Good Girls (comics)

Infobox comic book title
title = Good Girls


imagesize =
caption =
schedule = Irregular
limited = y
genre =
publisher = Fantagraphics
Rip Off Press
date = April 1987 - 1991
issues = 6
main_char_team =
writers = Carol Lay
artists = Carol Lay
pencillers =
inkers =
letterers = Carol Lay
colorists =
editors =
creative_team_month =
creative_team_year =
creators = Carol Lay
TPB = Goodnight, Irene
ISBN = 0867196599
subcat = Fantagraphics Books
addpubcat1 = Last Gasp titles
sort = PAGENAME

"Good Girls" is a 1987-1991 six-issue comic book limited series. It was created by Carol Lay and published by Fantagraphics and then Rip Off Press. The series parodies romance comics.

History

Carol Lay gives an account of how the strip started in her preface to the collection. It is a combination of a picture of three Ubangi women in "Hustler" magazine, DC romance comic "Heart Throbs" and Western Publishing Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge comics that prompted her to create the character. She used her as filler in "Good Girls" #1 but eventually Irene took over. [Carol Lay in Goodnight, Irene, Last Gasp] (The influence of Tarzan is also evident in the origin of the character.)

The comic book started with another strip, "Ms Lonelyhearts", which progressively disappeared. The second and best by far featured Irene Van de Kamp, an heiress who grew up in an African tribe who puts face markings and a disk in her lower lip. She meets an assortment of weird characters while trying to find romance and avoid people who are only after her money.

Reception

In "Amazing Heroes" #145 (July 15, 1988), Alan Moore gave a list of ten recommendations for current comics and about "Good Girls" he said:

"GOOD GIRLS is another one that I shall certainly be checking out. I don't know why I find Carol Lay's stuff so wonderful and fascinating, but there's something about it that really tickles me. It might just be the quirky sensibilities of the stories, or the fact that her style is so reminiscent of traditional romance comics in places that the oddness of it looks all the more appealing in context. There's something about it which I find very, very charming." [Alan Moore in "Amazing Heroes" #145]

The sixth issue contained letters of appreciation by Scott McCloud and Peter Bagge. [Good Girls #6 Rip Off Press]

Jaime Hernandez has stated, "I've been a fan of Carol Lay's ever since "The Pep Girls", and Irene has always been one of my favorite characters." [back quote in Goodnight, Irene, Last Gasp]

Collected editions

A collection of the strips called "Goodnight, Irene: The Collected Stories of Irene Van De Kamp" was published in June 2007 by Last Gasp (ISBN 0867196599) with two new stories. [ [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=121595 Talking to Carol Lay - Irene and More] , Newsarama, July 19, 2007]

Notes

References

*gcdb series|id=17018|title="Good Girls"
*comicbookdb|type=title|id=13003|title="Good Girls"