The "New" Betty and Veronica

[panamag8or]

I'm not a fan of this "makeover".

 

[Doh!]

*yawn!*

I guess today's youth just ain't interested in quality linework or artists' style. This is hardly distinguishable from, well, anything.

 

[MrNewportCustom]

At first glance, I thought this was a spoof on the Bush twins.



Lee
______________________

"But it is the opinion of the present reviewer that the weakness of plot is due to the great number of characters which clutter up the pages" - Robert Benchley, [Reviewing the New York City Telephone Directory]

 

[Baron Kurtz]

For comparison, can you post a photo of the "old"?

bk

 

[MrNewportCustom]

*yawn!*
This is hardly distinguishable from, well, anything.

When considering today's teens, this is hardly distinguishable from real life.



Lee

 

[Sweet Polly Purebred]

The original B & V

 

[Amy Jeanne]

My husband actually SWOONS the 50s Veronica cartoon.
He's going to *HATE* this makeover with a seething passion

 

[Rosie]

I read this ALL OF THE TIME as a kid. Did they change they fellas too?

 

[Fletch]

BLEH

Oughta change their names to Britney and Longoria.

 

[Senator Jack]

I always preferred Mad's version of Veronica and Betty.

 

[MrNewportCustom]

A few years ago, I went on an expedition to collect newer reprints of all five of those books - The Brothers MAD, The MAD Reader, Utterly MAD, MAD Strikes back, and Inside MAD. Got them all. Like the Archie of old, great artwork and funny as all get-out! And I was surprised at how many of the different covers for each book I remembered seeing as a kid (and how many I hadn't seen.)

My favorite was, The Raven. The words are all original, but the drawings are hilarious!

Like this cover of the new Archie comic, most of the new MAD doesn't cut the mustard.


Lee
____________________

"What, me worry?" - Alfred E. Neuman

 

[Senator Jack]

I've been meaning to start a thread on the new Mad - it's brutal, isn't it?

 

[Fleur De Guerre]

Ugh, "new" and yet straight from the early 90s. Why is it that so many comics artists do not seem to have the slightest grasp of what teenagers look like?

 

[LizzieMaine]

My best friend's dad went to high school with Bob Montana, the creator of "Archie" -- and may have been the actual living prototype for Jughead. I *hope* they haven't modernized him!

 

[Senator Jack]

Jughead now wears his cap backwards.

 

[Barry]

Ugh...they just don't "speak" to me at all. I would be curious what younger teens think about these characters. I did see some responses on the Archies website, and obviously, many readers are upset. The inside previews I saw (if they were real) were somewhat better than the cover, but not by much.

Here's a different take (another spoof) - and these two have much more character.... lol

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Not as bad as it could be

Yes, the new Betty and Veronica are much more covered up than today's teens I see streaming into the library to get on MySpace. I stilll have my jelly jar glasses from the 70s: The Archies are having a 'jam' session. Harharhar. Maybe I'll pick up a copy from World Wide News tomorrow. Love that blue-black hair, still.

 

[dhermann1]

Starchie

Oh jeez. I remember that issue. Starchie winds up in the crazy house raving about Betty, "I got rid of her! I got rid of her! Haaaaaaaahaaaaa!!! I got rid of her!!!"
Gave me nightmares!
Re: the new comic reflecting contemporary teens: the original Archie was an exact reproduction of the latest styles for teenagers (a new invention at the time) in 1947 which is about when it first came out. My favorite film depiction of the very first Hollywood recognition of post war teenage hood is the Cary Grant, Shirley Temple movie "The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer".
So this new version is not so out of line. But how could it not be lame?

 

[ShooShooBaby]

My favorite film depiction of the very first Hollywood recognition of post war teenage hood is the Cary Grant, Shirley Temple movie "The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer".
So this new version is not so out of line. But how could it not be lame?

hmmm, i'm not sure this was the first... Junior Prom came out in 1946! didn't have big stars like CG, ML and ST in it though. i'm not sure that was the first one either, it's just a movie i own that's an earlier year than Bachelor!! there are others that display the popular teen culture post-war but pre-1947 as well. but yes, the early archie characters definitely mimic the teens of the day...

 

[dhermann1]

Hmmm . . . I never heard of any of those, I'll have to check them out. The point being, tho, that until the 40's the world didn't perceive teenagers as a separate sub species, and afterwards it did with a vengence. I saw a very interesting film clip recently on the TCM bio of Marlon Brando. It was a screen test of Brando doing the James Dean role in "Rebel Without a Cause". The thing was, this screen test was made in 1945. The "Rebel Without a Cause" screenplay had already been written in 1945. To me, this puts a whole different slant on the story. I always say that any movie or TV show actually takes place about 10 to 15 years before the time it's set in. This is because writers tend to write stories about their own experiences, which tend to be 10 to 15 years before they get turned into screenplays. Even tho we imagine Raymond Chandler's and Dashiel Hammet's stories as being set in the 30's and 40's, they're really based on their experiences in the 20's.
Is this off topic??? Uhhh . . . sorry. Whatever.