Random Back Issues #130 - Black Cat #5

Can I trade it in for Flagstaff, or maybe Santa Fe?

This is the opening chapter of "The Gilded City" arc, the big heist that MacKay's entire Black Cat run (spanning the previous volume) was building to. Felicia, her crew, and the Black Fox have gathered all the pieces they need to break into the vault where the New York Branch o' da T'ieves Guild sends all their stolen goods.

This issue largely boils down to Felicia and the Fox descending through a series of tunnels to the place where they'll use the "dimensional resonator" she broke into Stark's building to make, to help the Randall Gate - whose design she copied from the one in Iron Fist's place - open the doorway they need.

In the meantime, flashbacks! First, to the point when Felicia told Fox that she was going to head out on her own, and that her first heist would be to get her father out of prison. Also, that she was taking the name "Black Cat", a combination of Fox's title and her father's, Walter Hardy, aka "The Cat".

A different "The Cat" from the one that became Tigra. At least, I hope so. That would be weird. "Felicia, your dad appeared to die, but actually, he traveled back in time, became a costumed female crimefighter, then a werecat-woman who was written as extremely horny by Steve Engelhart, and later humiliated by Bendis' latest attempt to prop up a crime boss character."

Anyway, Black Fox reveals 2 critical pieces of information. First, the New York Thieves made a deal with a being called The Gilded Saint. 10% of their take in exchange for immortality. Second, he's dying. He tried to get a lot of different cures, but he either can't get them, or they don't work. Even tried asking Dracula to turn him, but Drac remembers when Fox cheated him in a card game (detailed in an issue of the first volume), then sicced Ulysses Bloodstone on Drac to cover his escape. Dracula would rather watch Fox wither and die than turn him and have the guy under his thumb for an eternity.

I guess at that age, you find your kicks where you can.

Felicia should be getting bad vibes by this point, but Fox is still spooling some line about wanting to go out committing a heist no one else can, so she tells the guys to fire up the Randall Gate. But instead of all that gold landing in their laps, a giant skeleton emerges from a tear in the air in front of Felicia and demands answers. The Fox wants the immortality of the Thieves Guild transferred to he and Felicia, and in exchange, he'll hand over Manhattan (the deed to which Felicia swiped from the Sanctum Sanctorum.)

{2nd longbox, 140th comic. Black Cat (vol. 4) #5, by Jed MacKay (writer), Michael Dowling (artist), Brian Reber (color artist), Ferran Delgado (letterer)}

What I Bought 6/4/2021

I went to my dad's over the weekend for his birthday, so expect reviews of older movies over the next couple of weeks. For now, here's two comics from last week. One I was expecting to find, the other I wasn't. It's really a toss-up between the two stores in the nearest town what I'll find at either one, and their schedules don't lend themselves to visiting both in one trip. So I pick the one I can get to that time, and take what I can get.

Jenny Zero #2, by Dave Dwonch and Brockton McKinney (writers), Magenta King (artist), Dam (color artist), Dave Dwonch (letterer) - Hopefully all those people were already dead when she started stomping around.

The issue switches between the time of Jenny's father's death and the present. In the past, he dies, and Jenny struggles to cope. Avoids his funeral, and comments he'd probably rather have his dog there than her. Gets introduced to all the neat weapons the A.S.P. make from the bodies of the monsters by her uncle. Which takes on a different light when we and Jenny know that he's always known she could do the size-changing thing like her dad, and kept it from her. All of those scenes have a soft lavender coloring to the surroundings. Not sure the specific significance of that color choice. I would say it's a matter of viewing things through rose-colored glasses, but most of the memories are not that great.

In the present, Jenny defeats the monsters, and confronts her uncle about lying to her. Then she and her friend Dana go hang out in a hotel until Jenny decides to seek out someone who can help her. I suspect we're going to find out Dana was assigned to her as sort of a handler when they first met. Given one flashback is with Jenny's uncle, who lied to her and guided her to fight, and the other is Jenny meeting Dana and basically sticking by her side ever since. Plus, not sure how a hotel heiress is able to get access to a secret monster-fighting agency, even if she is the big hero's friend. I'm sure Jenny won't see that as yet another shocking betrayal.

 

Jenny's personality seems to be the brash person who actually just runs from difficult stuff. Or she prefers to process in solitude. You could read it either way. The flashbacks show she really didn't want to be at the funeral services for her dad, and after the battle, she goes and hides out in a hotel with Dana. She says she hates hiding out, but it seems to be a default response. But if everyone always has a camera aimed at her, maybe that's the only response. Nobody does that to me, and I can still barely think on important stuff around others.

Black Cat #7, by Jed MacKay (writer), Michael Dowling (artist), Brian Reber (color artist), Ferran Delgado (letterer) - Aw, Larraz even made sure her sack of loot has a big old dollar sign on it. That's a nice touch.

Felicia tracks down the Black Fox and tells him how she's undone his plan for immortality. So we see in flashback how she was sent into the Vault, requested her immortality be removed, and warned the Saint that Fox intends to renege on the deal. Which he doesn't, but the little explosive Felicia attached to the deed to Manhattan says differently. Rights to the city lost, the Saint emerges and drags the Fox back into the Vaults, just slowly enough for a tearful farewell.

It works. MacKay uses the tracking chip he established was on the deed in issue 4 to explain how Felicia can find it again in such an enormous space. Dowling makes the Vaults resemble Arizona, or maybe some early 20th Century artists' version of the surface of Venus or Titan. Some mountains, vast plains, red skies with no visible sun. Felicia reminds us that she has limits to what she's comfortable doing, and the Fox remains someone willing to do anything to survive. Just as he would betray others, or play on Spider-Man's sympathy for an old man, he'd sacrifice an entire city of people for immortality. But he can still respect the student outwitting the teacher.

Oh, and at the very end, Felicia and Odessa make out. Congratulations to those two crazy kids. I'm curious if MacKay will actually do something with it. I'm not talking about a date issue - although I'm not saying I'm opposed to that, we got one for Felicia and Batroc - but at least the occasional acknowledgement. One of them stopping by to see the other, or scenes of one of them waking up at the other's home. So it's more than just a one-time, "Yes, Felicia's bisexual. Diversity!" thing. Felicia says straight up she doesn't think this is something with a future, and Odessa says it can't possibly work, but that doesn't mean it ends immediately. Let them have some fun with each other.

 

Anyway, the next arc is Felicia getting tangled up in acquiring Infinity Stones, which are now people, apparently? Not promising, but MacKay and Villa made the King in Black tie-ins better than I had any hope of them being. They can make something out of this.

What I Bought 5/14/2021

Did anybody else notice that hour or so late last week where all the Blogger sites were being blocked as containing malware? That was concerning, I hadn't saved last year's posts yet. I really don't know what approach I'll take the day Google decides to just throw Blogger in the trash. At some point they'll decide, "this ain't making us any money," and poof, into the aether it goes.

Anyway, to "celebrate" having to return to working in the office, one book from last week. I tried the other store in town, and they didn't have the last issue of The Union, either. Said the sales tanked after issue 3, which doesn't exactly surprise me.

Black Cat #6, by Jed MacKay (writer), Michael Dowling (artist), Brian Reber (color artist), Ferran Delgado (letterer) - Like Scrooge McDuck, Felicia Hardy oversells how comfortable gold coins are.

The Gilded Saint accepts the Fox' offer. It now owns Manhattan, and Fox and Felicia are immortal and youthful. Felicia is outraged at the double-cross, but tearing the Fox' throat out doesn't work and he escapes. After lying to Spider-Man (who shows up for 3 panels, sorry if you were expecting more based on the solicitation), she tells her guys to get lost and goes to bargain with Odessa Drake. This would seem dicey, given all the stealing and threatening her with borrowed Iron Man armor, but when Felicia and the Fox got immortality, it was taken away from Odessa and her Guild. So that's a good reason for everyone to play nice. So Felicia gets magically "booped" into the Saint's vault.

This feels like it's moving slow. Maybe that's just Dowling's art, which isn't particularly dynamic or exciting. It's fairly realistic, but when he's mostly just drawing people standing around talking, that's not all that eye-catching. Not doing a lot to make that a more interesting prospect, either, in terms of layouts or whatnot. I guess I could mention the fact that during their time chatting, Odessa is repeatedly the one leaning into Felicia's space or trying to touch her.

Still, this issue is a conversation between Felicia and Fox, which feels drawn out. A pair of conversations between her and Spider-Man/Bruno and Dr. Korpse that are quick and to the point. And the thing with Odessa, which is the last 8 pages. That one, I think does deserve the pages it gets, because of the fact they've been adversaries until recently, so that has to be addressed before they can work together.

What I Bought 4/14/2021 - Part 2

Well, the new battery I got for my laptop seems to be working properly. That's nice. Maybe 3 years is long enough for a computer, but if it still does everything I need perfectly well, why spend a lot more money changing things up when a little will solve the problem?

Today, we've got two fifth issues to look at. One's the conclusion to a mini-series, the other is the start of a new storyline.

Power Pack #5, by Ryan North (writer), Nico Leon (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - The other three kids look varying degrees of worried, but Julie over there on the left just looks resigned. "Oh well, so much for my superpowers."

The kids and Logan's brilliant plan is to convince the Wizard he didn't get all their powers by staging a fight with - high school play special effects - between the kids and "Wolvermean", Wolverine's evil, purple-loving twin brother. I laughed typing that out just now. I'm still laughing, actually. Give me a minute.

OK, I think I'm good. Anyway, seeing such awesome abilities as Julie's "FTL railgun punch" (which does sound pretty cool) gets the Wizard to rush out, ambush the kids, and throw them back in the cylinders he used to steal their powers originally. Except they snuck in last night with Logan and reversed the machines so they steal their powers back. Wizard gets his butt kicked and humiliated, putting everything back in its proper place. The kids use his Agent Aether drone to pretend they still have an official mentor until this stupid law is repealed, and loan him out to other helpful teen heroes.

Like Squirrel Girl! I demand a Power Pack/Squirrel Girl team-up yesterday! Actually two days ago since I'm writing this on Saturday.

 

This mini-series was kind of stupid and silly and I loved it. The whole "Outlawed" thing is depressing and not something I want to deal with, and North and Leon used it just enough to do this weird thing and that's A-OK. Logan cobbling together a purple version of his costume for this farce (and apparently helping the Power kids make versions of their costumes since they normally come with the powers) cracks me up. The ham acting during their "fight", and the credulous media falling for it.

Also, some of the plans the Wizard's shown coming up with involving their powers. The difference between how well Leon draws everything else, and the Wizard's barely-above-stick-figure diagram of how he'll defeat the Juggernaut by using Mass Master's power to shrink down, be swallowed, than attack Juggy's lungs with an axe (note: remember to bring axe). Brilliant.

Black Cat #5, by Jed Mackay (writer), Mike Dowling (artist), Brian Reber (color artist), Ferran Delgado (letterer) - Is that supposed to a webline or a regular rope she uses? If it's the latter, it's looking kind of frayed.

This entire issue is a lot of talking and set-up, all leading to the big reveal at the end. Namely, that the Black Fox is looking to break into the Guild's vault for a very different purpose than taking all their wealth. He wants to make a deal with the Guild's patron, who is basically what you get if you look up "catacomb saint" on Wikipedia. I was going to say it looked like some skeletal Aztec god-thing, but apparently that would have been an inaccurate cultural reference.

I mean, that's basically it. There's some flashbacks, to Felicia ending her apprenticeship with the Fox and setting out on her. To the Fox seeking Dracula's aid for a solution to his problem, and getting turned away. Turns out Drac doesn't appreciate someone cheating him at cards, then siccing Ulysses Bloodstone on him. Who knew the Lord of Vampires was such a petty bitch? Except basically everyone.

 

Dowling's artwork is more in a realistic style than the other artists the book has had. A lighter touch when it comes to shading, but at times the linework's very minimal. Almost more the suggestion of a person's face than an actual drawing of the face. Not sure if the linework got overwhelmed by Reber's colors, or if it wasn't there at all. It's not my favorite look for the book, although it works for an issue this low-energy, that's mostly talking and people having emotions. Not sure how well it'll serve if there's a fight scene or a fast-moving escape, though. Maybe we'll find out next month.

I guess not every issue can be a winner.

What I Bought 11/8/2019

I was out of town for work almost all of last week. The first couple days were nice, but it rained all day the third day, and on the fourth, the temperature dropped mid-morning. At least the rain had stopped by then. I was really hoping for pleasant fall weather when I planned that one, too.

Black Cat #6, by Jed MacKay (writer), Mike Dowling (artist), Brian Reber (color artist), Ferran Delgado (letterer) - I didn't know J. Scott Campbell was capable of drawing a woman without drawing her chest and hips. Learn something every day.

It's supposed to be a night for relaxing, so Felicia is out on a date with. . . Batroc?! OK, sure, he seems like he'd be a fun guy. And he's just honorable enough that it's not terrible for Felicia to be spending time with him. It's not like she's on a date with Sabretooth. Eventually dinner gets dull, so they go break into a place and steal some stuff. Batroc grabs a blender because he says Felicia should try smoothies. Just as long as he doesn't start preaching the benefit of kale or Crossfit.

While all that is going on, the Black Fox is fighting for his life against members of the Thieves Guild. He gives it a good go, but he gets caught. So I sure how he shared with Felicia how they were going to use all the stuff she swiped to break into the Guild's vault. Because it's probably going to be repurposed to save his butt. And empty out the vault. Multi-tasking.

The dinner date stuff was fun, although MacKay probably got a lot of fans' hopes up when he had it look like Batroc was saying he has a thing for Captain America. (Gwenpool would no doubt have given her whole-hearted approval). But no, he just likes fighting the good Captain. Good thing he didn't tangle with HYDRA Cap, probably wouldn't have survived that.

The Black Fox stuff is an attempt to keep the plot going, and keep it from being strictly an issue of talking, but I don't know. I don't really care that much about the Guild, and it plays out as an elderly man in a suit fighting some rejects from the Hand, visually. Dowling and Reber go a lot heavier on the shadows and murk in that part of the book than the date half. Even when Felicia and Batroc are in a dim apartment, the shadows don't loom as much. It's just some pleasant atmosphere for their fun. Felicia's face is still visible, just a bit darker. Whereas for the Fox, the shadows swallow up parts of his face, obscure them entirely.

Locke and Key: Dog Days, by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez (storytellers), Jay Fotos (colorist), Shawn Lee (letterer) - Good luck waiting for the dog to pass that.

There's two stories in this. The second one is mostly silent, and involves the Locke family that the original set of mini-series focused on returning to the site of their home and essentially magicking up a new house. Wow, spellcheck recognizes magicking (but not "whole-hearted"). There's nothing else much to it, other than gauging the reactions of the family. Can't help noticing how Tyler's mother is hugging herself with a frightened look on her face. Honestly, given the amount of shit that went down there, why would you voluntarily restore that house? It's like unlocking Michael Myers cell and just walking away. What could possibly go wrong?

The other, "Dog Days", is about three kids living in the '30s or '40s as they go through a day of fishing, exploring, and talking about stuff. Except one of the kids, Lloyd, is kind of odd in the things that he says, or the perspective he brings. The other two boys are alternately horrified or impressed by him, but they have to put things back how they were eventually.

Whereas "Nailed It" is mostly full-page splashes, "Dog Days" sticks to a set of four panels running down the middle of the page, set against a larger, full-page panel in behind them. That one mostly establishes the setting for the four smaller panels. So a panel of an old radio set, while the boys lay in front of it and discuss what they intend to do when they grow up. Rodriguez' art is a little looser, closer to what you might see in a comic strip than his normal style. Faces are rounder, lines lighter and less defined than in "Nailed It". But it's meant to be a funny story (and it is amusing, if not the kind of thing that makes you laugh out loud), so it fits with the tone.

I wouldn't call it an essential comic if you're into Locke & Key, since I would bet anything that comes out of "Nailed It" will give enough references you'd understand how the house was back, but it's not bad as it's own one-off.