The accompanying art is from last Wednesday’s “Venom” issue 2. Our very own Crazy Chris has been doing a fine job reviewing it and you can check out his review here. In this scene we find Flash thinking of Betty and just what she deserves. The issue also has a speech by Betty that I find curious given her previous behavior. Let’s take a look shall we?
EDITED 5/1/11 to add new image
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Peter is over at Betty’s house keeping her company while Flash is out of town for Venom business. Peter begins to leave, but a sociopath like Betty can’t have that. She begins to sob to get his attention and rant about the state of her relationship with Flash.
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I take some issues with a few things Ms. Brant says. For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve long been a critic of Betty’s behavior and I take great pleasure in pointing out her hypocrisy. Let’s examine some points in her speech.
“Are you kidding? Breaking up would be too easy.”
So Betty is accusing Flash of delying the breakup instead of coming right out and doing it. Cool except we have this scene from Peter Parker: Spider-Man (vol2) issue 18.
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“Flash prefers to just ignore me”
Amazing Spider-Man issue 18
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Well that was the Lee/Ditko run…obviously she grew up after that right? No more leaving people when things get tough without facing them right?
Well there is Amazing Spider-Man issue 184.
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——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-Keep in mind that in the above panel she is speaking of her HONEYMOON! Let’s use one more example before moving on.
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Well maybe he’s not reliable now. That was back in the 80’s. I mean what has Flash done recently?
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Amazing Spider-Man issue 7
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Amazing Spider-Man issue 29
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——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————Well in those it’s super villains…what about relying on Betty on a friendship level? Maybe a more recent example?
Let’s revisit Amazing Spider-Man issue 583.
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Want another example?
Amazing Spider-Man issue 615
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Betty is taking advantage of her roommate and being a very bad/unethical roommate/reporter. Thanks to Stillanerd for bringing this one to my attention.
I’ve often been asked why I hate Betty. I hope her hypocritical speech in Venom issue 2 has shed some light on this. There is plenty more where this came from and if you want to see it, I’d be happy to enlighten you. Want this to be an ongoing series? Let me know in the comments section. In the meantime, let’s hear what Peter has to say about this.
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More of these, please!
HELL, make it a whole podcast!!!!
this should really be an ongoing feature
You should keep this feature as a regular thing
Forgot those ads change when you refresh, haha. Too bad. Still, great stuff Bertone! As much of this as we get on Amazing Spider-Man Classics, it’s fun to see how little she’s changed.
I just feel the need to mention that at the end of the article about Betty being a crazy hypocrite is an ad offering to explain why *women* love jerks. Oh, irony.
Thanks for the credit, Bertone. 😀
And hey, as long as we’re on the “Betty Brant is a horrible person” parade, let’s not forget how she and Flash first became a couple, shall we? You know, her whole “cheating on her husband and seducing another man away from his girlfriend who came to the United States just to be with him?” No wonder Peter wants to leave Betty in that scene from Venom #2. 😛
@Two-Bit Lawyer,
Yup it’s cherry-picking. I admit it. However in this case there was plenty of cherries to pick which made it easy.
Okay, I’ll play.
Cherry-picking is fun. I can easily take scenes where characters have been written as d-bags and make a case for how terrible they are as human beings. Heck, I can take scenes from BND and make a case for how Spidey is the worst hero ever. Of course, fans would jump all over me about how I’m wrong, but if I only use certain evidence, I can twist the facts to my liking.
It all boils down to how writers want to characterize any given character.
Unfortunately, writers choose to keep writing Betty as an crazy witch because Stan did it. And I think even if we had a story where Betty would do something of value, no one would care because it would go against all the dumb moments she’s been given. It’s part of her “background” now, “classic Betty,” and that’s a shame.
I do so look forward to a good Betty story someday. I won’t hold my breath, though.
Your turn now. 😉
For this and more Bertone/Betty beef you can find it in Amazing Spider-Man Classics Podcast!
Zoeey Deschanel as Betty! She can most definitely pull it off!!
Never had much interest in Betty, probably since I was never that big on the early Spidey issues where she had more of a role… but I agree these panels do make her look crazy
She’s a drama queen, always has been.
The question is:Why do the writers keep bringing her back? She’s not very interesting. Her “characteristics” consist of the following;
1. She’s held a job at the Bugle as secretary/reporter/secretary most of her life.
2.She’s known Peter since issue#1.
3She’s been in multiple failed relationships.
4.Her younger self had an irrational fear of Spider-man even after he saved her.
That’s it.
What does she bring to stories besides nostalgia associated with the Ditko years? And she doesn’t represent the best of the Ditko era characters. She hasn’t been much of a friend to Peter(the only thing I can think of was the time she called out Deb Whitman over the book she wrote).
As for her husbands/boyfriends, their failures aren’t all her fault, but she doesn’t seem to have grown at all. I’ve been in a few failed relationships myself. Some of what went wrong in them was my fault, some of the fault of the other half of the relationship. But one thing I learned is, if you love the person and want to save the relationship, don’t give up. Betty ALWAYS gives up.
I just wish the writers would “give up” on Betty and write her out of the book once and for all!
While I’m here, I have to say how much I enjoy Bertone’s Betty Brant “impressions” on the podcast! Sorry that “Betty” will be off the podcast for a few years.
This was terrific.
“Is she Peter? Or is she a horrible person ?” That was the icing on the cake of a hilarious article.
Why do you hate me?! What have I done?!
I’m running away to the arms of my Ned!(while I’m in a relationship with Peter) You’ll never see me again!
🙁
Josh, I think you crossed a line here. This is still awesome, though! 🙂
Wow, that was awesome. I vote for ongoing Betty articles whenever you want them. Very well thought out and thanks for the hard work on this one!
The more evidence that is stacked up, the more I find myself starting to hate Betty.
She truly is a horrible person, and I’m sure that Carlie Cooper will join her soon enough.