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David Avallone's Writer's Commentary on Bettie Page Unbound #10, By Way Of Frank Miller's Sin City

Published Mon, 10 Feb 2020 08:00:13 -0600

David Avallone's Writer's Commentary on Bettie Page Unbound #10, on sale now from Dynamite.

And here we reach the end: the last issue of Bettie Page Unbound and the final chapter of Invasion of the Bettie Snatchers. Are you all caught up? Good. In we go.

As I sit down to write this I cue up the music I listened to writing the issue. I create playlists for every comic, and usually it's an eclectic mix of stuff, but heavy on the soundtrack music, for reasons that might be obvious. The Bettie Snatchers playlist had a lot of great music… but the score which really goes with this issue is Christophe Beck's Ant-Man And The Wasp. Maybe it's the whole "insect" thing that went so well with this bee-heavy issue…

Covers: When John Royle snuck me a peek at his cover for this issue, I laughed out loud. After so many Disney-inspired or Dynamite-inspired covers, Sin City was the last thing I expected, complete with Marv in the foreground. Love it. I could almost take Anthony Marques/J. Bone and Valentina Pinto's cover personally, but I met all my deadlines for this series.

Bettie looks mad I haven't given her anything to draw. When we started this arc, Julius hadn't prepped any covers for it (too busy drawing the Crisis on Infinite Betties) but he really wanted to do one. What he came up with is the most on-topic of all the series covers: an iconic movie-poster style image for the Invasion of the Bettie Snatchers, anchored by his trademark perfect Bettie likeness.

Page 1: Recently, I watched a TV show I quite liked, but the last episode of a ten episode season wrapped everything up (sort of) in about ten minutes right at the end. And left a ton of cliffhangers. I was unsatisfied, and it got me thinking about structure, and how I structure things. In action/thriller type stories, be it a four or five or ten issue arc… I always feel like the final issue should be ALL climax, as much as possible. You set things up so that all the pieces are in place at the end of the penultimate issue… and then next time, you dive right in. So to speak. I hope I've pulled that off here. (And in Elvira #12, coming out in a few weeks…)

So here we are. Boating on the Potomac, at sunset. Between the issues, Bettie and Lyssa have prepared for their commando raid on Bug Central. They even got that SCUBA gear she asked about. As always, I did some research and found amazing photos of women in swimsuits from the early fifties, fitted out like Bettie and Lyssa are here.

Pages 2 & 3: Julius Ohta can draw anything I can write, better than I could have imagined it. I have thrown so much crazy stuff at him in the last year and a half, and he's an incredible creative partner. We don't have anything scheduled together coming up, and that makes me nervous. I hope we can collaborate again soon. Very soon.

Look at this – literal – splash page. And appreciate Ellie Wright's beautiful muted color throughout the issue, making all the insane adventures seem absolutely REAL. Bettie seems to be claiming, in panel three of page three, that pure adrenaline got her out last time. Is that it? Or is there something more to Bettie now than there was before issue one of this series?

Page 4: Bettie and Lyssa infiltrate the Hive. I'll be honest: female Air Force uniforms from the period are kind of foolish looking… I thought they'd look way cooler in "drag." And, honestly, the male uniforms were probably easier to find in a Manhattan Army-Navy store on short notice. Lyssa's got an M-3 submachine gun. The M-3 goes back to World War Two, and Bettie is familiar with its nickname: the "Grease Gun". It looks like the mechanic's tool of the same name. Because Julius is just as obsessive about details as I am, note that Lyssa is also wearing a leather pouch which can hold three magazines for the M-3. Bettie's got an ammo pouch for the Colt .45 1911A semi-auto sidearm she's strapped with.

Page 5: "Heebie jeebies" is probably something you can figure out from context, but it's an old time expression that means the same as "the creeps." It goes back to the 1920s, right before Lyssa and Bettie were born, and still in use in the 1950s. As in every issue of this arc, take note of letterer Taylor Esposito's fun alien language.

Pages 6 & 7: The rescue begins. I've mentioned previously that this room is probably an echo of the giant beehive in Ray Harryhausen's MYSTERIOUS ISLAND. Though those were just giant mutant Earth-bees. I also love the variety of Bettie's expressions in these pages, courtesy of Julius. Her face at the bottom of page 7 is such a subtle mix of emotion. She's scared, she's determined, she's happy to have her Captain back alive… and she's watching a door, prepared to open fire with a machine gun. That is A LOT to convey in one facial expression, but look closely: it's all there. Julius is a genius. You can quote me on that.

Page 8: Bettie hands off the Grease Gun – she mentioned earlier she doesn't like it – and hauls out her .45, as things get violent. McKnight is a veteran, and much more of a trained killer than she is. He's happy to go bug hunting. Taylor brings the BRAKKA BRAKKA and the SKRREEEE like the comic book professional he is.

Page 9: "Time is tight" is one of my favorite songs by Booker T. and the MGs. It won't be recorded for over a decade and a half, but Lyssa is ahead of her time. Rick Chaplain demonstrates that "when in doubt, pull the plug" has been solid tech support advice for over half a century.

Page 10: The pods open. Love the "spangs" on each door. In panel 2, you might recognize some of the people who we've met in their "Duplanoid" form in issue 6. Lyssa throwing McKnight a fresh magazine wasn't in the script, and I couldn't love it more. The little realistic touches always make this stuff work better, for me as a reader. Also note that Bettie's .45 is rocking into the "empty" position, and in the next panel she's hiding and reloading, herself.

Page 11: I like using "rocket ship" for the starship in this issue, because… it's 1952. No one was saying "starship." And this one is cigar-shaped (as seen in issue 6), not a flying saucer. In panel three… did you notice that Bettie's ammo pouch is open? She didn't bother to close it while she was reloading. Details like that make me incredibly happy. Julius THINKS before he draws.

Page 12: There's a world where comic books are still 24 (or 32!) pages, and this breakout sequence could have been some kind of Steranko four page psychedelic madness. But I didn't have that kind of real estate to play with: twenty pages is a harsh mistress. Still, we're having fun here, right? Bettie mentions Cecil B. Demille. In 1952, The Ten Commandments hasn't come out yet… but he made a lot of epic films before that, and Bettie grew up with them. She's probably thinking about the recent Samson And Delilah and movies from her childhood, like The Buccaneer and The Crusades

Pages 13 & 14: When you write about heroes, you have to think about the question: what is heroism? What Bettie does here is my favorite kind of heroism. She's realized that their escape plan isn't going to get them out in time: everyone's about to be vaporized from low orbit by the Bees. A big frontal assault on the rocket will be met with force. But who's afraid of one slim girl? My favorite scene in Raiders Of The Lost Ark is Indy swimming to the U-Boat. Because it's insane and suicidal but it's the only thing he can come up with right then and there. I hope this is that kind of moment.

"Take me to your leader" is a cliché science fiction line, usually said by the aliens when they arrive on Earth. Here, Bettie is flipping the script.

One more thing struck me looking at these pages, and I might as well say it here.

This is a comic book about a real woman, who was, famously, very beautiful and very glamorous. And of course as Julius draws her… she's always beautiful. When the story calls for it, and it makes sense, she's also glamorous. But sometimes… sorry… she's going to spend a whole issue in a man's Air Force dress uniform. She spent two and a half issues of The Princess And The Pin-Up in British Commando fatigues. Oops. Sometimes I think this might be disappointing to a certain kind of reader or fan… but I'm not here to put Bettie in sexy outfits on every page. I don't see that as a primary function of these stories. It's one thing when craziness breaks out while she's modeling, or at a fancy party (this happens to James Bond A LOT), but sometimes – just like James Bond – when she knows she's going on a commando mission, I insist that she wear sensible shoes. I haven't really seen any readers complain about that, and I'm proud of that. I hope the stories work, and that you love Bettie on every page, in every kind of outfit. End of rant.

Page 15: Bettie meets the Queen. As much as you might want to escape the influence of Aliens… it's hard to escape it completely. (And Aliens was greatly influenced by THEM! which is also a big influence on me, and on this issue particularly.)

The Queen says some poetic stuff about Bettie and offers her a deal. Bettie's not buying today.

Page 16: "Suck eggs" is an old-timey version of "Go f*** yourself."

A big thing for me with Bettie is that she is constantly underestimated. No one imagines this small pretty human is going to haul off and blast the Queen in the face. It's suicide. Indiana Jones on the Nazi island. "I'm gonna blow up the Ark, Rene!" Except Bettie is WAY MORE impulsive than Indy. She will absolutely blow up the Ark, Rene, and worry about how the Hell she's going to escape from Nazi island (or the crashing Praesepod Starship) later.

Page 17: Maybe it was suicide? The bees have self-destructed, the ship is crashing… and then it all went dark.

Page 18: Bettie back in her mind-library, as seen in previous issues. Back with the four other versions of her that were created by her interdimensional travels, now a part of her… forever? It seems so. Sonja-Bettie is concerned for her feelings, Vampi-Bettie is still enjoying a martini glass full of blood, and Dejah-Bettie, Space Princess, is better at the sci-fi talk than anyone. Tinker-Bettie, as always, is all about hope. It's nice to have a crew like this on your side, isn't it?

Page 19: This page might be the only time Julius has drawn Bettie without lipstick so far, and I love it. She is, after all, in a hospital bed. Surrounded by her friends. I love that Julius reminds us one more time what season it is, by looking in from outside, in the snow.

Page 20: The top line is, of course, a play on a famous line from A Christmas Carol. The Scrooge in question here would be the grumpy lone wolf McKnight.

I wrote this scene around Thanksgiving, and I will admit I got emotional writing the last page of this series. Bettie and her friends mean a lot to me. I also know what it's like to have no real family on Christmas, and to be taken in by friends. This arc began on Thanksgiving and it ends on Christmas, with Bettie not only returning to be embraced by the kindly Drukes, but also dragging McKnight with her. She knows his loneliness as much as she knows her own, and this is what a real act of love, between friends, between anyone, looks like.

I love the last panel, particularly. Jericho is telling some story of his wild youth. Lyssa is embarrassed. As for McKnight… we've never, ever seen him smile like that. We've seen him smirk. We've seen him satisfied at a job well done. We've never seen him HAPPY. 25 issues of Bettie Page later, Bettie and McKnight are having a moment of complete joy. No spies, no monsters, no aliens. Just dinner with friends. I'm pleased to end on that note.

But is it the end? I borrow a paraphrase from EON Productions: Bettie Page will return. Hopefully with me at the keyboard.

Thanks to YOU for reading the series, and for reading my rantings here. Thanks to Bleeding Cool for the soapbox, and as always… acknowledgement and thanks to Kevin Ketner for his full-service editing – getting these issues out was a heroic effort. And to Joe Rybandt and Nick Barrucci for letting me play with their toys.

See you next time!

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