Strange Girl (comics)

Plot

Bethany Black is the black sheep of her deeply religious family. While her mother, father, and brother sit down to study the Bible, she is off skating, smoking, and doing other things. One day, while being chastised for her behavior, the raptureOCCURS. Her pious family, along with all of the other righteous humans, ascend to Heaven, while everyone else is left behind on Earth. God sends a message that he will now forsake Earth, and Satan and his demons rise from Hell to take over the planet. Ten years later, Bethany is working for the demon Lord Belial. She works for a bar and serves as a pet. She in turn has a pet demon named Bloato. Bloato is a “half-breed” demon, meaning that his mother and father are of different species of demon. Earth has become Hell, with demons, giant insects, and fire reigning. Humans exist as slaves, used for labor and sex. In her years in Belial’s bondage, Bethany has begun learning magic, and often uses the protection of the violent demons. One day, Bethany gets fed up and incurs Belial’s wrath. While trying to escape his enraged master, Bloato tells her about the one remaining heavenly gate to Heaven, and that if Bethany can get to it, she may be able to sneak into Heaven. The gate is located in Vatican City.

Characters

• Bethany Black:  The main character. Bethany was not taken into Heaven along with the rest of the family during the rapture. 10 years later, she is the servant of Belial, and she has learned magic. Her relationship with Bloato is strange; he looks to be her pet, but it is unknown how they came to be together. Bethany is sarcastic, but is also a good person. She became an atheist because she believed in logic, a dilemma which she discusses with Bloato. Despite her strained relationship with her family, she misses them very much and wants to see them after reaching the gate.
• Bloato:  Bethany’s half-breed “pet”. His father was a Red demon and his mother a blue. He has a lot of contempt for Reds, see them as having no redeeming qualities (Blues at least have a sense of humor). He is vulgar and sarcastic, and often makes derogatory comments about humans, but he truly cares for Bethany.
• Tim:  Tim is Bethany’s childhood neighbor. Right after the rapture, Bethany helped shelter Tim in her parents’ fallout shelter. When a homeless man tries to attack the peer, Tim stomps the man through the heart with a poker fire. When Belial’s demons found them, they were ordered to kill Tim, but his actions with the bum won him their respect. Ten years later, Bethany’s houses Bethany and Bloato found them. He told them about Dead Western, a refuge that might take the three of them in. When the trio was stopped by a group of insane hillbillies, he slaughtered them despite Bethany’s request to just tie them up.

Collections

The series has been collected into four trade paperbacks :

• Afraid Girl
• Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now
• Paint a Vulgar Picture
• Golden Lights

In January 2010, Image Comics released the  Strange Girl Limited Edition Slipcase Collection  , presenting the complete series in a set of softcover boxed volumes in an illustrated slipcase with a Strange Girl print by Michael Kaluta, and reportedly signed by series creator Rick Remender in all 1,000 copies of the edition.

In January 2012, the publisher released the  Strange Girl Omnibus  hardcover edition, presenting the complete series in a single oversized volume.

In September 2015, Image Comics released the  Strange Girl Omnibus  trade paperback , a standard sized reprint of the collection.

References