MARCO SPEAKS SPIDEY: BLACK CAT ANNUAL #1

MARCO SPEAKS SPIDEY: BLACK CAT ANNUAL #1

Black Cat is already a queen of her own homeland, and she has made Queens proud. In this wonderful and fun misadventure, we see our favorite thief take her talents to South Korea! It provides some fresh, entertaining moments for new and old readers alike. And we also get to meet the ultra-powerful cast of South Korean superheroes. The comic book also has an ‘Infinite Destinies’ short story squeezed in at the end, but make no mistake about it… the main event of this chapter is Black Cat helping the Korean super spies get back the country’s strongest superhero from the mind-control of gangsters who want to start a coup to take over the world. Sounds intense? It really is.

OFFICIAL MARVEL COMICS DESCRIPTION:

BLACK CAT ANNUAL #1

STORY BY: Jed MacKay

ART BY: Joey Vazquez

MAIN COVER BY: C.F. Villa

VARIANTS BY: Guile Sharp, Ron Lim, Stephen Segovia, Travis Charest

“INFINITE DESTINIES” CONTINUES!

• Felicia Hardy’s vacation is interrupted when a layover in South Korea turns into an insane caper.
• This caper is a deadly journey across Seoul, where she comes face to face with Taegukgi, White Fox, and Tiger Division (from TASKMASTER #3)!
• And what does this have to do with the Infinity Stones? Find out this June! ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: Part 3 (of 8) of “Infinite Fury”!

SEOUL SISTERS!

PROS:

• If you are a fan of the Suicide Squad or Thunderbolts framework of storytelling, then you are going to definitely enjoy this special annual issue of Black Cat. She gets stuck in South Korea and is forced to work with the country’s greatest heroes in order to get back Taegukgi from the grasps of a gang that wants to take over the city. And they plan on doing this by mind-controlling the hero and using him against his own team. And Black Cat is not given much of a choice, as a bomb is implanted in her as an extra persuasive measure.
• It was quite fitting that for this annual issue, we do not get the usual Black Cat caper story, but actually see her doing a very traditional black-and-white superhero escapade. Her skills as a thief and burglar come in really handy when the twists and turns hit the Korean superheroes hard. But when it gets down to getting dirty, Black Cat is also not afraid of getting blood on her hands as the fight scenes were very well executed as well, especially when they fought the Korean death maidens.
• Infinite Fury may not have been totally essential to the annual issue as a whole, and it was definitely missing the book’s titular character most of the time (that’s being extra conservative), but the lack of Black Cat was made up by the consistent and ever-reliable swag of Nick Fury. All in all, the issue provided two solid stories, back-to-back.
• The chemistry between Black Cat and White Fox was a blast from the very start, and I will not be surprised if the duo is used more often in the future. While they may be opposite in so many ways, one can say that they are actually cut from the same cloth. It is just that one uses her same set of skills to be a super spy while the other uses her abilities to be a super thief.

CONS:

• There was not enough Luna Snow! (White Fox was awesome as usual, though, so there’s that.)

FINAL GRADE: A

Even if you are not the most updated fan of Black Cat, you don’t really need to know much background going into this issue. The book also provides, a nice, convenient gateway into the South Korean mythology of superheroes. While the book really focuses on White Fox, we as readers do get more than a glimpse of action starring the rest of the Korean champions in their fight against a mind-controlled Taegukgi. It is also a strong demonstration of the sheer power and force that the god-figure holds. This was an excellent tale of Black Cat being the hero she is meant to be, reaching her potential as a top tier savior of the world… but I know that we all want to see more stealing and thievery in the coming months, because that is simply what makes her Black Cat.