As a man who prides himself on his fashion along with his love for comics, nothing pleases me more than Marvel's Millie the Model. Known as Marvel's longest running humor comic, spanning nearly thirty years from the 1940's to the early 1970's, I find it a shame that the title has slipped into near obscurity, overtaken by the company's signature superhero comic series.
Millie the Model focuses on the fashion models at Hanover Agency, primarily the blonde 'top model' Millie, and her fiery counterpart and often antagonist Chili, along with Millie's boyfriend and photographer Clicker, and their tough but lovable boss, Mr. Hanover. The style of the comics is vastly different from what you expect from a Marvel comic, drawn with cartoon flair (for most of the series, there is a period which was drawn in a more serious demure, but thankfully that didn't last long) and paced with snappy one-liners and zingers.
The above panels come from an issue later in the series, with art created by Stan Goldberg, who is known as one of the top artists to establish the style for the famous, even more-long running, Archie comics, along with a prior artist Dan DeCarlo.
Millie was created by one of the first female comic artists, Ruth Atkinson, and writer Stan Lee, for Timely Comics in 1945 (which would transform in the '50's into Atlas Comics, and then again in the 60's into Marvel comics, which Stan Lee will forever be linked with as the creative head of the company). The comic came at a time when there were many titles written and drawn for the female demographic. Early in this particular series, along with the very similar Patsy and Hedy (also created by Ruth Atkinson), gave girls and women the chance to design the outfits which the characters would wear.
This sort of audience participation with comics in this direct of a manner is a rare thing. Stan Lee would utilize a similar form with the letters pages in the back of his superhero books from the 60's onward, which had huge impact in the shaping of the stories based on fan reactions and ideas. Yet to have the very look of the comic determined by the readership is something that I haven't seen in my long years of comic reading.
The focus on fashion of the period in Millie, especially during the 60's and 70's under Goldberg's deft eye, is the main point of pleasure for me. As models, Millie and Chili make perfect characters to flaunt the most eye-popping, dazzling outfits as normal wear, contrasting superheroes who usually only wear their gaudy get-ups when they're punching people. To be able to have female leads, without any powers besides being beautiful, wear such wild wardrobes in everyday environments sends strong messages of individual empowerment that resonates to today.
Sadly, as superhero comics took precedence over all other genres at Marvel, Millie was canceled in 1973. Only once, in a limited 6-issue series called Models, Inc. which ran in the early 2000's (though the modern idea of a model is a far-cry from the lighthearted ladies of the past), has a form of Millie resurfaced. Also, there have been no collections nor plans to do so by Marvel, much to my greatest dismay.
This series is fun, flashy, and a perfect title for everyone and perhaps if more people knew about Millie the Model, then we may be able to revive a cool and culturally significant comic.
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