In Review: Bettie Page: Unbound #9

Synopsis: Model Agent Bettie Page’s mission to save the world from every type of nemesis you can think of (Elder gods, we are looking at you) continues with style, as she takes on her most dangerous foe yet!

Review: The 1950s Science Fiction B-Movie tropes continue in this latest issue, which sees Bettie get a brief respite from her Praesepod pursuers as she meets up with her best friend Lyssa.

The Story

Having escaped the base of Project Blue Book and made the journey back to New York. A tired Bettie gets her injuries treated by Lyssa’s father, but it isn’t long before a few Praesepod drones catch up with her, but they don’t count on Bettie’s friends being just as confident with firearms than she is.

Realizing that she has placed Lyssa’s parents in danger. She has Lyssa send them off to one of their relatives and they then make a trip to see a scientist friend who can probably help Bettie unlock some hidden memories from where she was psychically linked to the Praesepod Queen.

Artwork

The art in this issue is good but not really quite as epic as we have seen in previous installments, which leads me to suspect that Julius Ohta and his partner in crime are holding something back from the next issue. I really liked the attention paid to the treatment of Bettie’s bullet wound at the start of the issue as well as the ominous sight of the Praesepod drones in the window that turn up as Bettie is telling Lyssa’s father her story.

Overall

As always David Avallone is producing a style of storytelling that I really love in that he shares an appreciation of storytelling tropes from 1950s science fiction and fantasy. The dialogue as always is bang on to how you’d hear characters speak in the old talkies. Sorry, I meant old movies. I love that he is very obviously paying homage to films like Invasion of the Body Snatchers in this. But I really want him to do a take on ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’. I mean he couldn’t possibly do worse than the Keanu Reeves remake. But I’d just love to see Bettie Interact with Klaatu.

Overall. A strong issue, which is definitely building to a grand finale.