Patsy Walker: Hellcat #2 (of 5) (Marvel – Immonen / Lafuente / Rauch)
Iron Man’s one-woman Initiative team for Alaska finds herself in WAY over her head. Patsy Walker, Hellcat, is thrust into a world of magic, witches, rally-cars and demons of all shapes and sizes, and all she thought she was going to do was rough up a few lumber-thieves.
Way back in the day, I actually got the New Defenders on a monthly basis and truly thought that all Hellcat was, was a perky D-lister who got in the way of Gargoyle and Valkyrie kicking ass. Then when more recently I caught Immonen’s 4-part series of Hellcat (issues 1-4 of Marvel Comics Presents) and I was less than impressed… various inner-versions of Hellcat fighting each other because of ancient magic, it came across as pretty lame. So I was expecting to really be able to rip apart this new series that highlights Patsy as being the sole member of the Initiative team in Alaska. I joyfully admit that I was wrong about this new book.
Katheryn Immonen takes Patsy to Alaska where she immediately starts fighting demon polar bears and seas creatures and then talking smack to a bunch of native American shaman types. It’ a good mix of action / comedy. Patsy has been around a long time (1944), she’s been an Avenger, a Defender, she’s been married to two different super villains, lived on a moon of Saturn. been trapped in Hell and was a major runway model. Not bad for someone who’s only real superpower is a psychic / magic radar sense. Very few characters have as long and deep of a history as our Ms. Walker, and Katheryn Immonen is doing a great job helping a new generation of readers fall in love with her.
David LuFuente’s art style fits this oddball story pretty well. It’s pretty obvious that he is very influenced by anime and the unique coloring and often off-balanced faming of the scenes is a constant reminder that this is not your traditional superhero book, but rather where superhero comics meets “chic lit”.
It was much better than I assumed and overall a winner. The only people who will be disappointed are those getting this because it is an “Initiative” crossover.
To get an “un-biased” opinion I had my 13 year old daughter read both issues and she loved them!
Issue Grade: B+
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