Pasty Walker: Hellcat #2 - I don't know if anyone else saw this, but there was no solicitation for this mini-series in the October Previews (which is theoretically when #4 would come out). I'm enjoying this far too much for it to miss a month. It's so pretty, and Patsy is so snarky, cheery, and completely nonchalant in the face of weirdness that leaves me scratching my head.Case in point: This month Patsy's fight with the weird tentacled thing ends abruptly as she's confronted by seven shamans in a pink igloo. They need Hellcat to find their daughter, who has been captured by something, possibly a Windigo (that's how it's spelled in the book, FYI, so it's not a typo on my end, at least). Or that may just be a predator they hunt for other reasons, I wasn't entirely clear on that concept. Anyway, Patsy agrees to get to it, after the load her up with all sorts of stuff (including a talking map which Patsy insists is a calendar) in a really nice SUV. The end of the issue presents Hellcat, sorry "Double Clawed Cat Full of Red Hell Fire with Her Head Against the Wind and Comes Not Quietly from the Great Sea Road" (Jeez, what a mouthful) against a large adversary.
Like I said, this book is very pretty. It's bright, and LaFuente draws a very expressive Hellcat, between her body language and facial expressions. It demonstrates how she can be calm and generally unfazed by these odditites, but still be surprised occasionally, and that she still likes her clothes. I'm not sure what's going on beyond the fact that Patsy's playing the role of Link in her own version of Legend of Zelda (or, based on some advice she received, she's Baron von Munchausen). However, I still really like how Kathryn Immonen writes Patsy. She's serious when it's required, but there's a light-heartedness to it. She's not gritting her teeth and snarling like something that escaped from Sin City, she's simply determined that she'll help those people, while not being entirely sure they aren't yanking her chain. It makes her a compotent hero, one who's definitely faced weird stuff before (heck she used to be a Defender, she knows about weird threats), but not one that's let the job sap her enthusiasm for do-gooding, and especially not for life in general. So yes, I really like this. It makes me happy.
Oh, oh, also the recap page has a quiz, and Hellcat is using the letters page as an advice column!
Good thing I only had one book this week, because I think I used up all my enthusiasm on it.
2 comments:
I was initially quite skeptical about the whole idea of Hellcat in her own book, but the general consensus is that it is actually pretty...good!
I may actually have to pick this up.
sallyp: Yes, at least buy the inevitable trade when they release that. It's cute, fun, weird, pretty, and I think next issue there will be lots of fighting weird creturs of the spiritual north, which should be all good.
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