December 26, 2006, - 2:08 pm
If It Ain’t Broke . . .: This Time, It’s Betty & Veronica
By Debbie Schlussel
First, it was Bazooka Joe and gang. Then, it was Monopoly board game token/icon game pieces. Now, it’s Betty and Veronica that have undergone an unnecessary, ugly extreme makeover. Merry Christmas, America, from your friends at Archie Comic Publications, Inc. of Mamaroneck, New York.
Especially in the case of Betty & Veronica, Archie’s rival galpals, this remake made them plastic surgery victims (do comic book characters get anesthesia?), where before they looked pretty good and far more glam and classy. The new versions resemble Paris Hilton and her sister, Nicky. The inbred nose thing, too-long ostrich neck, and shleppy-ness isn’t attractive:
Compare that to the old versions:
Am I right? Or am I RIGHT?!
Ironically, this new change is supposed to make Betty and Veronica look more sophisticated. Huh? Someone needs Lasik.
“We are going after an older female audience who are ready to move on to read something else,” says Michael Silberkleit, Archie Comic’s chairman and co-publisher, and a son of one of the company’s founders. Current readers are predominantly girls between the ages of 7 and 14.
Speaking as an older female, who used to collect Betty and Veronica comic books, the older version of Betty and Veronica was far more appealing.
More evidence that sometimes–actually, a lot of the time–things AND people don’t need makeovers. Not everything can be “improved” merely by being changed. Our “Makeover Nation” often throws out the best in favor of the empty “newism.”
Tags: America, Archie Comic Publications Inc., Bazooka, Betty, Chairman, Christmas, Mamaroneck, Michael Silberkleit, New York, Nicky, Paris Hilton, plastic surgery, Veronica By Debbie Schlussel
Empty newism. Indeed. Now that Betty and Veronica have been given the stupid, spoiled slut look of the Hiltons, are we to expect more modern adult storylines too? Drunken arrests, scuzzy videos and the like? Dear God.
icanplainlysee on December 26, 2006 at 10:15 pm