Beta Ray Bill has just met the newest addition to his crew in the form of his sentient ship herself and her brand new body.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Beta Ray Bill #3 by Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer, and VC’s Joe Sabino, on sale now.
Beta Ray Bill has never lived what anyone would call an ordinary life, but since embarking on his most recent journey things have only gotten stranger. Journeying across the cosmos and through otherworldly realms to find a replacement for his mystic hammer Stormbreaker. Bill has been brought face to face with old friends in ways he had never thought possible. This just so happens to include Bill’s sentient ship, Skuttlebutt, and her newest power to take any form she wants. It might just save all of their lives more than once.
Bill’s recent conversation with Odin directed him toward Muspelheim where he could claim the Twilight Sword, Surtur’s mystic blade, for himself. Of course, Muspelheim is far from an inviting realm. Apart from the demonic inhabitants, Bill and his crew have also had to contend with the unintended consequences of crossing through the threshold to this real in the first place, namely Skuttlebutt finding itself housed in a humanoid robotic form. There hasn’t been much time to process this change before the residents of Muspelheim begin attacking the ship, and the assault itself leaves Skuttlebutt losing altitude quickly with a lake of molten lava directly below them. In their current state there is no hope of survival, but Skuttlebutt has an idea that proves to be the perfect solution to their impending dooms.
Skuttlebutt’s humanoid form reaches into the floors of the ship and begins shifting the metal plates of both of its own physical bodies. Before it can splash down into the molten lake below, the massive spacecraft becomes an even larger seafaring vessel, one complete with canons and turrets. This new battleship inspired Skuttlebutt creates massive waves as it touches down, but the crew and ship are both safe from the environments as of now. The transformation isn’t the only one of the issue, as Skuttlebutt later gifts Bill with a new axe made of herself, but this is still easily the more impressive, and potentially the most powerful.
Changing a space ship into a more traditional battleship is an impressive feat, but it isn’t necessarily a radical transformation. At the same time, there is no obvious reason why Skuttlebutt shouldn’t be capable of much greater transformations than this should the situation call for them, and there is no telling just how fantastic those might be.
The smaller demons and denizens of Muspelheim that Beta Ray Bill and the others have come across so far are just that, small. But Muspelheim itself is a large realm, full of very big threats from the monstrous to the godlike, and there is little doubt that the heroes are headed straight for one of those two right now. Bill’s new axe courtesy of Skuttlebutt is a fine enough weapon, but when it comes to dealing with anything greater than the ship itself, the ship might just be the person to deal with it, so to speak. It isn’t unlikely that a new form will end up on the menu before long, and fans can only hope that they will get to see Skuttlebutt go full Transformers style giant robot to deal with whatever is coming next for her and the crew.
About The Author