Welcome back everyone! First I’d like to clear up some confusion. When “Flash and Betty” concluded and I annouced it was over, many people misunderstood and assumed the whole “Bertone hates Betty” feature was ending. That isn’t the case. “Flash and Betty” was a retrospective series on their romance which had an endpoint in mind. I still have plenty to say about Betty. I did need a break after that massive series. It’s now time to return!
Our subject today is Betty’s mental state. I maintain that she has been mentally ill for some time. This is more than just me showing her being mean or antisocial and saying “look she’s insane”…I will present to you ACTUAL UNDENIABLE CANONICAL evidence that Betty has a history of mental illness. Don’t believe me? Let’s start then…
First let’s look at a scene JR spoke about on one of our recent podcast episodes. This is Betty and Peter in “Web of Spider-Man” issue 69.
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At this point Betty has come out of the downward spiral she fell into after Ned died. She joined a cult and got deprogrammed and no longer thinks her mother or husband is still alive.
But let’s examine what she has to say here…
“A nervous breakdown A F T E R my husband died”.
Is that when her nervous breakdown started? Let’s go back in time to “Web of Spider-Man” issue 40 to look further…
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Once again Ned being the Hobgoblin is the given as the reason Betty’s marriage fell apart, not her leaving Ned on their honeymoon to cheat with Peter or publicly dating Flash later on. Those two things have NOTHING to do with her marriage falling apart (insert sarcasm here if it didn’t translate well).
As you can see, Peter says that Ned’s death triggered her delusions. Most biographies, indexes and handbooks seem to state the same thing. I suppose I can’t blame Betty too much for that. A husband dying is something that would cause someone to lose their grip.
But is that the way it happened?
Let’s go back in time again to “Amazing Spider-Man” issue 289. Here Peter comforts Betty after Ned’s funeral…
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However, Peter has an epiphany when he leaves…
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DUN DUN DUN!!
Ned is dead….Betty is delusional and thinks her mother is alive. So far it’s exactly the way everyone has always described it. However, we find something interesting when we go back in time a few issues to “Amazing Spider-Man” issue 284.
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Betty seems very conerned in the second panel about people breaking into her home. I’m glad she’s consistent with that. And “Ned so angry with me” is because this is the period where she cheated on him with Flash and refused to tell Ned she loved him.
However, the thing we need to focus on in this scene is Betty’s reference to her mother. Easy explanation is that her mother is still alive at this point. Unfortunately it’s been established that she died much earlier than this.
So remember that theory about Betty going crazy because Ned died? Betty didn’t start thinking her mother was alive again until Ned died? I think we can forget about it because this clearly shows that it started earlier.
So I suppose Betty’s delusions could be triggered by the surrounding events in her life like…
* Ned finally moving out and throwing the adultry in her face.
* Flash being accused of being the Hobgoblin then hunted as a fugitive.
Could that be why Betty went crazy?
The answer would be yes…but we now need to go back in time again…this time to “Spectacular Spider-Man” issue 109.
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THAT’S RIGHT! Betty’s grip of reality was lost far sooner than people realize! Triggered by her husband’s death? Not likely anymore. The stress of her divorce and having a boyfriend as a fugitive? Nope…this was before that!
Surely this must be the earliest example!
HA!
Let’s go back in time again to “Spectacular Spider-Man” issue 103..
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This one isn’t so cut and dry…but for many reasons too extensive to explain here (or they would stop the flow of this article) I am concluding that Betty is “talking” to her dead mother and Betty is the one talking to Ned in panel 2. For a more detailed explanation of how I reached this conclusion see the comment section and I’ll put it there as a footnote.
For those of you who think it’s all a happy coincidence, remember that Peter David wrote “Amazing Spider-Man” issue 289 and “Spectacular Spider-Man” issues 109 and 103. Peter David wrote the revelation that Betty thought her dead mother was alive and even had her reference multiple letters and PHONE CALLS.
So was it the traumatic loss of her husband that made her snap? Flash being arrested? NOPE! None of those things made Betty go crazy. Next time you read a reference to Ned’s death sending her over the edge, remember she was already gone.
I am not making this up…IT’S CANON!
Was this just a bad period in her life? Maybe it’s not a reoccurring thing and it’s all over now.
Or maybe not….let’s jump to the future now….years after Ned’s death where Betty has put her life back together and became a reporter.
“Amazing Spider-Man” volume 2 issue 25
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It would be really hard to come up with an explanation for this that doesn’t involve Betty being delusional. Heck, her being delusional would be IN CHARACTER given the other images I posted!
You can’t deny what you see! Betty has a repeat history of mental illness. In fairness to Betty though, why don’t we give her a chance to defend herself.
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Of coarse you’re not Betty. Of coarse you’re not.
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What’s going on in that first panel, lol? At least there’s a bit of context in the last panel XD. And I want to know what she sees in the window; is it the lack of a bird that terrifies her or is she hallucinating that something horrible is out there… or is there actually something horrible out there…? Anyways; great article; I’m going to have to read all of them now!
Well, now I know what I want to dress up as for Halloween next year.
The very first and last panel are the scariest panels of Betty I have ever seen o_O Great article Bertone 😀
Dang it, that should’ve been a 😈
lol “Betty’s mental illness is canon” Okay, guys. You know what else is canon? OMD. 👿
I guess its not suerprising Betty’s mental illness started earlier, she clearly wasn’t having a happy marriage with Ned even before the Brainwashing if you go back to the Marv Wolfman run and she always seemed a little emotionally eratic back in the Stan Lee days. Didn’t once hullucinate Peter as Spider-man in an old lee/ditko tale when she left the Bugle for a while after her and Petes break up?
Bertone- OK, your explanation makes sense. Thanks. As to why her mother-in-law would be calling the office, I haven’t read the specific issue that that’s from (Spec 103) in a while, but if there was a serious threat against Betty/Daily Bugle/etc. by the Blaze, then it’s not unreasonable for a concerned relative to call and say “are you OK? Is your husband with you to keep you safe?”. If that doesn’t fit in the context of the issue, then this seems like less of a possibility. Maybe this is just my own personal biased canon 😉
I don’t completely rule out Ned’s mother…it’s still a possibility. It does raise the question of why Betty is calling her mother in law at the office…but maybe they just have that kind of relationship. I leaned more towards Bettys mother because PAD specifically had Betty mention phone calls in a later issue he penned and it fit because he also called back to the letters. PAD has a tendency to call back to stuff he did earlier in his runs.
Another possibility is brainwashed Ned (from the Winkler machine) didn’t notice or (judging by the look on his face) is humoring Betty.
Really it’s reader intent. You have no reason to be wrong in thinking it’s Mother Leeds…it just isn’t my personal biased canon.
You know who else is crazy? Norman Osborn. Betty doesn’t get as much love as he does. 🙁
Bertone- interesting article. A question, though…
For the scan and your footnote of Spec 103, I don’t see how you were to eliminate it being Ned’s mother. Just because it was PAD? I think it being Ned’s mother is more logical than assumption 2 (that Ned is clueless). Can you expand on why you came to your conclusion further?
Betty is a horrible person and Pscho! Maybe she should hook up with Norman Bates…
Excellent work as always, Bertone.
I’m sure Mackie forgot….but the question is whats the in-universe explanation? The easiest answer is Betty being crazy again since there is a basis for it. Regarding the shadowy figure…it’s Flash. The rest of the scene could be found in “Flash and Betty part 3”
I think that answering machine panel was probably Mackie forgetting Betty’s mom is dead. That panel where she thinks someone broke into her house, who is that behind her?
Good article as usual. One note, it’s “of course” not “of coarse”.
Sal Buscema, yes.
My guess is Sal Buscema…
Bertone, you made me jump with that picture. WHO DREW THAT?
That scene from #289 always makes me crack up. She’s so creepy! Happy Halloween from Betty Brant!
Another great article!
I look forward to the next one
FOOTNOTE FOR SPEC 103:
There are three scenarios for panel 1 and three scenarios for panel 2.
PANEL 1
Scenario 1: Betty is on the phone with her alive mother.
Scenario 2: Betty is delusional and is talking to a dialtone thinking it’s her mother.
Scenario 3: Betty is on the phone with Ned’s mother.
Panel 2:
Scenario 1: It’s Betty’s mother saying “I meant the Blaze”
Scenario 2: It’s Betty saying “I meant the Blaze”.
Scenario 3: It’s Ned’s mother saying “I meant the Blaze”.
We can eliminate the possibility of Betty’s mom being alive here because it’s been established she died earlier.
The person saying “I meant the Blaze” could be Betty because she says “honey” and explains what she was clarifying…which also points to Betty.
There is some evidence it could be Ned’s mother because he calls her “Ma” (while Betty just calls her “Mom”) which implies more familiarity and calls his wife “my Betty” which he would probably say “our Betty” if was Betty’s mother.
The fact that Peter David wrote this leads me to believe it’s Betty thinking she’s talking to her mother. PAD later wrote other scenes of Betty mentioning her dead mother and the reveal that she was dead for years….and when he did that reveal he had Betty mention letters and phonecalls…which if this was “Betty’s mother” it would mean PAD was referencing other stories he wrote with the letters (Sin-Eater) and phone calls (the scene I’m dissecting right now). For that to work we have to assume two things…
1) Betty is talking to Ned in panel 2 (easy enough)
2) Ned is clueless
Ned being clueless is hard to swallow but not impossible given the other evidence. Perhaps this was a desperate cry for Ned’s attention?