Over at the site Comics for Sinners, it’s the debut of a new feature called “It Came From the Bad-Girl Archives,” in which I’ll be shining a spotlight on some out-of-print and possibly long-forgotten comics that starred the sort of scandalous (and sometimes Not Safe For Work) female leads who have always reaped a goldmine in profits for comic-book publishers. Think the 1990s’ “bad-girl era” was the only time these femmes fatale became popular? That’s just the tip of the iceberg!
First up is Betty Being Bad, an autobiographical essay by famed comics letterer John Workman, in which he reminisces about his love for 1950s’ pinup queen, Bettie Page (yes, that’s the correct spelling of her first name). Comic fans will no doubt recognize Ms. Page as the inspiration and muse for artist Dave Stevens, who cast her as the girlfriend of daredevil stunt pilot Clifford Secord in Stevens’s pulp-hero comic The Rocketeer. (In 1991, actress Jennifer Connelly brought “Betty”—changed to “Jenny” by Disney’s lawyers because they suspected, quite rightly as it turned out, that Ms. Page was still alive—to life in the big-screen version of the comic.) Or you might have seen Ms. Page in the 2012 documentary Bettie Page Reveals All!, or Gretchen Moll’s portrayal of her in the 2005 bio pic The Notorious Bettie Page. To say Bettie Page left a lasting impression on art and pop culture long after her modeling career ended would be an understatement.
Head over to C4S to see what I’m talking about. And then maybe you should bookmark the site so you don’t miss future installments of “It Came From the Bad-Girl Archives”!
