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"You Don't Want The Character To Be Updated So Much She's No Longer Herself" – Roger Langridge On Betty Boop

Roger Langridge talks to Byron Brewer about Betty Boop #4, on sale in January from Dynamite. Covers by Langridge and J. Bone.

bettyboop04covalangridgeBYRON BREWER: Roger, as a longtime fan of vintage animation, and especially the work of the Fleischers, it is just miraculous to me how you and your (obviously very carefully selected) artists have made this comic such a reflection of the Betty Boop theatrical toons. How do you stay consistent with this type of quality, and have you heard from any fans of the animation?

ROGER LANGRIDGE: I've had a couple of nice comments on Twitter, from people I assume are fans of the cartoons (hard to tell sometimes in 140 characters!). I guess the biggest compliment I've had, though, is when a one-time assistant of official Betty Boop merchandise artist Leslie Carbaga bought some of my Betty covers. Not quite straight from the horse's mouth, but about as near as I expect to get!

BB: I always "hear" the jazz music when reading this book. For a totally silent medium, you have made Betty Boop one of the most musical of experiences for several readers, I am sure. Is this difficult for you as a writer to achieve? I recall you once saying jazz was one of the things that made Betty "Betty"!

RL: Thanks! I guess a lot of the work is done by establishing the right context. If you're immersed in a Betty Boop story and jazz music is one of the things you expect to find, you're that much more likely to be receptive to it when it pops up; as a reader, you're meeting the creators halfway already. When I was working on the Muppet Show comics back in the day, I had a similar contextual advantage there as well. I often hear that music has no place in comics; I don't entirely agree with that, although I get where it comes from, but as a writer you have to make sure the groundwork has been laid down so that when the music appears, you're bringing the reader along with you. In a visual medium, it can be a tough sell otherwise.

BB: Women – as creators, as characters – have finally taken their rightful places in comics and in society, and continue to do so. Has there been any criticism for your portrayal of Betty, even though it is of another era?

RL: There's been no criticism that I've been made aware of. With Gisele Lagace drawing the book, her vision is a big part of our version of Betty, so I assume people are intelligent enough to understand that this isn't an entirely male-driven version of the character. I believe we're being respectful of the character's history without dredging up too many of the anachronistic attitudes that originally informed her. It's a balancing act, for sure – you don't want the character to be updated so much she's no longer herself.

BB: Tell us a little about movie star Lex Linton. Is he an original character? Did he have any film experience before "the talkies"? (laughs)

bettyboop04covbjboneRL: He's an original character, yes – the characters we were allowed to use from the cartoons were a select bunch. In fact, Betty's boss was originally supposed to be Mister Nobody, from the 1932 cartoon Betty Boop for President, but we didn't have the rights, so he had to be changed at the 11th hour. So Lex Linton was invented from whole cloth. I'm assuming he's an approximate contemporary of Gary Cooper and Cary Grant, so probably only got his big break during the talkies era. But he's very much a "type", and that's a lot more thought right there than I needed when I was writing the script!

BB: Speaking of portrayals, I can see where the emergence of demons or "devils" in January's issue #4 might be a tough subject for some these days. Was there any controversy editorially before the devils were handled (at least by one of the issue's covers) just as the zany characters they would be in the Fleischer toons?

RL: It didn't come up, or at least nothing reached my ears. Our devil characters are obviously meant to be fairly goofy and ineffectual. I grew up reading Harvey Comics' Hot Stuff; that's the sort of thing we're dealing with here, really.

BB: Both cover and interior, the art on this mag has been superb. Is artist Gisele Lagace as big a fan of Betty and her shorts as you are, Roger?

RL: I believe Gisele wasn't so immersed in the cartoons at first, but she did her homework for this assignment, and it shows! I agree, visually the whole thing has been an absolute treat.


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Dan WicklineAbout Dan Wickline

Has quietly been working at Bleeding Cool for over three years. He has written comics for Image, Top Cow, Shadowline, Avatar, IDW, Dynamite, Moonstone, Humanoids and Zenescope. He is the author of the Lucius Fogg series of novels and a published photographer.
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