Advance Review: Black Cat #1

During a pretty bad and tough 2020, one of the things that added to my annoyance was the hiatus of the one the best books from Marvel, in Black Cat. Now, looking at this with glass half full eyes, hiatus means that the book should be coming back, but this is Marvel after all.

This week though, faith is rewarded as Felicia and her boys are back on the prowl, back in the game and back on the make. This time however her timing is a little off as her latest scheme runs slap into Knull’s invasion of New York. Along the way there are a couple of surprises in different guises to maybe help, maybe hinder and maybe inspire Felicia.

With the hiatus over, Jed MacKay returns to a character that is chock full of fun, sass and wisecracks. Sure, this book may not be the deepest of stories, or characters. But in Black Cat, there is an inherent sense of fun. Because of her place in the Marvel Universe, Felicia has an outsiders perspective, as if the world is her playground with nary a thought of the repercussions; that explains how she has stolen from Doctor Strange, Reed Richards and Iron Man. Mackay seems to revel in this level of organised chaos, acting as an excellent dialoguing foil to the plot and the pace of the book. Mackay continues to display his Marvel history as well as continuing to show how still into Spidey Felicia is.

Also returning is artist C.F.Villa whose work in this series has been gorgeous, full of curves, energy and movement. This time around there may be less curve appeal than you would expect and there is are a couple of panels where bodies don’t normally do things that are shown. the pencils seem a little heavier than normal, which in art could be due to the situation of the King in Black tie-in. This heaviness translates into a darker color scheme, provided by Brian Reber which fits the overall narrative of the cross over element more than it does Black Cat’s normal environs. Ferran Delgado’s letters work well within the story, there is no confusion as to whom is speaking to whom. In the previous volume, covers were provided by the stylish J. Scott Campbell. This time around, the main cover is provided by Pepe Larraz and Marte Gracia. I have liked Larraz’s art before, mainly on the X-Men books; here though perspectives of Felicia seem to have gotten a little bit away from him.

As anyone who knows me, knows how much I loved the first volume of Black Cat. I love her fringe, outsider status. For the reason, I was worried about the tie-in; Felicia doesn’t seem to be the kind of character to hang-out with some big leaguers. I should have had more faith in Messrs MacKay and Villa who have handled Felicia’s temporary integration to mainstream status well. Thanks to Black Cat, my pull list has become a lot more fun!

Writing – 5 Stars
Art – 5 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars

Overall – 5 Stars

Written by; Jed MacKay
Art by; C.F. Villa
Colors by; Brian Reber
Letters by; Ferran Delgado
Published by; Marvel Worldwide Inc.

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network