Bettie’s conquering new worlds.
Creative Staff:
Story: Stephen Mooney
Art: Jethro Morales
Colors: Dini Ribero
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
What They Say:
The penultimate issue! Danger lurks at every corner as the Curse of the Banshee seems to consume our hero!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Stephen Mooney takes some interesting turns with this installment because we basically get Bettie spending most of her time, at least for the first half, where she’s passed out and getting worse from the possession. That lets X shine a bit but Bettie gets more time in the back half to show more personality. As with previous installments, Jethro Morales is turning in some great stuff here as Bettie looks great while being similar to what we’ve had with past artists in over style, which definitely helps the continuity feeling between the various series. This issue is more serious in general with more action but it still has the right kind of nods to make it pure Bettie.
The opening half of this book focuses on Lyssa as she cares for Bettie, giving her the medicine that she’s been given and trying to calm her down while hoping she wakes up. All of that goes out the window with the Father of the local church shows up at the landlady’s request to help. He’s not exactly convinced that Bettie is possessed but he goes through the process of it, all while dealing with Lyssa being overly protective and keeping him from really going full in on doing this. The process he works through is definitely wordy but Mooney and Morales use it as a way to dig into what’s going on with Bettie, showing the underworld of zombies waiting to be cast loose into the world before it shifts to the dreamspace that Bettie is in.
With Bettie’s time with Maire, we get some interesting material as Maire is doing her best to convince Bettie to stay there with her so she can utilize her and achieve her larger goals. Presenting it as a kind of kitchen table moment is fun and the back and forth between the two works well because Bettie is definitely quite clear in understanding what’s going on and she does the right kind of pushback to make sure that Maire doesn’t just overwhelm her. But we also get the idea that Bettie is more powerful than we realize, as when she’s starting to fly away under her own control it impresses the hell out of Maire. And makes Maire want her all the more, leading to a kind of strange chase on the metaphysical level that’s colorful and interesting, setting up for a final battle in the next issue.
In Summary:
Though Bettie is here throughout the whole issue, it’s only in the back half where she’s interactive. The time with Lyssa and the priest in the first half is interesting and it fits with how Lyssa views a lot of things combined with her overprotective nature toward Bettie. Bettie’s time dealing with Maire in her own mind definitely makes for a really good experience to watch unfold as she’s confident and in control as much as she can be the whole time, which is better than being under Maire’s thumb the whole time. The back and forth is nicely handled and I love the look of it, especially with the color design, as it delivers a kind of period piece really well.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: September 15th, 2021
MSRP: $3.99
