In the late 1920s, singer/actress Helen Kane had an act in which she behaved in a childish fashion and used the line “Boop boop-a-doop.” Around the same time, the Flesher animation studio was developing a flirtatious cartoon character for older moviegoers, and decided to base it on Kane. When Betty Boop became a success, Kane sued the Flesher studios and lost. During the trial, Fleshers’ lawyers forwarded a baseless claim that Kane had stolen her act from another singer— a dick move, to be sure.
Fast-forward to the 1960s. Underground comic Air Pirate Funnies featured Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and other Disney characters engaged in sex and drug use. Defying Disney’s cease and desist orders, creator Dan O’Neill engaged in an epic legal battle, a classic Little Guy vs. The Man conflict which became a cause celebre of the Counterculture.
Advancing to the present day. Alec Robbins’ webcomic Mr. Boop chronicles the author’s fantasy marriage to Betty Boop, and Bugs Bunny’s nefarious intentions of killing Robbins so he can have Betty for his own. Evidently there have been cease and desist notices from the owners of characters Robbins has used, though he is vague about the details. In any case, we are living in different times, when it is much more difficult for copyright owners to defend their rights. Parts of Mr. Boop are featured at the Webtoons portal, the rest posted elsewhere because it is “too NSFW.” The Ignatz-award-winning print version of the series is orderable on Amazon. What was once truly “underground” has gone mainstream.
Copyright issues aside, Robbins writes in an artless style with an otherworldly, surreal quality. The title character wears a t-shirt stating “I refuse to divorce my wife Betty Boop.” When confronting our hero, the villainous Bugs simply says “I’m gonna kill you,” without any clever euphemisms. This utter absence of guile and cunning allows Robbins to launch into topics like insecurity and impotence without any foreshadowing or pretext; his writing is truly free.
