Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do #2

Background

Part 2 of the return of the Black Cat, former lover of Spider-Man. The first issue was steaming hot, mainly due to a delicious shower scene. Will Kevin Smith & Terry Dodson keep it up? The previous part ended with the death of Hunter Todd and a mysterious call from Mister Brownstone.

Story 'A Ruse By Any Other Name...'

The story starts backstage at Carnegie Hall. A cellular phone is closed and a voice says to scratch Hunter Todd as a client. Two guys talk about trashing evidence of all their links to Todd. And how a few of the tights-set are looking into Tricia Lane's disappearance. Then the actress on stage calls for mister New York himself... Garrison Klum. And one of the men, the one obviously in charge, enters the stage.

Over at the Soho Grand, Downtown, Spider-Man and the Black Cat are watching the coroner take away the body of Hunter Todd. Not a word is spoken. Felicia feels a lecture coming up and says "What?!". They start arguing, mostly about their releationship from a few years back. Felicia is obviously jealous about Mary Jane (who she refers to as Mary Plain) and feels that Spidey doesn't give her enough credit. But when Spider-Man does, she turns and hugs him.

The arguing continues, now on what to do next. Felicia invites him over to her hotel to come up with a plan. Spidey hesitates, but she goes anyway, hoping that he will follow her. And of course he does. Together they swing across the city, playing cat and mouse with each other. Felicia wonders why she ever let this man go.

Over at Carnegie Hall, a little reception is going on. A girl dressed as a scorpion crashes through the wall. She is coming for Klum. Klum believes the Ortega cartel is behind this. Meanwhile the Black Cat and Spider-Man have arrived at the scene. A fight follows, during which the Black Cat manages to fall out of a window. Spider-Man barely rescues her, and they end up hanging from a webline, outside the building. Felicia then kisses him. It's a long kiss making the crowd downstairs cheer. When they stop, Spidey mentions that no one has ever tried to French him through the mask before.

Later, inside, Scorpia is taken into custody and Klum wants to take advantage of the situation. He poses with both Spider-Man and the Black Cat for the cameras. The way he speaks makes bells ring with Spider-Man. When Klum has gone, he says to the Black Cat that he thinks that Klum is Mister Brownstone.

General Comments

Well, an OK story I guess. I read the story last week for the first time, and just before sitting down to do this review, I could not recall what it was all about. All I remembered was some love-is-in-the-air talk between Spidey and Black Cat. I totally forgot about Klum and the Scorpia character. Which is bad, for he's the bad guy and she's an interesting villain. All this gets completely overshadowed by the interaction between Spidey and Felicia.

Why is Scorpia interesting? After all, she's just an amateur, and is very easily defeated. I'll tell you: she's just an amateur. Lately we get all these old villains popping up again. And of course some new ones are created as well. What they all have in common is that they are mean, big, bad to the bone and strong. Here we have a nice little girl, trying to do a job but she fails big time. If done right, she can become a very cool new character. But I'm guessing she was just there for the purpose of having someone threaten Klum.

Overall Rating

Just 3.5, not 5 like the first issue. Why? First the story. Although is was great, I'm deducting 0.5 webs because there's so much Black Cat / Spider-Man interaction going on that you kinda forget there's more to this story. Second the artwork. Terry Dodson kinda overdid it a bit. True, Felicia Hardy has nice boobs, but the size Terry draws them (at times, not always), man, just looking at them makes my back hurt. Kinda makes you wonder how she must feel. So, that makes me deduct a full web, making it just 3.5 this time.