Talking ‘Black Beth’ With Alec Worley And Anna Morozova — Plus An EXCLUSIVE Preview!

Black Beth and Quinto have vanquished a lot of enemies together. Will the desert heat be what finally takes them out? That’s what writerAlec Worley and artist Anna Morozova are going to discover in their Black Beth story for the Treasury of British Comics Annual 2025. With letters by Ozwaldo Sanchez, find out more about what’s coming (including an EXCLUSIVE preview) in the following interview with Worley and Morozova:

Rachel Bellwoar: As one of the main forces who lobbied to bring Black Beth back and as someone who’s written for the character a few times now, what keeps you excited about capturing her voice, Alec?

Alec Worley: For me it’s a chance to capture that sword-and-sorcery spirit of high adventure in an age undreamed of. The sword and sorcery genre’s undergoing a real renaissance in the world of indie fiction right now, with anthology titles like New Edge Sword and Sorcery and Tales From The Magician’s Skull, as well as comics like Jim Zub’s Conan the Barbarian, Kentaro Miura’s Berserk and (ahem) the continued adventures of Hawk the Slayer (which I’m doing with Simon Coleby for 2000 AD).

But I’ve also tried to give Beth a distinct personality, rather than make her just another sword-swinging adventurer. I’ve stuck to the original concept and kept her as this avenging angel dedicated to wiping out evildoers. But then whom does she consider evil? Just how ruthless is she? And how easily might someone like her be taken advantage of and used as a pawn in the schemes of others?

I’ve been lucky enough with Black Beth to have a character that comes with zero baggage and been allowed (by editor Keith Richardson) to let the character dictate how she develops.

Bellwoar: Recently Black Beth has been drawn a lot by DaNi. What was it like coming up with your own take on the character and her armor, Anna?

Anna Morozova: It’s great to be joining the talent cast who have contributed to the character so far. Love DaNi’s art on Black Beth! In terms of the artistic approach on the given story, the direction I chose for myself was to rely on Black Beth’s appearance that is already established given her legacy character presence. She’s got her classical costume in place, and all I was doing was illustrating the script to the best of my ability. Each artist will have their own unique stylistic approach that will add to the core image already in existence.

Bellwoar: When we encounter Beth in this story the heat of the desert is seriously getting to her. Was it strange having to show her out of her element?

Worley: Part of the fun is showing Beth out of element! I think the setting is always a good place to start. I wanted to have “Vultures of Azotir” be a desert story from the get-go, since we’ve seen her in dungeons, in the snow, on tropical islands. So let’s throw her in a blazing desert and see what happens.

I modelled this one specifically on the Tabernas Desert in Spain where they filmed all those Spaghetti Westerns along with the original Conan the Barbarian. Early on, I decided Beth’s world should feel like medieval Spain – with a heavy Moorish influence – as a nod to Beth’s original Spanish creator Blas Gallego.

Morozova: At the same time, we also encounter Beth and Quido right after the successful escape from their capturers! However, it’s not the enemies that get them this time (at least not right away!), but rather the harsh environment surrounding them, unavoidably leading them (Beth in particular) into even a more serious trap.

Our heroes don’t get a chance to catch their breath with one danger immediately following up on the previous one. The circumstances leave the protagonists no other choice but to keep fighting whilst gathering up all their mental and physical capacities. Being the ultimate warriors, Beth and Quido, seem to be destined for the challenges up to par; so be it dangerous enemies or the immense heat they’re exposed to, our heroes have to face those challenges.

The story’s opening also illustrates the importance of Quido’s presence alongside Beth: without him being on alert, who knows if Beth would escape the illusory yet deadly trap of the desert sands…

Bellwoar: While Beth may be struggling, her hair looks great. Is it fun getting to draw all that hair or more of a headache?

Morozova: Beth’s gorgeous locks are definitely a part of her legacy look! If comics characters could be signed for hair product commercials, she would definitely be on the candidates’ list! The hair is a great visual way to illustrate motion – I enjoy drawing them, especially with me being drawn towards flowing lines in line art. Definitely not a headache, but rather one of the most favourite parts of the workflow!

Bellwoar: Central to Black Beth is the relationship between Beth and Quido. What is their dynamic like in this story?

Morozova: A perfect tandem. The right balance of strength, power, momentum and rational perception of the surroundings. With one serious fight after another, Beth falls into the trap of inertia when, out of immense exhaustion she can’t think straight and just keeps moving towards a greater danger. Without Quido by her side, getting out of such a difficult situation would be far more difficult, if not impossible…

Worley: While Beth is this single-minded crusader – possibly even a little crazy – Quido is her foil. He’s reasoned and rational, but also a bit of an overthinker. Most of the Black Beth stories we’ve done so far have been shorts, so I’ve not yet had the chance to go as deep into their relationship as I’d like. Yet…

Bellwoar: While Black Beth and Quinto come up against some vultures in “Vultures of Azotic,” they’re not the bird-kind. Where did the idea for your vultures come from?

Worley: As I’ve done with Dani, I gave Anna just some basic hints and let her design whatever she wanted. I think I just said something like, ‘think bats, vultures, and Nosferatu’!

Morozova: Our vultures are more like ghouls in this instance. Vicious mystical creatures roaming the land of desert sands. Alec’s direction for them was to base their looks on both bats and vultures, yet to give them more of an anthropomorphic presence with long hands ending with long claws. They weren’t meant to have an ability to fly in this story too – therefore, those are the looks for the dangerous antagonistic creatures that both Beth and Quido have to face in this story!

Bellwoar: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Alec and Anna!

Morozova: Thank you for the questions! Always a pleasure to answer those!

Worley: No problem, Rachel. And I’d also mention that we’ve also got a trade collection called Black Beth: Vengeance Be Thy Name, which collects five complete Black Beth tales, including the original 1970s strip by Blas Gallego, three shorts – “Magos of Malice,” “The Witch Tree” and “Fairy Tales” – and the 48-page one-shot “The Devils of Al-Kadesh” by myself and DaNi, available from Amazon, the Rebellion webstore and all good comic shops!

I’ve also written an in-depth piece on Black Beth on my Substack, Agent of Weird: Exploring the Write Fantastic.

Treasury of British Comics Annual 2025 goes on sale November 6th.