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During 2010, the Year of Betty White, the public demand for a biographical comic book about the 400-year-old actress became impossible to ignore. “GIVE US A BIOGRAPHICAL COMIC BOOK ABOUT HER OR ELSE!” everyone was constantly screaming in the streets outside of the business and the government White House. Just kidding. No one did that. Obviously. But that didn’t stop one publisher from putting together a biographical comic book about Betty White (also obviously). From BlueWaterProductions:
Portrayed in her own biography title, Female Force: Betty White readers and fans can trace the career Hollywood’s most enduring “it girl” for over sixty astounding years including the unprecedented and highly-successful grass-roots Facebook campaign to get her to host “Saturday Night Live.”
Betty White has starred in dozens of television shows including “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Golden Girls” and most recently “Hot In Cleveland.” She has won seven Emmy awards.
Haha. What are “Betty White readers”? It’s probably a generational thing. Like, the Depression? I’m just excited to read an illustrated depiction of her hosting SNL eight months ago. That’s going to be incredible. Chris Ware just threw all his pens away and got a job at a shoe store. Gotta know when to call it quits. Oh, incidentally, the Betty White biographical comic book is NATURALLY being printed in tandem with a biographical comic book about Lady Gaga (????) and so there is this:
“On its face, neither should have anything in common with the other, but once you read their stories, you see the common thread,” said Bluewater president Darren G. Davis said of Gaga and White, “They are strong, influential women who have endured personal and professional challenges and have taken the marketing of their brand to whole new levels.”
LADY GAGA = OUR GENERATION’S BETTY WHITE. All starting to make sense now. And a hearty congratulations to Betty White on taking the marketing of her brand to whole new levels. Very cool thing to do at any age.
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This sounds like a really bad Family Guy joke. Just picture it.
Peter: “I haven’t been this excited about reading since Betty White came out with a biographical comic book.”
SENIORGIF.COM
Each gif comes with some metamucil.
Gabe, don’t be so glib and dismissive. I distinctly remember an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore show where White wore a dress made of meat to the WJM Christmas party.
Is she strong, listen bud, she’s got 89 year old blood
We have now entered the retro-zeitgeist comeback phase where Betty White becomes a caricature of herself.
Beety White and Lady Gaga: This generation’s Pale Force
HAHAHAHA, you said Beety!!! IDIOT!!!
I’ll get excited when Steve Winwood gets his own biographical comic book, which will oddly also be published in the female “Female Force” imprint.
Escarole Getty #vegetablegoldengirls
Beety White = BNPG. Vegetable sitcom characters:
Alex Pea Keaton
Balki Barstalkomous
ALFalfa
Carl Winslaw
Broccoli Samson
Steve Urkale
Bartichoke Simpson
(There are several levels there)
“What’s the only vegetable Homer likes?”
Arthur Fonzcelery
Liz Lemon
doh, so close
Way to turn a Gaff into a Laff, friends.
HAHAHA, you said Gaff and not Gaffe!!! Idiot!!!
Alfalfa
Arugula McClanahan
Kimchi Gibbler?
Peggplant Bundy
Natalie Collard Green
Mrs. Carrott
I can’t believe I didn’t think of that one! So good.
Betty White reader is like a Kindle, right?
Let’s see how her brand does after PETA gets a hold of it.
What happened to my image? Let’s try that again.
Gah!
“They are strong, influential women who have endured personal and professional challenges and have taken the marketing of their brand to whole new levels.”
Yeah except that part where Gaga went to an expensive ass music school, didn’t write half her songs, and was backed by an insane marketing/PR campaign the likes of which could only be rivaled by Obama’s presidential race. Totally facing down adversity! So strong!
Like, Oprah is such a strong woman for being a millionaire who spends thousands of dollars on a set made of chocolate you guys. I’m not joking.
“OH I am downvoting this because he is talking about something I like negatively!” -You
Whenever I rail against Oprah (basically, every time I talk with a stranger and have been drinking) I always bring up the chocolate set. Because it’s infuriating.
…If anyone wants to hear all about how Oprah is bad for women, by the way, let me know — I have some Old Overholt in the cupboard.
Why is this getting downvoted? The Professor is right!
Gaga pretty much graduated from college, recorded a couple of generic pop songs, and mimicked the Madonna hype machine on her way to becoming a huge star about 3 seconds after she became an adult.
Thanks R2D2. I personally don’t see why someone “taking their brand to another level” is something we should ever celebrate, especially when it is a “personal brand” which is just Grade-A YUCK FART BARF, which is what I think Gabe is getting at with his sardonic Betty White posting.
I don’t disagree, but I need to point she went to NYU Tisch which is the theatre school, not NYU Steinhardt, which is the music school.
I am the worst for being a graduate student, but at least not for being rich. (yay pity funding!)
I have said this before, but I love Betty White. I have since 1987, and that love never waned. I had no idea she had not been a part of popular consciousness for the past dickety years. That said, I hate Female Force comic books.
Which is weird, because I <3 comics, and I am a feminist, and I do think there are a plethora of issues when it comes to sexism and gender portrayals in comic books. I should love this. I'm….I'm so confused.
“Dickety”? Highly dubious!
I have the same conflict, LBT! Female Force comics are pretty ridiculous. My comic obsessed BF bought the one about the author of the Sookie Stackhouse books for me as a joke after I made him watch True Blood with me (for lols!). I’m not sure which act was more cruel.
We are all aware of http://www.jamesvandermemes.com, right?
Whoa! Bitchin’s site!
Obviously Gabe is gun shy about people plugging in any image off the internets, so have a link that would have made a great visual pun but now is lost in replies to a reply that would have been a witty reply:
No one can replace my Cheryl Cole, NO ONE!
Sorryhttp://photobucket.com/images/cheryl%20cole%20gif/?sortby=sevendaysview
What’s next? Her own guest column on Videogum?
too young for gabe’s taste
I am in love with the fact that the header for this comic book is FEMALE FORCE! And it has a picture of the Golden Girls in the background, as if that’s the only she she ever did.
Just because, here’s Jay Leno kicking a bunch of ninja ass:
Clearly ninjas are not a metaphor for ratings.
I know you have some kind of weird personal vendetta against Betty White, and I guess you assume that the entire thing is ironic and therefore smug and/or condescending to her. The truth is, a ton of people my age (22) spent afternoons after middle school watching reruns of Golden Girls every damn day. I legitimately loved that show, and Betty White’s newfound fame has only rekindled my love for the show (see: avatar. RIP BLANCHE.) People are happy to have her return to the air because her presence is comforting to people who grew up watching her. That’s not insulting!
How many other old women do you know ruling the air waves right now without resorting to Mrs. Claus/grandma feelgood roles? Betty White is a sharp comedian and most of her comeback success has derived from cameos or guest appearances which subvert our expectations of old women – much like Golden Girls did. She IS breaking the mold for women in an industry where you’re “old” at 40. How many older female actresses are household names? You can count them on your hands. We’re mourning Pete Postlethwait’s death (R.I.P. fo real) at 64 and noting his strong recent appearances in Inception and The Town. He was still getting brilliant, lucrative roles in wide-release movies! Meryl Streep, Vanessa Redgrave, Gena Rowlands, Diane Keaton, Betty White = 90% of all older female roles.
This is a series which uses comic books (under-targeted towards females) to celebrate strong, powerful women in various industries (politics, film, music, literature) helping to break the glass ceiling. It’s not ridiculous that Betty White would be included. It’s awesome.
Haha, “personal vendetta”.
I agree with most of this, but something about the Female Force line rubs me the wrong way. Then again, I suspect it is marketed towards kids, and if so, I know weetables would have LOVED this.
Also, Designing Women/Murphy Brown/Golden Girls forever!
Female Force is not really my cup of tea but they’re so damn earnest about what they do that I can’t fault them for trying. If I had a little girl I think this would be an awesome way to get her interested in modern women’s history, you know? It’s like sneaking zucchini into spice bread. Secretly good for you!
The problem is Blue Water Comics are terrible and no one buys them.
It might explain why my comic interpretation of the S.C.U.M. manifesto has failed so miserably.
If it makes you feel better it seems my dramatic reading of the Declaration of Sentiments (now available on the Zune marketplace!) left a lot to be desired. Kids these days.
I say we pool our resources on a Mary Wollstonecraft doll. Kids love dolls, eh? Eh?
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And he did!
Thank you amativus
“This is a series which uses comic books (under-targeted towards females) to celebrate strong, powerful women in various industries (politics, film, music, literature) helping to break the glass ceiling.”
Agreed:
so they did an ellen page issue of this comic book series?
I see your point, and I raise you an irony. I have some ladypeople-friends that feel the way you describe (Yes, I have lady friends, look at all the pictures of them in my WALLET), but I don’t think you can ignore the fact that a lot of the current fascination with her can be boiled down to the rapping-granny schtick. And I don’t see how that’s very admirable.
I’m having a hard time putting words together in a coherent way, but I have to disagree with you. She’s ever humble about this new success, and I think she’d be just as happy without it. She understands she’s kind of being over exposed at the moment, but who turns down money from people who love you? I point to the SNL episode. Sure, the whole episode was kind of “We get it, she’s old,” but was it not a great episode? Was she not just happy to be there?
Fair. I still think it’s a thin Golden line.
Sing it, amativus! As a fellow (22) I agree with you, she is great, and The Golden Girls is one of the best things i have ever known.
Gabe, your personal infatuation with Betty White is wearing a little thin. We get it. You love Betty White.
i recently saw a betty white calendar for sale at the mall. just thought that was weird.
The mall, eh?
I’m just going to use this anytime someone mentions a mall
Brown paper wrapped kilo of pic-a-nik basket?
Ugh God no, I hate when our culture celebrates people, especially women, who have managed to have successful careers for 60 years. YUCKO.
(Sorry to belabor the point but) Betty White: An incomplete list of accomplishments
-Won 7 Emmys/ Nominated for 20
-One of the first women on television
-Animal Activist
- Sustained Career for 60+ years
-Been part of (at least) 2 classic TV shows
-Still working at 88
Now why would anyone want to celebrate person like that? Especially in a society where women in media are tossed aside after 40.
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Gangy, you obviously don’t read the Shaw Report in EW otherwise you would know that sarcasm is so five minutes ago.
Gangy, I agree with all of your points, and I think Gabe probably does too. Betty White is awesome!
My exasperation is that most references to her since the meme started seem to be more mean-spirited about her age or 40+ sexuality in general than a celebration of her fantastic work and life.
It’s the same basic thing that bugged me about the juggalo meme, where people were “into” something that was hyper-misogynist, homophobic, and racist.
I guess I’m not understanding the juggalo comparison. Seems to me that, more often than not, the things the “kidz the$e dayz” (doing it right?) are ironically into are things they are really into. I’ll take faux-ironic interest in talented-performer-and-cool-person Betty White over disaster-factory ICP any day.
Who is Betty White?
Is this some sort of deep existential idea? Who is anyone?
How am I not myself?
Who is Betty White? She is supposed to be Turkish. Some say her father was German. Nobody believed she was real. Nobody ever saw her or knew anybody that ever worked directly for her, but to hear Kobayashi tell it, anybody could have worked for White. You never knew. That was her power. The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world she didn’t exist. And like that, poof. She’s gone.
Betty White
GODSAUCE!
I feel just like the little kid in the old coffee commercial who was up waiting for santa, and his brother came home from somewhere and there were hugs. Welcome back!
I am the best part of waking up.
TWSS
I only share this because it is extremely relevant to you, Videogum community.
Gabe, if you haven’t seen the terrible atrocity that’s within the Lady Gaga Comicbook (in which a man in drag attacks a McDonalds and forces them to listen to his performance of ”Poker Face” among other things), it’s laid out on Nonstop Karate:
http://nonstopkarate.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/comic-book-storytime-lady-gaga-fame/
I am writing this comment to let you know I not only read the entire article, but I found it interesting and also humorous. Thanks for sharing it!
Looks like we have some haterade/deep downvoting going on. Here’s some cute puppies saying, “Videogum is lots of fun! Let’s be friendly and respect each others diverse but nonetheless important to each of us opinions! We’re mini-dogs”
I was wondering how long it would be before this comic book news made it onto Videogum. I saw the solicitation for her comic a couple months back and was like, “Whuh oh, I’m sure that’s going to get brought up at some point.”
Does Betty White have an arch-nemesis?