Black Cat #12 // Review
The Marvel Universe's most appealing thief has made her way into a place of very advanced tech. Now she's on the run from one of the Marvel Universe' most popular heroes in Black Cat #12. Writer Jed MacKay takes Black Cat on a felonious joyride captured in panels by artist C.F. Villa. Color radiated from the page courtesy of Brian Reber. MacKay keeps the action rolling with appealing dialogue and quick, explosive energy even if the visuals might feel repetitious between two super-powered mini-mecha in the stratosphere. MacKay's wit and Felicia Hardy's personality keeps it all together through another issue.
Felicia Hardy finds herself stealing something of value from one of the most secure facilities in the world. (It's getting to be a bit of a habit with her.) The fact that the facility in question happened to be owned by Tony Stark means that she's now up against Iron Man. To complicate matters, she's also looking to send a message to an enemy in the underworld. The tech that she's stolen only happens to be something that's been patched together in a nanoforge just moments before she decided to fly it 1000 feet above sea level. Naturally, it's going to have a little bit of difficulty holding together.
MacKay seems to almost struggle to keep up with his heroine’s blindingly agile energy. Her extreme cleverness is a lot more appealing than anything that seems to be happening on the page visually. Her narration cleverly guides the flow of action as armored superpowers shoot across the page. MacKay deftly manages the narrative prestidigitation that allows Black Cat to talk directly to the reader in little black boxes without ever giving away her strategies. Throughout the issue, she doesn't even seem mysterious...just friendly. It's a really fun joyride with Felicia.
Super-powered armor has shot, blasted, and clanked across the panels of Marvel comics for decades. It's really difficult to bring it to the page in a way that feels fresh and interesting after so many issues. Villa keeps it charming with sharp, vertiginous angles and breakneck speed blurring around the edges of the action. A quick shot around the Statue of Liberty grounds the skyline's formlessness quite firmly in and around Manhattan without drowning the page in too much detail. The action is punctuated by some welcome drama that is thoughtfully framed in panels that do a good job of directing the eye. Reber's work with glowing energy and gleaming surfaces adds visual impact to the action.
MacKay has been working steadily and diligently through the first eleven issues to reach this narrative point. Hardy has been a great deal of fun to hang out with throughout the year's worth of action that she's lived through thus far. This issue brings her craftiness to a crescendo that will be difficult to match in the issues to come. Thankfully, there's some breathing room coming as the series pivots its narrative a bit in the months to come.
