Untold Tales of Spider-Man #12
Background
Writer : Kurt Busiek
Penciller : Pat Oliffe
Finishes : Al Vey & Pam
Eklund
Story 'The Secrets of Betty Brant'
Untold Tales of Spider-Man #12
| Editor: | Tom Brevoort |
| Writer: | Kurt Busiek |
| Pencils: | Pat Olliffe |
| Inker: | Al Vey, Pam Eklund |
| Cover Art: | Pat Olliffe |
This episode fills in a lot of Betty Brant's background. It talks about how her brother fell in with Doctor Octopus (and his subsequent death of course). It also backgrounds how she got the job as JJJ's secretary, and we learn about her mother.
The sub-plot has BlueBird again getting involved as Spider-Man tackles a giant beetle left over from a fight with Ant-Man. BlueBird actually manages to help a little, but it is made quite clear that without Spider-Man's help, she (and Jason who is there to take photos of her) would have been in a lot of trouble.
General Comments
Again, the great thing is that Busiek has gotten in and very carefully fleshed out a lot of the unknowns about a major character. Of course, Betty was completely mucked up a while back when they decided to transform her from an previously insecure woman dealing with her unhappy marriage followed by the death of her husband Ned, into a butt-kicking ninja Private Investigator. Duh.
Overall Rating 
If you like the concept behind Untold Tales then this will be just what you're looking for.