprised if Little Jimmy or Betty's boyfriend for a time Freddy eventually make appearances. Lookout for Mister Natwick, an obvious tribute to Betty's original animator Grim Natwick.

I'm super pleased by the first issue, and I seriously doubt I will be let down by the coming releases. May Betty Boop reign supreme in this new comic form, and may the future hold many Boop-Oop-A-Doop surprises. Let the era of Betty begin.

A Small Comic-Con Load

The amount of Betty Boop merchandise I came across at the Comic-Con last weekend in Albuquerque was very little, my purchases consisting of three cute little inexpensive items: a Betty Boop million dollar novelty bill, a pink ice cream button pin, and a Betty Wizard of Oz themed sticker, which got me a little excited since I've been hooked on L. Frank Baum's colorful Oz books; I'm coming up on Rinkitink of Oz. It's too bad there wasn't a Betty Wizard of Oz cartoon adaptation (at least I don't think there was), as Betty did get the Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, and Cinderella treatments. Early on at the convention, I came across a Biker Betty Boop magnet, but not being a biker, I thought I'd hold off and possibly pick it up later, but I ended up not returning to the particular booth. I was kind of hoping to get a picture with a Betty Boop cosplay model but no such luck (I was hoping for Vampirella too). It's not that surprising that Betty Boop would not be a big thing at a comic-con, as she has not appeared in comics in a long time. The only ones I know about were comic-strips, drawn by Bud Counihan, originally printed in the newspaper back in the 1930s, which have recently been consolidated and reprinted by Titan Comics in The Definitive Betty Boop: The Classic Comic Strip Collection graphic novel (more on that in a future post). Dynamite Comics recently dropped an intriguing hint about Betty returning to comics.

From left to right: my dear friend Amanda, Samantha (Jem) Newark , and me.

A couple other awesome finds at the convention that were a bit more pricey was the second issue of Sabrina the Teenage Witch from 1972 (I'm a big Archie Comics fan) and the 6th issue of Katy Keene from 1959 (thanks to those giallo films I gush about at my other blog, I've developed a thing for vintage glamour). I also got to meet Samantha Newark, the original voice of Jem, from a cartoon series I ended up liking more as an adult than as a kid (thank you, Amanda); I really do like the new Jem and the Holograms comic series from IDW, and, believe it or not, I kind of liked the live-action movie.

Betty Boop Metal Sign

For fans attracted to the more nostalgic and vintage side of Betty Boop, this collector metal sign is a treat. It's by Desperate Enterprises, Inc. and is supposed to be a duplication of an original from way back when (though I'm not sure how far back), with its damage and flaws recreated. It definitely captures Betty's chipper spirit and is something I'd expect to see in a '50s style diner. I didn't notice at first, but the background contains Betty comic strips, which are from a series of full color Sunday newspaper comic strips, drawn by Bud Counihan, produced and printed from November 25th, 1934 to November 27th, 1937.

What struck me when I first saw this metal sign is that I had never seen this Betty artwork before. There's a lot of stock artwork of Betty, but this image of her in what appears to be a giddy mood is quite unique and reminds me of the classic Betty cartoon Ha! Ha! Ha! (1934), where Betty and Koko the Clown (sadly his last appearance), as well as various inanimate objects and people on the streets, get hopped-up on laughing gas. This particular episode was supposedly banned at one point in time for its depiction of drug use.

From Ha! Ha! Ha! (1934)