Oh, thank goodness Bettie is back!
Creative Staff:
Story: David Avallone, Leah Williams
Art: Julius Ohta, Fernando Ruiz
Colors: Ellie Wright, Valentina Pinto
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
What They Say:
Bettie Page is back! Is a Boston artist in contact with godlike space invaders, or is he just nuts? Bettie brings the love, and the craft, in the BETTIE PAGE HALLOWEEN SPECIAL, the latest chapter in writer David Avallone’s Secret Diary of Bettie Page!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
One of the best books that Dynamite put out in the last couple of years for me was their Bettie Page run that had David Avallone writing it. Thankfully, the book is back with a Halloween special that he gets to work on with artist Julius Ohta that delivers the goods in classic Bettie fashion. We get a backup story as well from Leah Williams that kind of misses the mark for me both in the story and the artwork from Fernando Ruiz as it just felt a bit like low hanging fruit, and too familiar to another story. The book is definitely worth it for fans of the previous run as there’s a lot of Bettie goodness here and the world damn well needs it.
The main story takes place after the previous series where she’s doing her modeling work and enjoying life as much as one can. She does, however, et pulled into some interesting jobs from time to time, especially when Lyssa shows up. The training Bettie received to be an age is an amusing subplot from before but it pays dividends well here as they need her to investigate a painter in Boston, Richard Pickman, who was photographed with a painting that’s disturbing looking in a kind of supernatural beast. While Bettie has the right reaction to that, learning that it may be real and they need her to investigate using her wiles sets of the story. Lyssa would do it but Pickman is quite the racist as he wouldn’t even open the door for her.
Watching Bettie employ her skillset in trying to get into Pickman’s space and figure out what he’s really up to is a lot of fun as they go back and forth and each show their truth to the reader but not to each other until the last minute. But this is also when the story shifts to the full-on supernatural as the other-dimensional beast pulls them over to its realm and begins to go all in on dealing with them both. It’s goofy and silly with great artwork as Ohta really nails it here. Which makes the backup story such a shift all around as we get Bettie and Lyssa going to a party that Bettie was invited to but is actually just a “clever” trap. It’s not bad in the general idea but Bettie’s costume kind of made me cringe a bit and the artwork in general just didn’t feel like it clicked for me, especially after the strong main story piece.
In Summary:
The main story in this book delivered what I’ve missed for a good bit now with more Bettie Page in my life and that’s wonderful. As a self-contained story, it does everything right with connections to the what went on before to tantalizing new readers before launching into what it wants to do. It goe big and creepy with a Hallloween tale to delight and it places Bettie in a surreal situation, something she’s becoming used to. Avallone nailed the dialogue just right and I’m in love with what Julius Ohta did with the artwork both in the real world and with the beast she confronts. It’s a great looking main story that delighted me through and through. Here’s hoping for more Bettie Page.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: October 24th, 2018
MSRP: $4.99
