Dynamite Announces New ‘Betty Boop’ Series From Langridge And Lagace [SDCC 2016]

I don't want to assume anything about your life, but I can definitely tell you that I didn't wake up this morning expecting to be really excited about a new Betty Boop comic, and yet, here we are, in a world where that is exactly what I'm feeling.

As part of a string of announcements leading up to this week's San Diego Comic-Con, Dynamite Entertainment has revealed an all-new Betty Boop series from Roger Langridge and Gisèle Lagacé, set to make its debut in October. And just in case that wasn't enough of a surprise for today, it's also going to have covers by Howard Chaykin.

The announcement follows Dynamite's acquisition of the Betty Boop license last year, which led to the release of the original Max Fleischer/Bud Counihan Betty Boop strips from the '30s --- and for the new creators, it represents a pretty natural next step. In Popeye, Langridge recently did some pretty amazing, critically acclaimed stories with another Golden Age animation icon, and Lagacé, perhaps best known for her webcomic work on Ménage à 3, and the gender-swapped "Reverse-dale" story for Archie, makes for a great fit.

Here's what Dynamite has to say in the official press release:

"I remember seeing old Max Fleischer Betty Boop™ cartoons on TV when I was a kid and being fascinated by their decidedly non-Disney viewpoint. They existed in a seedy, fallen world, full of speakeasies, ghastly monsters from nightmares, sexual tension, and lots of hot, hot jazz - heady, exotic stuff to a kid in suburban New Zealand in the 1970s," says writer Roger Langridge. "It must have left a strong impression, because it's a world I've tried to recreate in my own comics a number of times over the years, most particularly in my own creator-owned series Fred the Clown - so it's genuinely exciting to be able to go right to the source, writing the real deal. And I'm particularly pleased that we've got a woman cartoonist drawing this major female icon, in the form of the very talented Gisèle Lagacé; Betty Boop™, as was common at the time, was created as a male's fantasy idea of a woman, so I think it's important in this day and age to have a female point-of-view right at the creative coalface."

"Dynamite has assembled an incredible team to create the new Betty Boop™ series," said Frank Caruso, Vice President, Creative, for King Features. "As we are re-imagining Betty Boop™ with a whole new style-conscious generation, it's amazing to see this new creative team producing retro-infused comics with the confidence to know that there's nothing cooler than retro cartoons... especially a Max Fleischer cartoon!"

Betty Boop #1 will be solicited in August's Previews catalog, and will be available in stores in October.