Dynamite Entertainment attempts a fictionalized secret history of the most famous of pin-up models. What could go wrong?
Written by David AvalloneCover by Terry Dodson
Illustrated and Colored by Colton Worley
Lettered by Taylor EspositoShe’s more modest than Ms. Blaise, but peels more than Ms. Emma. She out-vamps Vampirella, but she’s sweeter than Honey West. She put the mod in model, and the bangs in bang-bang. Now the world can know the truth: her classified adventures back in 1951 Hollywood have been declassified. Dynamite, David Avallone and Colton Worley are proud to present The Secret Diary of Bettie Page, in handy comic book form.
In the past, famous figures have been turned into characters for use in stories. Those characters usually end up as a caricature, a walking projection of the public perception of an icon set through a lens of camp. The perception usually comes from the present, from musicians or movie stars who have a clear characterization in the public consciousness, and who get a say in what ultimately represents their character. So, what happens when someone tries to do that with a now-deceased pin-up model? “Bettie Page” looks to answer that question.
Landing somewhere between bizarre fanfiction, noir, and cheesecakey camp, “Bettie Page” attempts to tell of the years directly after Page’s initial fame went out. It’s still a little difficult for me to fully wrap my head around the concept, considering the odd ebb and flow of her popularity and obscurity over the years. Something doesn’t sit right with me about creating a character out of this real woman who didn’t even realize she had become famous again and struggled with mental disorders later in life, and who only died less than a decade ago. Then again, other publishers have put out comics about her before, while she was still alive, so I guess the point is moot. The book still can’t help but feel like some odd attempt at fetishizing the former life of this recently deceased human, though.
If you can get past that, there’s some fun to be had. Avallone places us in a noir-ish world where Page is on the run from the feds and subsequently investigates a secretary’s disappearance. The plot happens in the manner of one thing leading to the next, coming off more as the writer’s stream of consciousness than something that felt purposely planned out. It works well enough to introduce us to some new characters and set up Page’s new status quo, even if the scenes don’t have much to them beyond that. In the moment, everything works. Think any deeper and it might not. Avallone probably knows this, and would likely pass it off as a stylistic choice. It does work well enough for this story — I just have trouble saying it’s objectively well done.
Page’s narration gives us a consistent voice through the book. It helps us see her as a more fully-formed character than any of the others, giving her a sense of agency. Beyond that, though, the character is still a caricature. She goes where the plot wants her to go, she spouts one-liners, and she speaks to the reader in terse, hard-boiled statements. There’s not much there beyond the basic fact that she has agency over herself, which becomes ironic since she’s essentially only there as a vessel to make the plot happen and showcase some cheesecakey art. Her being the most fully-formed character in “Bettie Page,” you can tell how important characterization is to “Bettie Page.”
Worley uses a few opportunities to place Page in some pin-up style positions. It’s frequent enough to notice, yet infrequent enough that it doesn’t come off as being too gratuitous. Well, except for the bondage, though that can be passed off as a genre trope. The rest of his art does a sufficient job in most spots. There are some points where the layout of a page isn’t as intuitive as it should be, with diagonal panels going up from left to right. Once the lettering got layered in on top of those pages, it led me to read the panels in the wrong order. For the most part, we do get some clear representations of the world and characters, so even though there are a few layout concerns, I wasn’t often taken out of the story.
Continued belowSince Worley has control of all aspects of the art, some fall by the wayside. In particular, I think his digitally painted colors work so well that his linework can look inconsistent on top of them. There are a number of inconsistencies in his faces where the eyes aren’t aligned or where the same face doesn’t look the same from panel to panel. It’s unfortunate, because his coloring does work well. He has a good eye for setting the tone of a scene with color, like the blues that light up the final hostage scene, and he can create texture with the paint strokes so linework isn’t even necessarily needed. But then those wonky linework moments crop up.
On the whole, “Bettie Page” worked well enough. It didn’t particularly connect with me, the characters weren’t particularly well developed, the concept creeps me out a little, and I had some issues with the art. But when I let myself sit back and be entertained by the book as a campy noir tale, it ended up about as enjoyably inoffensive as a fictional comic about a real-life pin-up model could be.
Final Verdict: 6.5 – “Bettie Page” may not rise above the issues inherent in creating a fictional story starring a real-life pin-up model, but there’s enough here to keep it entertaining.
