Hoo boy, this book. A six-issue mini-series that took almost 4 years to complete. In its defense, the first three issues did come out in three consecutive months, and so did the last three issues. Just, you know, 40 months late.
In 2002, it had been over three years since the Black Cat had even shown up in a Spider-Man book (very early in the Howard Mackie/John Byrne, post-The Final Chapter, reboot) Even longer since she'd been any sort of regular presence in Spider-Man's supporting cast. So at the time, I was pretty stoked she was getting a mini-series devoted to her and Spider-Man.
And the first two issues (which are all I still own) weren't a bad start. Felicia travels to New York to look for a missing actress friend of a friend, who it turns out died of an overdose. Peter, meanwhile, is looking into the death of one of his students, also from an overdose. Both paths lead to the same actor, and eventually to the mysterious "Mr. Brownstone," a mutant with the ability to teleport small amounts of liquid (so he 'ports the drug directly into your body), who is some bigshot businessman/philanthropist.
There's still a couple of homophobic jokes that I notice more now than I did in 2002, and Smith somehow wants Spidey to both make pop culture references (dated references, but still) while apparently never having even heard of Pulp Fiction. Not, "hasn't seen it," but rather, "has no idea what it is." And while Felicia keeps insisting that as much as she might want to get back together with Peter, now that she can appreciate the guy under the mask too, she won't because he's married, she sure is climbing all over him as they swing across the city, and apparently trying to French kiss him through the mask after he saves her. The book's giving off mixed signals in all sorts of directions, is what I'm saying.
But what was the point I was trying to make? Oh right, at least the basic concept behind getting the two characters together, while having them trying to navigate their messy history at different points in their lives, isn't a bad one. Felicia's matured and sees things differently now. Peter still feels the connection, but he's also married, albeit this started during JMS' first year on Amazing Spider-Man, so Mary Jane is living on her on own on the West Coast. So he's trying to find that equilibrium of being friends with an ex he hasn't seen in a while.
Anyway, the book goes off the rails once Spidey thinks he knows who Mr. Brownstone is based on hearing his voice over the phone and then in person (when they save the guy from an attack by a rival cartel.) Felicia charges in rather than find evidence that could actually stand up in court. She gets dosed, it looks like she's going to be sexually assaulted, and she wakes up the next morning beside the guy's corpse. Daredevil gets involved, Nightcrawler shows up to give everyone a lecture on mutant history, it turns out the guy's brother actually killed him.
Felicia then talks that guy down by either a) admitting that she became a thief after her attempt to take revenge on a frat boy who assaulted her while drunk was thwarted by him getting in a car wreck, or b) she makes that whole story up to get the guy to drop his guard because he thinks he's speaking to a kindred soul. It's not great either way you want to read it, and thankfully no one seems to have paid any attention to it as a retcon for her origin.
The Dodsons revamp her look, in that besides minimizing the white fur fringe stuff, her outfit now seems to be skintight leather or some sort of plastic, whereas it was previously given a fabric texture (even if it was still highly impractical as an outfit.) That stuck for at least a few years, although I think by Brand New Day the artists mostly shifted back to variations on the classic look, which has subsequently maintained its hold (that brief, idiotic "Queenpin" phase where she had the Kraven the Hunter-style cat face across the chest, aside.)
2 comments:
I used to be a big Kevin Smith fan back in the day (more the films than the comics) and remember getting this at the time - delays included - but not enjoying it that much, apart from the Dodson's art.
I wasn't a big Marvel guy so only picked it up because of Smith's name and was disappointed. Mind you, most of his recent films have disappointed as well.
I had to go look up his filmography. I didn't realize he directed 4 episodes of Supergirl, or that Tracey Morgan/Bruce Willis cop movie I've seen a million copies of in the discount DVD bins. I remember hearing not great things about "Red State", and body horror is not my thing, so "Tusk" was a no-go.
The last thing Smith directed I watched was Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
Post a Comment