From Lisa Simpson “Choo-choo-choosing” Ralph Wiggum to Betty and Veronica’s battles for a boyfriend, leave it to cartoons to most accurately express all facets of Valentine’s Day. Pulling primarily from All Romances, a short-lived title inked between 1949 and 1950, OC friend, artist, and Archie enthusiast Jeanette Hayes upgraded the animated lovebirds’ wardrobes to feature Kit Neale baseball caps, Kenzo crewneck sweatshirts, and other top picks from Drawn to Love, our Valentine’s Day gift guide. I caught up with Jeanette via e-mail about her favorite comic books, reality television romances, and—of course—Dunkin' Donuts.
Emily Manning: Some old comics are very weird. One of my favorites is called The Eye; it’s about a gigantic disembodied crime fighting eye that just sort of ominously hovers around criminals. Did you come across any completely crazy comics while sourcing this project? How did you go about selecting the panels?
Jeanette Hayes: I used All Romances comics because they're a great weird combo of generic and sassy. I went through a lot of romance panels and pages and all of the characters are always so angry or so in love or so miserable or so jealous—everyone is so #passionate in romance graphic novels! Also, they throw crazy shade to each other.
What are your favorite comic books and why?
Obvz I love Archie Comics. I always liked any comics with softer drawing and lighter colors—I'm a girl! Same for Manga comics and all anime, actually. I couldn't get with dark, scary, action comics. I used to trace and draw Betty, Veronica, and Sabrina constantly. Once I even had a drawing printed in Betty and Veronica Double Digest on the fan art page when I was 11. I should find that…
If you could be any animated character, who would it be and why?
Maybe Harley Quinn. I always really liked her from the Batman animated series in the 90s. I loved how bratty and funny she was.
You layered contemporary graphics like gradient smiley faces and a glitter elf onto the original 50s images. Do you feel as though these markedly digital graphics speak more to your aesthetic?
Not even necessarily—I just thought it looked nice. My aesthetic changes a lot, but I do come back to glitter GIF imagery because I love it, lol.
I guess that works, too! Your more recent work has followed something of a similar juxtapositional logic: re-rendering classical I
Emily Manning: Some old comics are very weird. One of my favorites is called The Eye; it’s about a gigantic disembodied crime fighting eye that just sort of ominously hovers around criminals. Did you come across any completely crazy comics while sourcing this project? How did you go about selecting the panels?
Jeanette Hayes: I used All Romances comics because they're a great weird combo of generic and sassy. I went through a lot of romance panels and pages and all of the characters are always so angry or so in love or so miserable or so jealous—everyone is so #passionate in romance graphic novels! Also, they throw crazy shade to each other.
What are your favorite comic books and why?
Obvz I love Archie Comics. I always liked any comics with softer drawing and lighter colors—I'm a girl! Same for Manga comics and all anime, actually. I couldn't get with dark, scary, action comics. I used to trace and draw Betty, Veronica, and Sabrina constantly. Once I even had a drawing printed in Betty and Veronica Double Digest on the fan art page when I was 11. I should find that…
If you could be any animated character, who would it be and why?
Maybe Harley Quinn. I always really liked her from the Batman animated series in the 90s. I loved how bratty and funny she was.
You layered contemporary graphics like gradient smiley faces and a glitter elf onto the original 50s images. Do you feel as though these markedly digital graphics speak more to your aesthetic?
Not even necessarily—I just thought it looked nice. My aesthetic changes a lot, but I do come back to glitter GIF imagery because I love it, lol.
I guess that works, too! Your more recent work has followed something of a similar juxtapositional logic: re-rendering classical I