Black Cat #1 // Review
Felicia is sitting in a waiting room next to Frogman, a well-dressed giraffe and a blind lawyer from Hell’s Kitchen. It’s not just any waiting room. It’s the waiting room if Night Nurse. So things haven’t gone real well. Theoretically this might be something that would be handled with caption-box narration, but Felicia decides to go ahead and break the fourth wall be turning directly to the readers and explaining the situation in Black Cat #1. Writer G. Willow Wilson does a brilliant job of opening a whole new series with artist Gleb Melnikov and colorist Brian Reber.
It all started during a theft. Black Cat was in the middle of running away from the police...but she was multi-tasking. She was also trying to call Peter Parker. Again. Still no answer. So she calls the smartest guy on her team and asks him about a safe house. The closest one is above a pet food shop. The good news is that she can get there in time. The bad news is that The Lizard is ransacking the shop at the moment. So if she’s going to get to safety, she’s going to need to go around him.
Wilson deftly nails some of the more lofty philosophical ends of the Black Cat while rushing her through a cleverly-written adventure that’s immensely enjoyable. The decision to have her story told directly to the reader in dialogue is a fun one. She breaks all the rules, so naturally breaking the fourth wall fits perfectly with her character whether she’s in a doctor’s office waiting room or taking a bath after a particularly bad day. Through it all, Wilson’s witty dialogue remains razor sharp in a gorgeous debut for a whole new series with a beloved character. Wilson’s really good with this sort of thing.
Melnikov has a sharp wit about his art that matches Wilson’s script quite well. She gives the artist a bit of a challenge, though. This is the first issue of a whole new series. Black Cat is usually glamorous, stylish and mysterious. In the first issue of the new series, she’s tired and distracted. On top of that, she’s having a bad day. Melnikov has to take that energy and run with it while making it look appealing enough to hold a reader’s interest through what should be a big, energetic first issue. Melnikov makes it work with some very expressive and emotionally engage art that cleverly dances with Wilson’s script.
Wilson has done such a good job with DC’s Poison Ivy over the years. She’s done such. compelling job showing Ivy gradually reforming into some kind of hero. There’s no question that she’ll be able to do something very similar with a Black Cat who turns hero. Whereas she’s exploring the complexities of environmental justice in Poison Ivy, Wilson seems to be exploring a different kind of villainy-turned-good with Felicia. Writer Jed Mackay did a good job with Felicia as an action hero. It’s really appealing to see a slightly more sophisticated version of the character in the hands of one of the better current mainstream comics writers.
