Ethel is the surprise co-main antagonist of the 1976 Italian sci-fi horror comic "Terror Blu #6 - Ciack: Si Muore!".
Ethel meets the protagonist, Betty Gaynor, at the scene of a fatal accident. Shortly thereafter, she tells her that she was the brother of Roger, the man who died, and that they were both employees at the hollywood studio "Kenton Pictures". Betty herself had just finished auditioning for an acting part for that very same studio, and Ethel reveals to her that the stars of each of the company's movies have never been heard from again, adding that Roger was trying to warn her of this.
The suspicion is just sound enough for Betty to accept Ethel's help in investigating these claims. They break into Kenton Pictures at night, but are quickly spooked away by a man in a strange spacesuit. Retreating to Betty's apartment, Ethel reveals that she has begun to have feelings for her new friend during the short time they've been together, and is ultimately successful in seducing Betty into having sex with her.
The two agree that Betty should continue filming as planned so that they can have another opportunity to gather information, reasoning that as long as the starlet doesn't film the final scene, they will be unable to kill her. However, a horrifying truth is revealed to Betty one day. The scenes that she had been filming all of this time were never intended to be used in the movie, and that hidden camera's, placed around Kenton Picture's as well as the heroine's apartment, are the ones who have been filming the true footage. Ethel divulges that she, herself, is actually the protagonist of the film, and that Betty's "character" is the villain. In a final shocking reveal, Betty learns from Samuel Kenton that he is actually an inventor who created a transportation device capable of sending living organisms intact to other planets. To shoot the climactic scene, Ethel, Samuel and their director do just that. Betty is then devoured alive, and another smash hit for Kenton Pictures is released.
Putting her own acting skills to good use as she pretends to cry for the death of her brother...
Laughing later at the gullible Betty during her final moments.
Alternate Ending[]
A very different outcome in the rerelease...
In 2001, this story saw a rerelease in "Libidine Blu #11", with an extended ending. In this version, the director does not send Betty to the planet with the machine, but rather to a safe location within the studio. The decision is due to Kenton not giving the man enough profit for his cooperation, and as an act of revenge, he then sends both Kenton and Ethel to another planet with a blistering, boiling atmosphere ("Imagine a microwave oven saturated with mustard gass," the director explains). Naturally, the villainess and her boss meet a very gruesome end.