Patsy Walker is back in Hellcat #1, the start of her 5-issue limited series from Marvel Comics. This Hellcat book spins off from writer Christopher Cantwell’s run on Iron Man, wherein Patsy turns down a marriage proposal from Tony Stark and strikes out on her own to live in San Francisco (see Iron Man and Hellcat Annual #1 for the start of this arc). As her superhero name suggests, Hellcat deals in the supernatural. Yes, she was a teen celebrity and later an Avenger, but her marriage to the Son of Satan and time in Hell has changed her trajectory. Heading to the West Coast, she moves into a house inherited from her mother – which her mother’s ghost still haunts.
Hellcat #1
Christopher Cantwell (Writer), KJ Díaz (Colorist), Alex Lins (Artist), VC’s Ariana Maher (Letterer)
Marvel Comics
March 15, 2023
The comic opens with Patsy deliberating over whether she’s a good person or a bad one. A man she was romantically involved with has been brutally murdered, and the police take Patsy in as a suspect. After posting bail, she commits to figuring out who did this. Her first suspect is Rick Sheridan, a man who was the host for the supernatural entity The Sleepwalker. The issue does well setting up not only Patsy’s history but her strained friendship with longtime supporting character Hedy Wolfe, too. It covers a lot of ground, from a complicated past to an emerging present of intrigue.
Patsy’s consideration of her own goodness, and a piece of dialogue from her father as a child that suggests the devil “has his hand on [her] shoulder,” reminded me of Matt Murdock’s struggles in Netflix’s Daredevil TV series. It’s a compelling way to thematically frame a limited comic series, especially one that revolves around a murder mystery. I tend to be wary of narratives that involve a main character’s amnesia since they often lead to stereotypical mental illness plots; hopefully, Cantwell can pull off a nuanced investigation for Patsy. With that said, this issue’s tone suggests Cantwell will carry over Patsy’s serious themes from the Iron Man book, in which he explored her suicide, resurrection, and the journey of managing her trauma.
Hellcat #1 warrants a slow read since a lot is going on with each page and much of it is complex collage work from Alex Lins. The images of her boyfriend’s eviscerated dead body add a touch of gore to an otherwise fairly tame comic but leave the door open for more horror down the road. KJ Díaz’s coloring employs lots of oranges and muted blues, lending some strong noir hues to this book.
I highly recommend reading Iron Man and Hellcat Annual #1 before picking up this new title. Not only is it a good issue that ties up Tony and Patsy’s romance in the previous run, but it also lays all the groundwork for her present story. There’s quite a bit of set-up in that book that helps world-build around the inherited house, including a stuffed animal that contains the spirit of an important character in Patsy’s life. It’s also a stronger and more interesting issue overall, showcasing Patsy’s unwilling return to Hell to face some heavy-hitting foes.
Although Tony’s characterization during Cantwell’s Iron Man run proved divisive for fans on social media, Patsy’s inclusion was a great idea and lent to the book meaningful introspection and higher emotional stakes. At the end of the Iron Man and Hellcat annual, the team asked readers to write in and voice if they wanted more Patsy (and Hedy) in future comics. In this #1, they reprint several of those letters, and it’s clear how much the audience connected with Hellcat. I certainly did. Although this issue isn’t perfect, I’m glad Marvel is continuing Patsy’s history with a new installment. She deserves it.
