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Post by Cei-U! on Dec 17, 2023 18:17:12 GMT -5
Regarding Janice Valleau, she is probably not the artist behind the Ginger pen name. Virginia Drury, who also drew for Quality as well as for MLJ/Archie, frequently signed her work "Ginger," which was her nickname IRL. Careless researchers have muddied the waters over the years, confusing the two artists (who had similar styles, to be fair).
Cei-U!
I summon the caveat!
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Crimebuster
CCF Podcast Guru
Making comics!
Posts: 3,958 
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Post by Crimebuster on Dec 18, 2023 13:37:40 GMT -5
11. Betty Cooper1st appearance: the Archie strip in Pep Comics #22 Choice solo run: Betty and Me #79-86 Everyone's favorite girl next door has had a few long running solo titles since debuting in Archie's first strip in Pep Comics #22. But there's no question for me that the most fun is the "Betty Cooper, Betty Cooper" saga in Betty and Me #79-86. Starting in 1976, the sitcom "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" was an over-the-top satirical parody of overly melodramatic soap operas. "Betty Cooper, Betty Cooper" was an over-the-top parody of "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," all done very tongue in cheek, leading to some of the weirdest Archie stories ever. Some Betty solo stories can get too boring and goody too-shoes, but this brief run knocks that into a cocked hat. 
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Post by EdoBosnar on Dec 18, 2023 13:54:35 GMT -5
(...) Everyone's favorite girl next door has had a few long running solo titles since debuting in Archie's first strip in Pep Comics #22. But there's no question for me that the most fun is the "Betty Cooper, Betty Cooper" saga in Betty and Me #79-86. Starting in 1976, the sitcom "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" was an over-the-top satirical parody of overly melodramatic soap operas. "Betty Cooper, Betty Cooper" was an over-the-top parody of "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," all done very tongue in cheek, leading to some of the weirdest Archie stories ever. Some Betty solo stories can get too boring and goody too-shoes, but this brief run knocks that into a cocked hat. This is something I never knew existed until quite recently, like a few days ago, and now I really want to read it. Too bad that, near as I can tell, it's never been reprinted anywhere (all those damn digests and special collections they published over the past decade to mark the 75th and then 80th anniversaries of the Archieverse, often reprinting the same material multiple times, and nobody thought of this one...) |
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Post by Rob Allen on Dec 18, 2023 19:10:33 GMT -5
Another "better late than never" entry:
#11. The Watcher
I missed the Tales of Suspense backups but the Silver Surfer series and What If were sometimes excellent and always at least fun.
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Post by Pól Rua on Dec 25, 2023 22:13:43 GMT -5
And now, we continue with the last-minute scramble version of my Classic Comics Christmas Countdown. As I said earlier, there are a whole mess of titles I would've and probably should have included, but didn't think of them until after I saw people had included them, so rather than crib off of other people's homework... here're mine. #11. Nightwing & FlamebirdI am an idiot for bizarre DC Silver Age tomfoolery, and this one is just conceptually so beautiful that I couldn't resist it. In 'Superman' #158, we were introduced to Nightwing & Flamebird, a Batman & Robin analogue who fought crime within the shrunken Kryptonian Bottle City of Kandor. Originally disguises worn by Superman and Jimmy Olsen, the roles of Nightwing and Flamebird would later be taken over by Kandorians Van-Zee and Ak-Var. This is exactly the sort of bonkers oncept that my kid brain would latch onto like a barnacle, and apparently, I wasn't alone, as the teeny-tiny Kryptonian crime-fighters would later end up with a run of stories in 'Superman Family'.  |
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