Review: Black Cat #6

For me, one of Marvel’s recent biggest surprise hits has been Black Cat. Under the excellent and fun writing of Jed MacKay, Felicia has risen up the ranks to near stardom, at least in my eyes. For many, she will always be a “B” list character, a mere afterthought in the Spidey love mythos, behind MJ, Gwen and Debra Whitman.

Felicia and her partner-in-crime, the Black Fox have made it into the Thieves Guild vault. But before Felicia can get her claws on the loot, the Fox has offered up Manhattan for immortality for both himself and Felicia. Now, with the island being dragged into the vault, Felicia and her boys must look to their enemies for help in saving the day.

Jed MacKay has been working the scheme for quite some time. Each issue or couple of issues, brought Felicia and the Fox to this point. Granted, she should have planned for the ol’ switcheroo, but the Fox’s actions were born from love; love for Felicia and for himself of course. MacKay keeps some of the running themes in place; the bond between Felicia and her gang for instance and the way she feels about her Spider. Maybe there isn’t as much humour this time around, though with the fate of Manhattan in the balance I can understand why that may be the case. Recent issues may have had a change of pace, introducing new characters and the such, but theMackay ahas kept it breezy, light and enjoyable throughout,

This volume has had a change of artists with Michael Dowling providing pencils. His style is a bit of a mix, strong body lines are the prerequisite with a photo realism when it comes to the faces. This is a little distracting in places and kind of loses it’s way with the appearance of Spider-Man. I will say that the vibration panels are done very cleverly and are used to great effect. The colors are provided by Brian Reber, whose work I normally enjoy. THis time around though, there seems to be a lack of nuance; black is just black with not gradients. This schemed doesn’t help delineate the figures in question, specifically Felicia herself. That said, the panels featuring the Gilded Saint are very impressive. Finally, Ferran Delgado’s letters show that there is lettering life that doesn’t involve the VC studio! The font used here feels slightly bigger than the norm which gives the impression that there isn’t a lot of words. True, it is not the most wordy book out this week, but there is enough going on to cover the various beats in the book.

As much I love this book, I am glad that we are seemingly getting towards the end of the Cat and the Fox caper. Bring on the next challenges for Felicia!

Writing – 4 Stars
Art – 3.5 Stars
Colors – 3.5 Stars

Overall – 3.5 Stars

Written by; Jed MacKay
Art by; Michael Dowling
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