Veronica

When comic book store owner Dave Luebke heard that after 67 years, the carrot-topped everyman of the comic world, Archie, was proposing to va-va-voomy rich girl Veronica instead of girl-next-door Betty, he decided to protest by selling his copy of the series' rare first issue. It fetched $38,837 at auction Friday. "Betty is it. Not Veronica," said Luebke, whose Richmond, Va., store has more than 1 million comics in stock. "This is serious." And, he said, 99% of his customers agree that perky, blond Betty is the clear choice over shiny dark-haired Veronica in the seemingly never-ending love triangle.

To noir or not to noir -- that is the question "Veronica Mars" creator Rob Thomas weighs as his long-hoped-for film adaptation of the teen TV series becomes a reality. Fans have pledged $3.4 million to fund an independent film based on the UPN-turned-CW show, which starred actress Kristen Bell as a teenager who cracks cases under the guidance of her detective father. The Kickstarter campaign reached its $2-million goal in just 10 hours, a milestone for film projects soliciting donations through the crowd-funding site.

Thanks for spotlighting the UPN show "Veronica Mars" ["From the Anti-'O.C.' "]. The show is a delight and I hope more viewers will discover it, especially younger female viewers. Kristen Bell invests her character with charm, attitude and panache. Veronica's independence and self-sufficiency brings to mind another classic television heroine, Diana Rigg's fabulous portrayal of Mrs. Emma Peel. Andrew Teton Santa Barbara

Illustrating the power of social media, more than 30,000 fans of the cult favorite television series "Veronica Mars" pledged $2 million in a single day - or 10 hours, to be exact - to finance an independent film based on the teen drama. The overnight success of the fundraising effort - the biggest film campaign in Kickstarter history, and the fastest to reach the $1-million threshold - represents a milestone in Hollywood moviemaking economics. It demonstrates that devoted fan communities can rally to support projects that mainstream studios might otherwise reject.

The best part about writing these columns? Attractive women all over L.A. stop me on the street to ask fun little relationship questions. Things like, "Why are you staring at me?" and "What made you think I wanted to date you?" Once those awkward moments pass, they do seem curious about one other thing: "Why are so many men attracted to volatile women?" Good question.

I say: Free the jury. Sequester the media, Judge Lance Ito and the lawyers. This travesty of justice would end in a hurry. E. VERONICA DONOVAN Los Angeles

Here is a thought for Howard Leff ["Those Veronica Crushes Are So One-Dimensional," April 14] from a man who rarely has them. Betty is certainly a great girl, but let's face it, she needs a streak of Veronica. Otherwise she's too boring. Yep, she needs a volatile demanding side but in a controlled environment kind of way so that it doesn't overtake her. Men step all over women who are too nice. Betty needs to snap those occasional sentences like: "Don't forget, I own you" or "Betty is an unhappy girl right now."

"Mercy" NBC, 8 p.m. Sept. 23 Episode: "Can We Get That Drink Now" The premise Veronica Callahan (Taylor Schilling) has returned from Iraq suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, for which she is taking the antidepressant Paxil. Even with treatment, she is frequently irritable and has flashbacks to the war. She has taken a nursing position at Mercy Hospital, where she takes charge of cases the way she did in Iraq. At the scene of a car accident in which the driver sustains a tension pneumothorax (a deflation and collapse of a lung)

Domestic tragedies are the stuff that TV movies are made of--so much so that sometimes even a rerun of "F Troop" sounds more appealing than another drama about, say, child abuse. Still, "Not in My Family," ABC's earnest incest expose (at 9 p.m.

South African playwright Athol Fugard has long been hailed as one of the world's most important living playwrights. The West Coast premiere of "Coming Home" at the Fountain Theatre showcases his artistry in an optimum production. Laura Fine Hawkes' meticulous set, a one-room hut in a remote South African village, plants us firmly in another world, where subsistence is a triumph of will. It is here that Veronica Jonkers (heartbreakingly matter-of-fact Deidrie Henry), a road-weary refugee from a hard life in Cape Town, has returned with her little boy, Mannetjie (Timothy Taylor)

And so there will be a "Veronica Mars" movie, because on Wednesday some 30,000 fans (and counting) pledged $2 million (and counting) via Kickstarter, the popular crowd-funding website, to make it so. I very much liked the show, which was created by Rob Thomas ("Party Down") and starred Kristen Bell as a teenage girl detective in fictional, coastal Neptune, Calif. (It was canceled in 2007 after two seasons on UPN and one on the CW, into which UPN had been folded.) But affection aside, it was quite thrilling to watch the money, or the promises of money, pour in: At one point Wednesday afternoon, by my monitoring of the online tote board, the project was raising $1,000 every 20 seconds.

Fans of the teen mystery series "Veronica Mars" have been clamoring for a movie ever since the show was canceled in 2007. Now they may finally get their wish, but it's going to cost them. Star Kristen Bell and creator Rob Thomas have paired up to launch a Kickstarter campaign and hope to raise $2 million by April 13. If their goal is reached, and it appears there are enough fans willing to fork over money for a product they haven't yet seen, Thomas and Bell say Warner Bros. has agreed to fund production of the film version.

The theatrical telling of the back story of "Deep Throat" is on its way to Los Angeles.  Delving into the tale of the most famous adult film ever made, "The Deep Throat Sex Scandal" is set to open Jan. 31 at the Zephyr Theatre in West Hollywood, with previews beginning Jan. 24. The play, written by David Bertolino, will feature porn veterans Veronica Hart and Herschel Savage as part of the ensemble cast, and Ron Jeremy as one of the guest stars....

Insurgent A Novel Veronica Roth Katherine Tegen Books, 544 pp.: $17.99, for readers age 14 and up There's no questioning the impact of "The Hunger Games. " Its success has given birth to an explosion of dystopian young adult literature that invariably unfolds in some environmentally compromised, governmentally bizarre future version of the United States. The more successful books in the genre rearrange society in ways that are unfamiliar and inventively oppressive, creating a perfect petri dish for young heroines to rise up against their circumstances in ways that not only reveal their inner strengths but lead to romance.

Actor Dan Cortese and his wife, DeeDee, have sold their house in Malibu for $2.6 million. The Mediterranean-style home, built in 1997, is in a gated community on more than three-quarters of an acre. The 6,322-square-foot house has a sweeping staircase entry, five bedrooms and six bathrooms. The actor, 44, starred in the TV series "Rock Me, Baby" (2003-04) and "Veronica's Closet" (1997-2000) and appeared in the 1995 season of "Melrose Place. " He hosted "Money Hungry" (2010)

In Los Angeles, not all murder investigations are created equal. Sometimes a killing shocks our collective conscience so much that the media swarm and politicians line up for press conferences and the police assign dozens of officers to the case until it's solved. The 1993 killing of Veronica Ultreras, 22, and her 3-year-old daughter Cynthia in their Highland Park home was not one of those crimes. Media attention was fleeting, and the police investigation yielded no suspects.

Re "Giving Back," Nov. 19. Ten-year-old Veronica [Pomeroy of Calabasas] exemplifies true giving from the heart. She responded to an ad in a magazine which asked for shoe boxes filled with goodies to be sent to underprivileged children around the world by devising a plan and then gaining support from two girlfriends, Lexi Cline and Lindsay Rich, and her principal, Martha Mutz at Bay Laurel Elementary School. Three hundred boxes later, she had not only achieved her goal to make other kids happy over the holidays, but she had given us a precious gift as well.

I am not worried about the graying of America. I'm worried about the degrading degraying. So let's make a deal. We here at the Gonna Die Institute have an offer that will save you months of pain, years of grief, hours of time and fistfuls of dollars. It's easy. It's simple. And all it takes is one itty-bitty generational commitment. If every one of you will take The Pledge, we can all be free of our enslavement to vanity. Yes, vanity, saith the preacher, is becoming the No.

When actor Bobby Cannavale texts his friend, playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis, it's often just a one-word note. "Slice" means let's go get pizza. "Bench" means meet me at the bench at 85th and Riverside on the Upper West Side, overlooking Riverside Park. Last year, Cannavale texted "Bench" when he found out Guirgis' play, "The Mother… With the Hat" (the expletive is implied) was casting for a Broadway run. "I don't think he saw me in the role so much, but I definitely did," Cannavale said.

They love to hate him, Martin Amis, the British literati's very own Princess Di. He can't go to the airport without the press commenting on where he stopped along the way and why, where he has his dental work done and whether a particular gesture or phrase is reminiscent of his famous father, Kingsley Amis, and why. If he really hated all that publicity, you say, why announce that there ought to be booths on street corners where the elderly can...