When I was kid, my mom bought so much Betty Boop stuff.  Betty Boop mugs.  Betty Boop plates.  I couldn’t take a step without seeing the little red dress in my periphery.  Now, I had no idea who Betty Boop was, but I gathered she was important for some reason.

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It looks like I’ll get to find out what that reason is now that Dynamite has partnered with Fleischer Studios and King Features Syndicate to bring Betty Boop to the comics page after twenty years of boop-less drudgery.

Cartoonist Max Fleischer first created the premiere female animated star in 1930 for Talkartoons, one of the first animated series to feature voice work.  Since her inception, she’s been featured in countless cartoons on TV and in film.

According to Dynamite CEO Nick Barrucci:
Betty Boop is timeless, like Superman, Marilyn Monroe, Mickey Mouse, or Louis Armstrong. She’s a fixture of American culture, with such a wide appeal that her image can be found anywhere from a young child’s wardrobe to the toughest biker’s tattoos. Every generation over the past 85 years has embraced her charm and personality. Personally, I can recall her appearance in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit as the defining moment in which I first fell in love with the character. We hope that Dynamite’s upcoming line of original Betty Boop comic books and graphic novels will serve as the defining moment for a whole new generation of ‘Boopers’.”
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1 COMMENT

  1. Betty Boop fits right in with any other classic comic character in that, just like Superman, Batman, Marvel characters, etc., her creation involved screwing someone over.

    She was a caricature of singer/actress Helen Kane, famous for her flapper look, cutesy voice, and for her “boop-oop-a-doop” song. She took Fleischer to court, but was unable prove they’d based the character on her (though it’s since been confirmed they had), and Betty Boop essentially replaced her in the public consciousness.

    Maybe the only good thing to come out of the whole thing is that in keeping Helen Kane from trying to claim the phrase “boop-oop-a-doop” as her own, Fleischer also blocked themselves from ever being able to trademark the phrase themselves.

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