Comic Related - If It's Comic Related, You'll Find It Here!

In The Black Cat #2, we find a series that continues on the mediocre path the first issue set-up. I remarked last month that I wasn't thrilled with the idea of Marvel's handling of the Spider-Man universe and its subesquent supporting cast. It's felt like all of the characters, particularly the Black Cat, have been reverted back to a stage in the early 1980s with their devlopments, unable to progress. This mini-series exemplifies the trend of a lack of character development, as we see Felicia Hardy very similar to how she was in those early issues of Spectacular Spider-Man.

The plot of this issue is a pretty simple one. Someone is collecting items related to the Kravinoff family, who is apparently still in Russia (Grim Hunt must have been mis-timed with this), and is going to extraordinary lengths to get said items. In this case, they are blackmailing the Black Cat to go steal a tiara by holding her mother hostage.

Felicia complies with the criminal, having her own assembled team, which left this issue felt like a follow up to Ocean's 11, only without the witty and interesting cast. There never felt like there was an urgency, or doubt that Felicia would be able to accomplish the theft, leaving the story falling flat when she finally was going to trade the tiara for her mother. The set up to issue 3 was interesting with the Black Cat fighting back and planning something crazy against the villain, but that remains to be see how it will be played out. The problem isn't that Felicia is mischaracterized (though I seem to recall her being a bit more fiesty, but her mother's involved so I'll give the benefit of the doubt), or that the story is an absurd one, but that there's just not enough drama or character development to justify the mini's existance. There's no special insight into who the Black Cat is that we didn't know before, there's no real impact in the story thus far that really makes this issue special.

The art is as mediocre as the storyline, providing some very dull moments within the book in conjunction with the story. With a book like the Black Cat, you'd at least expect some sexy eye candy. The detail is sparse in this, and the style reminds me of a faux 1960s feel to it that tries to create something classic, but leads to a comic that is very easy to just skim through and put down. The colors provide a muted pallete which doesn't help the line art stand out either.

Overall, it's hard to say there's anything particularly bad about the issue, it's just not interesting. Felicia's a jewel thief, we know that. She has a casual relationship with Peter Parker, which we also know, and from there nothing really develops. I find her cast of characters who are supporting her to be fairly 2-dimensional as well, leaving nothing to be desired for this series.