Black Cat #15 //Review
Felicia is trying to sleep. She’s going to have to wake-up, though. Marvel Manhattan has a way of keeping certain people from getting a good night’s sleep. Felicia Hardy is one of those people. And right now there’s a guy named Peter hanging upside down outside her apartment window. She’s going to have to help him out in Black Cat #15. Writer G. Willow Wilson carefully crafts another clever bit of comedic superhero action with artist Gleb Melnikov and colorist Brian Reber. It’s a pleasantly complex, little one-shot story that feels engagingly unpredictable. It’s another victory for Wilson and Melnikov.
Peter has been noticing that Black Cat has been acting as a hero. This is particularly good news for him as he is aware of a bank heist that’s going to go down at a very conspicuous place. There’s an opera at Lincoln Center. (Mozart.) There’s also a criminal at Lincoln Center. (Vampire.) To complicate matters, the vampire criminal in question tried to prosecute Black Cat a few issues back. To make matters even more complicated, There’s another criminal who has trailed Black Cat to Lincoln Center. Looks like Mozart is going to have to fade into the background of the drama in front of the stage...
Wilson balances everything quite precariously. It's really fun to watch her. We've threw dramatic comedy with various different elements that all seem to be moving around the page in a very clever fashion. There's a great deal of wit the animated at all. And at the center of everything is this delightfully complicated perspective on the inner life of Felicia Hardy. Wilson manages to find a very cleverly distinct deviation from standard superhero affair while also negotiating the rather tricky complexities of a couple of antagonists who have made their presence known earlier on in the series.
The inner emotional life of Felicia Hardy is brought to the page with breathtaking complexity by Melnikov. There is a great degree of subtlety that passes over her face as she is interacting with all of the conflicting conflicts in the story. As clever as Wilson's script is, it's simply wouldn't have the kind of impacted, does where it not for the fact that Mel cough is able to deliver her emotional intricacy to the page through the face and posture of the main character. Reber sumptuously adds radiance and texture in a very well-researched and pains takingly rendered at adventure in Lincoln Center.
And then they're a little details that are a lot of fun. Felicia's in bed and on her nightstand as a photo of Frank and his dog. That's a nice call back to recent events that fully embrace the ongoing story of Felicia's character arc. It's been a lot of fun to see her development over the course of the past year and a half or so. Wilson and Company have a relief solid eye towards how her personality is changing overtime. That's kind of difficult to get across in a superhero serial. It's particularly impressive that they managed to do so here.
