In BETTIE PAGE: QUEEN OF THE NILE, available from Dynamite Comics on April 28th, 2021, Bettie Page can’t seem to stay out of trouble when she’s caught up in a time-traveling misadventure where everyone she meets goes gaga over her.
The Details
- Written By: Jim Silke
- Art By: Jim Silke
- Colors By: Dave Stewart
- Letters By: L. Lois Buhalis
- Cover Art By: Jim Silke
- Cover Price: $14.99
- Release Date: April 28, 2021
Was It Good?
Yes, it’s nearly perfect. It’s nearly perfect because it does one thing (above several other things) extremely well.
This comic understands its audience. It knows what its audience likes. And it gives it to them. Other publishers, please take note. It’s not complicated to make a book that makes your audience happy.
The art is a perfect homage to the classic 1950s pinup style. The renderings of Bettie Page are nearly photo-accurate. And the looney plot doesn’t make much sense other than to do exactly what it’s supposed to do — make you fall in love with Bettie Page.
Feast your eyes on our BETTIE PAGE: QUEEN OF THE NILE preview to see for yourself.
The one down is the occasionally clunky dialog. There’s not enough bad dialog to take away from the overall quality of the book, but it pulls the reader out when you run into some of the more awful word bubbles.
What’s It About?
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
Bettie Page, on her way home from a photoshoot, is kidnapped by some ruffians at the direction of their boss, Terrible He. They’ve come from the future jungle planet where Bettie is considered the most beautiful woman in the universe. Terrible He sent his men back in time to bring Bettie to him to be his slave bride.
Unfortunately, the trip back to the 25th Century hits a technical glitch, and Bettie is thrown into a jungle (without her clothes). Fortunately, she’s rescued and protected by Abu, a jungle teenager who becomes her protector and right-hand man throughout the rest of the book.
The art and dialog up to this point could be misconstrued as following 1950’s stereotypes of different races and cultures. Thankfully, Silke sidesteps any concerns by placing Bettie on a different planet in the distant future, so any connections to the past are thoroughly eliminated.
Abu is not only adept at navigating the jungles of his planet but he’s also collected an array of space-age knickknacks that Betty uses to help her out, including a ray gun and a jetpack. Despite her best efforts to find a way home, Bettie and Abu are captured by slave traders and auctioned off to the highest bidder. The winner is Terrible He. Before Bettie can be shipped off to a terrible fate, Abu rescues her from her cage and they escape in a nearby time machine to a random time and place.
And we’re in ancient Egypt on Earth. Bettie is captured by Egyptian priests as an offering for their gods. She’s rescued by Cleopatra (who is a perfect lookalike). And Bettie is forced to impersonate Cleopatra in a plan to seduce Marc Anthony for the favor of Rome.
When all is said and done, Bettie saves history, defeats a river full of crocodiles, wins a sword fight, and gives a proper spanking to naughty Cleopatra for good measure.
How Does It End?
Bettie is rejected for doing the right thing. Imhotep gets what’s coming to him. “The End?”
Final Thoughts
BETTIE PAGE: QUEEN OF THE NILE, available from Dynamite Comics on April 28th, 2021, is everything you love about Bettie Page in a charmingly nonsensical time travel adventure. The art is pin-up perfect, and the story will make you smile from its silly fun from cover to cover.
Score: 9.5/10
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