Back in the mid 2000s, the 80s-90s book series
The Baby-Sitters Club ended up getting a graphic novel adaptation by Raina Telgemeier, which I enjoyed very much. For whatever reason, they decided to bring it back in the mid-2010s with a different illustrator and the difference couldn't be more obvious.
Raina Telgemeier's original art
Here's the upcoming volume, done by Gale Galligan, who replaced Raina:
(Uh huh, I see you, hijab girl!)
Upon close inspection, it may not seem bad. Until you realize that in the original series, Logan wasn't brown...
The cover of the original book from the late 80s
Yeah. Logan, who was described in books as looking like a white 50s actor (I can't be bothered to remember who), has been race-lifted to be ambiguously brown. Why? Because straight white male bad (even if Logan has an interest in the "feminine" thing called baby-sitting).
What pisses me off most about this is why she's making an already diverse cast more diverse. It just doesn't make sense.
The Baby-Sitters Club was one of the most diverse, eclectic cast in a kids' book series in the late 20th century. This is just redundant.
The diverse cast of the Baby-Sitters Club:
- Kristy- a tomboy whose parents got divorced
- Mary Anne-a shy bookworm with a single dad
- Claudia- a Japanese girl who most likely had a learning disability
- Stacey-a girl from New York with Diabetes
- Dawn- a hippie from California
- Mallory- a redhead with a large family
- Jessi- a black girl with a passion for ballet
- Abby- a Jewish girl with Asthma and a sister who I'm pretty sure broke her arm
- And, of course, Logan.
Tell me your thoughts, I'd love to hear them. I'll admit that her art style is cute, but it still gives off that tumblr vibe with those wide bodies and round faces.
Gale's Twitter
"They/she." Of-fucking-course. How can someone be non-binary and a girl at the same time, please let me know.
EDIT: I'm sure that if she started adaptating a bit earlier in the series she would've race-lifted more characters.