BETTIE PAGE THE CURSE OF THE BANSHEE #1 DYNAMITE ENTERTAIMENT
Bettie Page returns with a new mystery from writer Stephen Mooney. But at this point in the ongoing adventures of Miss Page, we seem to have lost some of the cute charm of the first few outings. With Bettie working with the government and having established herself as a trouble shooter, we have slipped into a routine. If you were to change Bettie out with James Bond and “Captain” with Q, the story would still work. Plus, Bettie herself seems to be maturing out of her lovingly nieve persona into more of a full blown smart aleck. And while Jethro Morales art fits wonderully with the story, it doesn’t highlight Bettie like the various cover artists do. A good story, decent art, but just shying off the mark a bit. I give it a 7 out of 10 Grahams.
VAMPIRELLA 1992 ONE-SHOT DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT
The Vampirella of the 1990’s was a very confusing time and place. Sure, we knew we wouldn’t be getting our classic Trina Robbins/Tom Sutton/Jose Gonzales version but we wanted to see what this new generation of artists and writers could do with the character. What followed was a very avant-garde version which could be very gritty at points only to turn into a series of storylines that almost bordered on the superhero genre. And Max Bemis captures that all in his story. With artists Roberto Castro and Marcos Ramos capturing both art styles well. Just look at the huge jump between the art on page 1 and 2. So, over all, this is an amazing look back at a time period when Vampirella was starting to make a come back. I’m just not sure if it is something that needed to be done. I give it a 7 out of 10 Grahams.
