6 Comments

1. 

   Rudolf vonLuchen on February 20, 2019 at 10:37 am

   In the original, is Don the red head with the microscope featured on the cover?

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     John on February 23, 2019 at 2:39 pm

     I actually haven’t read the story that goes with the cover, but skimming through it quickly just now I found that “Don” is another guy who isn’t pictured on the cover. And the redhead who is on the cover only shows up in one panel and doesn’t play an important part in the story. As art, I think the cover is fantastic—as most Baker covers are. As a representation of the story, not so fantastic.

     Here’s a link in case you want to look at the story:

     https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=20172

     Reply
2. 

   A Fan on February 20, 2019 at 12:17 pm

   It doesn’t make sense to simply change the skin tone of the redhead at the microscope if you won’t alter her hair style and features to match, eh?

   I get that the original comic had a mostly-white “cast”, but I don’t think your re-coloring changes that.

   If you care, I’m a white male who remembers when Dr King was assassinated.

   Reply
   • 

     Rudolf vonLuchen on February 21, 2019 at 12:37 pm

     Hey, you don’t want to mess with Matt Baker art, who incidentally was black.

     I also was alive when Dr King was assassinated and also in 1950, the date of the cover.

     Reply
     • 

       John on February 23, 2019 at 3:23 pm

       I gotta agree with you on that Rudolf. Baker was the supreme romance artist of his time. Nobody was better at drawing beautiful women. Messing with the features of his women would be a crime.

       Reply
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     John on February 23, 2019 at 3:21 pm

     I almost always leave the skin color up to the artists I’m working with. Kirsten Wilson and Diego Jourdan Pereira often change the race of the characters.

     And I’m more than fine with that..

     The original romance comics of the 1940s and ’50s weren’t just “mostly white.” Minorities were never depicted at all—unless they were servants or in other menial roles and even then it was extremely rarely.

     (There was one notable exception. There was a series called Negro Romances in 1950, but it only last two issues.)

     I have a diverse audience and I think it’s great to reflect that a bit in the characters that we show.

     That said, I understand and appreciate your point. I do realize that just coloring the characters differently isn’t a complete racial makeover. But it’s something. And re-drawing the characters to reflect various expectations of what African Americans should look like is potentially tricky and definitely more time-consuming and therefore more expensive. (Last Kiss pretty much operates on a shoestring budget at it is.)

     Sometimes it works better than others. Hopefully, the next one will be more to your taste.

     Reply