Talking ‘Betty: The Final Girl’ With Writer Micol Ostow
by Rachel Bellwoar
There’s only one Riverdale resident who could ever live-up to the superlative “most likely to survive a horror movie.” That’s why instead of coupling up this Valentine’s Day, Archie Comics is singling out with Betty: The Final Girl, an anthology issue that sticks Betty on babysitting duty. Writer, Micol Ostow, and artist, Laura Braga, are responsible for the wraparound story, as well as “Rosemary’s Babysitter,” and it was a thrill to talk horror and Grady Hendrix with Ostow over email.
Rachel Bellwoar: Valentine’s Day isn’t always associated with horror. Did you know, while writing, that that’s when the issue would be released?
Micol Ostow: I didn’t! But to be fair, in my world, any holiday is a good time for horror. I’m the person who always wants the rom-com to spontaneously turn dark, so this is kind of perfect for me.
RB: Usually there can only be one final girl, but Betty: The Final Girl has at least three. Were there any challenges to figuring out how to make a final girl theme work for an anthology format, and did you model Betty after any particular final girls?
MO: Of course, it’s right there in the title: final girl, singular, right? But if we’re going out on a limb and letting the spooky story season extend from Halloween to Valentine’s Day, why can’t we also be a little experimental with the concept of the one and only final girl? That’s one of the best things about the horror genre — and Archie Comics, too! — its playfulness and willingness to roll with the times.
RB: In addition to writing the wraparound story, you also wrote one of the stories in the anthology. Is there anything you can tell us about the plot and working with artist, Laura Braga?
MO: I had very little one-on-one interaction with Laura, but I was absolutely thrilled when I learned she’d be illustrating my story because I’m a HUGE fan! Her style is so distinct and sophisticated. I discovered her through Blossoms 666 and fell hard so this is really just a dream come true, which I haven’t even told her, because every time I begin to mention it in an email it devolves into something very Swimfan-y and embarrassing and I delete it and run away. But I guess the truth is out now! I love you, Laura!
RB: What made you decide on Veronica’s mountaintop chalet to be the setting for this story?
MO: Excellent question.
RB: “Rosemary’s Babysitter,” sounds like a great name for a sitcom (young girl accepts a babysitting gig only to realize the child is Satan’s baby). Where did the idea for that title come from?
MO: THANK YOU for validating the title! It was not the original title for this story, which I think I’d pitched as “When A Stranger Texts,” and then realized in the writing that there was nothing specifically text-based about the plot at all. Womp-womp. About a million years ago I had the idea for a Grady Hendrix-style satire novel of the same name, sort of along the lines of the sitcom you describe. But all I ever had was a cute title, and nothing to attach it to. Until it occurred to me that it would easily fit the current project if I changed the name of Betty’s babysitting charge. All’s well that ends well!
RB: If you could program a double feature around the theme of final girls, which two horror films would you choose?
MO: That is a very mean question! Truly, the possibilities are endless. But I think a good starter might be Halloween/A Nightmare on Elm Street. My reasoning being Halloween is Halloween, and Elm is one of my fave of the franchises.
RB: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Micol!
Betty: The Final Girl goes on sale February 15th from Archie Comics, with colors by Matt Herms and letters by Jack Morelli.