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When Jim Lee Greenlit Tom Bancroft's Comic, Betty – Teenage Intergalactic Warrior

Twin brothers Tom and Tony Bancroft are former Disney Animators. They were talking on their podcast, talking about a time when Tony was Tom's boss at Disney, and working on Mulan. And how it destroyed a comic book…

Tom was friends with J Scott Campbell, who was under the cosh on deadlines over Gen-13, then the best-selling comic book in America. Tom suggested to Campbell, that Tom might pitch an eight-page back-up strip for the comics, taking over issues.

Tom and a friend of his at Disney, Dan Gracey, had been drawing retro space girls and had created Betty, Teenage Intergalactic Warrior. So, with Campbell, he went to Image Comics, met with Jim Lee, then President of Image Comics and pitched the story.

Jim Lee liked the idea, he said "let's do this", with the possibility that success might lead to a series of its own. Tom "left his office on cloud nine…"

But at Disney, he was just starting on Mulan, working on the Eddie Murphy's character Mu-Shu for Mulan. And he was taken into a meeting by his brother, co-director and supervising animator on the movie, and was told he wasn't good enough. With the demand that he double down or lose the character at Disney. Which meant there was no way he was going to be able to do a comic book at night.

So he had to call Jim Lee and say he couldn't do it anymore.

And he never returned to the comic.

Images courtesy of Dan Gracey…

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