Black Beth: Vengeance Be Thy Name

Black Beth was a one-time character published by Scream in the 1980s. She was a combination of Red Sonja and The Punisher, an armor-clad woman warrior who sought vengeance against the tyrants that slaughtered her love and her village. Aided by her mentor, the blind wild man Quido, she sought vengeance for 23 pages before disappearing into the memories of comic aficionados until 2016, when Rebellion purchased the rights from the original publisher. Alec Worley and artist DaNi have reinvented Black Beth for modern audiences in a dark fantasy tale that is sure to thrill readers.

The original Black Beth, written by Blas Gallego and drawn by an unknown artist, is presented in the first half of this book. It’s a dated story, to be sure, but a thrilling tale of revenge. Beth begins her journey with the line “My hatred will sustain me. All gentleness has been burned from my soul!” and trains to defeat the evil Count Wolfgang Rassau. Ultimately, Rassau meets his doom in the original tale, and readers are left eager for more of Black Beth’s adventures.

The next tale, “The Magos of Malice,” features Black Beth battling an army of undead skeletons while an evil warlock tries to sacrifice children. “The Witch Tree” is another short tale in black and white that features Black Beth renewing her vow for vengeance while remembering the death of her mother. Both tales are short, and very much in the same storyline as the original. They are dark fantasy, full of blood sacrifice and violent sword fights, but clever tales for what they are. Alec Worley has done his best to both modernize the Black Beth tale, but keep it in the same vein as the original.

The highlight of the collection is “Black Beth and the Devils of Al-Kadesh,” a full-color masterpiece. Black Beth is pitted against tritons, spiky underwater carrion-eating demons, and giant flying reptiles while trying to save good people from evil. It’s a tale that will remind readers of some of the more adventurous mythologies and fantasy tales with a dated style that very much plays to the story’s strengths.

Overall, Black Beth: Vengeance be Thy Name is a great graphic collection of tales. Starting with the historical beginnings of the titular character and moving through four new tales, this collection is sure to renew interest in what was a lost and all-but forgotten heroine of fantasy. It’s a solid collection, and Alec Worley and DaNi should be championed for breathing new life into this character. Fans of dark, epic fantasy will surely love this book.

Storyline: 9/10

Artwork - black and white: 9/10

Artwork - colour: 9/10

Additional manga info: 10/10

You can tell that a manga is going to be worth your time when the author and the editorial team take the time (and pages) to give an overview of the origin story and how an unknown manga from 1988 was revived almost 30 years later.

The manga is split in two. The first section is the story of the original “Black Beth” as envisioned by Blas Gallego. It is a black & white publication depicting how Beth was robbed of her simple life and her training to become the skilled warrior from Rassau’s prophecy.

The second section continues Black Beth’s story on another adventure, but this time in a coloured format. This time, Beth has to stop an evil warlock from their sacrificial plan.

Overall, I liked that the story was easy to read, and the fact that the second story sticks to the original character development of Beth. I’m sure that fans of dark, YA, and fantasy will enjoy this read.

Special thanks to NetGalley, Rebellion, and the editorial team for giving me the opportunity to review the ARC in audiobook format and to you, my reader, for taking the time to read this honest personal book review.

If you are interested in other of my book reviews, make sure to follow me on GoodReads!

#LifeLongLearning #BlackBeth #NetGalley

I'm going to be honest, I found this anthology on NetGalley and the cover drew me in. I recently finished Catwoman in Rome, and I thought the art style was phenomenal. The cover for Black Beth was in a similar vein and so I applied to get the ARC. I was not disappointed.

Black Beth is a comic series that was a single shot comic drawn and written for SCREAM in the 1970's, however it never got off the ground. Black Beth was again reprinted in 1988. In 2022, Black Beth is getting another release along with four other stores drawn by various artists. Probably because the series was never picked up and fleshed out the same way as many of the Marvel or DC comics would be, Black Beth has more in common with the adventures of Conan. This anthology contains five single shot stories.

The first issue in the anthology is the first issue reprinted, to provide the reader with the backstory of Black Beth. The rest of the stories are pretty straight forward villain of the week type stories that could have easily ran in a magazine of other similar comics.

I really loved the art style of the comics, but I must admit that the issue of 'Black Beth and The Devils of Al-Kadesh' was my favourite. The colours were vibrant and the art absolutely stunning. The action flowed really nicely and story wise it was decently complex compared to the other four.

This is not a huge collection, 80 pages long. One can read it in a single sitting. If you like more darker fantasy stories, don't want to commit to something long running or want to take a glimpse at Comic history. This is a great book.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Rebellion Publishing for an advanced copy of the return of this classic comic character.

A popular theme in many sword and sorcery stores is the idea of the woman done wrong, and getting revenge on those she feels were responsible. Black Beth was a character who appeared in only two stories in the early eighties for the magazine Scream. The writer has been lost, but the artist was Blas Gallego famed Spanish illustrator with a career that spans almost 60 years. The continuing adventures of Black Beth are under the auspices of writer Alec Worley and the artist DaNi. Black Beth: Vengeance Be Thy Name contains both the origin tale with original art work and newer tales one in full colour.

The words of a witch tell a mad Count that a figure in black will pursue him unto death, and the name of this avenger is Beth. Coming to a small town under his dominion he finds a wedding underway with young Beth and her husband to be the focus of the event. The Count commands the town to be destroyed and Beth is left for dead, her family not as fortunate. Found by a blinded warrior Quido Beth is trained in the arts of war, with a final gift of all black armor completeing her transformation to Black Beth. Soon she leads a peasant revolt against the Count, with vengeance her inspiration. Newer stories include stories of Beth stopping child sacrifices, a near hanging, and finally a longer story involving sea creatures, living cities, flying creatures and an misunderstood witch.

The stories are great sword and sorcery stuff, plenty of swinging swords and odd magic, with some really cool ideas and great art. The art is outstanding, especially the newer work by DaNi, in both black and white and color. The story compliments the art and vice versa. Black Beth owes a little, maybe a lot to Red Sonja, and might seem a little square in the story. Quido is a very funny fellow, quick with a quip or a thrown battle ax, sometimes at the same time.

Fans of Conan or Red Sonja will for sure enjoy this graphic novel. The mix of classic art and style with the modern is good and does not distract from the story. The art especially DaNi is quite good and helps the story move along. A fun series of adventures

The art for this comic… absolutely amazing!! This comic is in two parts, the first was the original story which is shown in black and white which move quickly. The second part is a continuation of Black Beth’s adventure and is in colour, personally I favoured this part where she stops the evil warlock from sacrificing his plan.

And can we take a second to appreciate the art of Black Beth!! A lot of female characters in comics normally don’t get armour and when they do it’s barely nothing, but she is badass and her amour is probably my favourite yet!!

Dark and beautiful art work and writing. Exactly my style. I enjoyed absolutely every minute of this and very much look forward to more of this story in the future.