Belladonna, Babette and Baby’s saga concludes (for now) in Tramps of the Apocalypse #3, written, drawn and inked by Alice Darrow with colors by Hugo Blanc. Last issue, the trio (along with the diminutive Cecil) were left riding across the desert wasteland on a bicycle, their car blown up in combat with Master Quest.
As this issue opens, they’ve finally reached the end of their quest, finding a remote abandoned convenience store, where the fabled relic that will make them all-powerful is located. The convenience store is a mess (this is the post-apocalypse after all), so the women search through piles of old milk jugs, tissue boxes, paper towels and aspirin bottles trying to find the relic buried underneath, even as Master Quest returns with his army, itching to kill them all. From the beginning, the miniseries seems to have been a tribute to Russ Meyer’s early films such as Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and Motorpsycho!, where powerful buxom women drop some brutal vengeance down on the evil people (mostly men) who did them wrong. I’ve loved the in-your-face vibe of the book, with the over-the-top dialogue, the overt sexuality and the explosive violence.
Reading the book is like watching a great low-budget drive-in film, one of those movies where you can’t believe the characters did that but you can’t wait to see what they do next. I especially loved the final showdown between Master Quest, Belladonna and Baby. Though Belladonna and Baby have argued a lot through the course of the miniseries, they’re absolutely loyal to each other and the loathsome Master Quest gets an epic beatdown by the two women delivered via the streamlined art of writer/artist Alice Darrow. Her artwork not only captures the fury of the women via their expressions and martial arts moves, it conveys how painful their kicks and punches are. You’d feel sorry for Master Quest if he wasn’t such a colossal lowlife and jerk, but instead, it’s an incredibly satisfying sequence.
The book’s not without subtlety in places, particularly with Babette, who seems to deeply care for (love?) Belladona through subtle words and actions. Meanwhile, Belladonna’s laser-focused on her goals and doesn’t pick up on Babette’s signals. You wonder if Belladonna doesn’t understand Babette’s feelings or she just doesn’t care. My money’s on the latter.
The reveal of the ”all-powerful relic” is hilarious at first and may seem a bit anti-climactic, but it makes total sense how it would give the women the power they need to take over every kingdom in this post-apocalyptic world, especially since the worst, most braindead men are running those kingdoms.
The book has a solid ending but sets up future story possibilities. I hope Darrow continues the adventures of Belladonna, Babette and Baby for many years to come.
