PRESENTING...BETTY BOOP...sorta!

In 1930, Betty Boop began branching out from animated cartoons to other media...sorta!

From Photoplay, April 1932

As you can see from this clip, Helen never actually played Betty, who was based on her appearance and performances...which were apparently based on those of an earlier Black child performer, Baby Esther!

When King Features Syndicate's negotiations with Betty Boop's owner, Fleischer Studios for a newspaper strip stalled, Helen's agent suggested doing a strip about the "Boop-Boop-a-Doop Girl: Helen Kane"!

Here's the (almost) complete 11-week run...

We take a pause in our presentation because the strip published on October 31 contains racial stereotypes common to the media of the era.

If you wish to see it, please click

HERE.

Now, back to our presentation...

This was the final Boop-Boop-a-Doop strip since King Features and Fleischer Brothers came to terms and work on a licensed Betty Boop strip was now under way!

You'll aee that strip on November 20!

But next week...

...A long-lost one-shot comic by three famous comic pros who are also among Betty's greatest fans!

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Fleischer Story: featuring Betty Boop!
by Leslie Carbarga
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ACTION COMICS "Deadly Rampage of the Lady Fox" Conclusion

We Have Already Seen..

Superman encounters a super-powered woman who steals and dumps a truckload of expensive furs, then manages to elude him.

Informed by the government that the furs may be part of an illegally-imported shipment, the Man of Steel (as reporter Clark Kent) is, coincidentally, assigned by WGBS with Lana Lang to travel to New Delhi to investigate what may be the source of the poached furs.

Also on the hunt in India is fashionista Mari MaCabe, whom the Last Son of Krypton had met back in Metropolis...when she hijacked the fur-laden truck in her guise as Vixen!

Seeing the costumed woman pursuing someone, Clark intends to follow...

Written by Vixen's co-creator (along with artist Bob Oksner) Gerry Conway, penciled by iconic Superman artist Curt Swan, and inked by Frank Chiaramonte, this never-reprinted premiere appearance in DC's Action Comics #521 (1981) gives us only the smallest hints of who Mari is and why she's doing what she does!

We'd have to wait another three years, when she would team-up again with Superman in DC Presents #68 (1984), (which has also never been reprinted) to learn any more details about her.

But, if you continue reading this blog, you won't have to wait that long...

ACTION COMICS "Deadly Rampage of the Lady Fox" Part 1

Vixen makes her live-action debut tonite on Arrow...

...embodied by the actress who's been doing her voice on the animated series, Megalyn Echikunwoke.

To celebrate, here's Part 1 of her never-reprinted debut from DC's Action Comics #521 (1981).

Note: we already presented her never-published origin HERE!

Tomorrow:

Mild-Mannered Reporter Meets Firey Fashion Model...

Written by Vixen's co-creator (along with artist Bob Oksner) Gerry Conway, penciled by iconic Superman artist Curt Swan, and inked by Frank Chiaramonte, this premiere appearance gives us only the smallest hints of who Mari is and why she's doing what she does.

The Secret Origin of VIXEN!

There's a feature on YouTube about DC's premier Black heroine...

...btw, that's "premier" as in "best-known" or "main", not "first" (premiere) since both Nubia and BumbleBee predate her...

...but it leaves out her untold origin...which we told HERE!