“No one shot at me for a few days. It was nice.”
Creative Staff:
Story: David Avallone
Art: Colton Worley
Colors: Colton Worley
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
What They Say:
Bettie takes on Hollywood as the B-Movie Queen of the Space Commies! Bettie gets in over her head with the shadowy Sky Science cult! Bettie unleashes chaos at the Griffith Park Observatory! Writer David Avallone and artist Colton Worley are your tour guides through the thrilling second issue of The Secret Diary of Bettie Page!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Going into the Bettie Page series knowing nothing about her beyond having seen many pinups over the years was definitely an experience. As I said before, I’m sure those in the know will have issues with it simply because that’s the nature of it. For me, this is a fun kind of throwback series that has some really strong charm thanks to Avallone’s script and dialogue while Worley delivers some really great looking takes on Bettie without it coming across as creepy or wrong, particularly with some of the commentary she delivers along the way about what it means to be a woman in America at that time and place. The fun of it is that you can see it totally being a kind of movie made back in the day but without it being quite as aware.
With Bettie having survived nearly being sacrificed the last time around she’s now just going forward with the movie career. It’s a fun piece where she’s playing an alien “commie” queen that’s come to destroy the world. It’s right up in the period with costuming, dialogue, cheapness and all, and it’s just a delight to see how well the creative team brings it to life here. Bettie’s enjoying the camp and fun of it all, though less the “seedy” side of the leers of the menu and their belief that they’re god’s gift to women. She does manage to have some fun outside of the studio though with Rick picking her up and taking her out on the town, though that’s also a bit layered as he’s really trying to find out more about Benway, the person behind her near sacrifice – and the important detail of being the one who ran off with his wife!
This has its own ramifications as we see during the shooting phase of the film as one of the props was provided by the scriptwriter that was also a scientist beforehand. It’s actually a mind control kind of device that he takes advantage of during the film to cause havoc and put a few things into motion. Naturally, Bettie gets involved in trying to stop it and does so as best as she can, even noting that there are things she could have done better but was unable to thanks to just the craziness of the moment. All of this is setting up more of what’s to come for the darker things working in the background of the series pulling the strings and it continues to be clear that Rick isn’t telling us everything, which makes for some nice unraveling of events as time goes on.
In Summary:
Bettie Page is tickling a sweet spot that I normally don’t get in comics and this second issue is making me love it all the more. Avallone and Worley are nailing the tone and feel just right for something that’s hitting the camp level without becoming camp, showing it from around the edges so it can enjoy and partake in it without becoming it. I’m falling for this version of Bettie a good bit as she’s fun and engaging while Worley is making this world as a whole just a lot of fun to get into and engage with. I’m curious as to how big the larger story will be since it takes a few odd turns along the way but it’s just doing everything right for me at the moment and I suspect will be an even better read when it’s all said and done.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: August 23rd, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
