Spider-Man/Black Cat:Evil That Men Do Reviews By: BTMXComedy & Spider-Dan

Spider-Man and the Black Cat “The Evil that Men Do” #6 (of 6)
Title: One in Four
Writer: Kevin Smith
Penciler: Terry Dodson
Inker: Rachel Dodson
Cover Date: March 2006

Background: We got Francis Klum talking to Black Cat about being raped by his brother and we got Daredevil and Spider-man looking for Black Cat and Klum. We also got Black Cat confessing to Klum that she was once raped too.

Plot: FLASHBACK TIME! Felicia is playing basketball with her supporting father. Her father was a cat burglar and we (the readers) always assumed that it was her father that led her to her lifestyle as the Black Cat, but Felicia insists otherwise. SECOND FLASHBACK TIME! Felicia Hardy is a student at Empire State University, after a mildly tense moment with some drunk, she is acquainted with Ryan a.k.a. Mr. “Purrrfect.”

Ryan seems pretty nice at first but while they are alone he insists on having his way with Felicia, and it all ends with rape. Felicia first felt helpless but that helplessness soon turned to anger. She began training in the gym and studied “multiple fighting styles.” She was going to exert her revenge on Ryan but she was too late, Ryan already died in a car accident. She felt that he had stolen her life and she wished she could steal his but being too late that attitude transferred itself into crime. Felicia, who is sharing all this with Francis Klum, the man who killed his own brother to save her, also shares how her relationship with our own Spider-man helped her through her hurt. She then tries to convince Francis to turn himself in but he adamantly refuses.

Spider-man and Daredevil spot Black Cat and Francis on top of a bridge, and Spider-man is having a Gwen Stacy’s death association. As Daredevil lifts Black Cat, Peter lets anger get the best of him, and beats Francis black and blue. Francis retaliates by teleporting Black Cat’s cat mask into Peter’s neck. Peter is seriously hurt and Black Cat urges Daredevil to go get medical help, so off Daredevil goes. Francis is convinced that Black Cat set him up and pulls a gun on her. Spider-man webs that gun but the trigger is already pulled and the shockwave knocks Francis off the bridge. Spidey tries to save Francis but Francis teleports out of there before he hits the water.

The next day Felicia decides to tell Peter the events that she told to Francis. Meanwhile Francis apparently didn’t teleport into a very comfortable place and his face was seriously injured. Now he seeks revenge on Black Cat, Spider-man, and even Daredevil. Francis has a meeting with Kingpin in which the crime lord sells him the Mysterio costume.

Likes:

- Yes! Kevin Smith put aside his crap from last issue and made an excellent comic which explores rape and its victims. Very nicely done and powerful (Although some of that power may have mellowed out by the sheer heaviness of last issue’s events)

- A new villain, in a classic costume, and a rich backstory. This is something that has become rare…scratch that…its actually always been somewhat rare. I can’t wait to see Mysterio III in action.

- There was a nice bit of psychology in there, if a psychology class were to analyze characters in a comic book, this would be the comic book. In this issue you can clearly see that no character actually behaves independently according to the situation. Every character reacts in accordance with his or her past experiences.

Dislikes:

- On top of the bridge moments, relating them to Gwen Stacy, and then having someone fall off the bridge, is getting a bit old.

Favorite Quote: Francis: “I’ll teleport my fist into his brain.”

Rating: 4.5 out of 5. It was a nicely done issue but I saw it coming from a mile away…which I suppose is why all the crap along the way was so disappointing, because there was a higher purpose.

Reviewed by: BtmxComedy

Spider-Man and the Black Cat “The Evil that Men Do” #5 (of 6)
Title: Trickle Down
Writer: Kevin Smith
Penciler: Terry Dodson
Inker: Rachel Dodson
Cover Date: February 2006

Background: Read the previous four issues of this miniseries. However if you really don’t want to… Black Cat went to prison for killing a drug lord who went by the name of Garrison Klum AKA Mr. Brownstone. Spider-man and Daredevil decided to break her out but Francis, Garrison’s brother, got to her first, and teleported away with her.

Plot: The alarms are sounding in Ryker’s and the security guards come but Daredevil and Spider-man have already hid in the ventilation shaft.

Shift over to a flashback from Francis’s childhood. Francis is being bullied by two kids in the bathroom, they knock him over, make a few anti-Semitic remarks and piss on him (yes, you heard me correctly). Enters Garrison Klum in defense of his brother, and knocks out one of the bullies by hitting him (there seems to be a lot more blood flying then there should be) and dunks his head in the urinal. Next we flash to a scene sometime later that day and Garrison basically…convinces/ intimidates his brother into having sex with him. After that delightful tale, Francis lets Felicia put on her Black Cat costume.

Meanwhile the scene changes back to Daredevil and Spider-man for some badly needed comic relief. There is some nice dialogue which is interrupted by Nightcrawler’s appearance.

Now we are back to the flashbacks…where we find out that Francis first found out he can teleport during his mother’s funeral. He found out about his mind control powers when the prostitute his brother got for him to lose his virginity with refused to have anal sex with him.

We return to Nightcrawler and he gives us the lowdown that Francis is a semi mutant who is a descendent of a Jewish concentration camp victim that was transplanted with mutant organs. With that nice back story in place for Francis, we return to him as he recounts his early days with the Klum business, and recounts a recent time his brother had his way with him. This made Francis quite angry so when he saw Garrison trying to do the same to Black Cat (back at the end of Part 3 of the miniseries), he took action and teleported INTO Garrison, thereby exploding him all over the floor. Flash back to Nightcrawler who informs the heroes that the Cerebra computer at Xavier’s institute picked up a lead and to make it short, Spider-man and Daredevil know that Black Cat was expecting Francis’s visit. We end this issue with a confession from Black Cat (to Francis) that she too was once raped.

Likes:

- We got Nightcrawler in the house

- Hopefully the cliffhanger is indicative of an explanation next issue which will deepen our understanding of the character of Black Cat. Basically, I got hooked on the cliffhanger.

Dislikes:

- Where do I even begin…from anti-Semitism, to heavy bullying, to male rape by a brother, to the Holocaust as a precursor to all of this…it was just too much for me. I read Marvel’s MAX line, read some pretty dark independent comics, but this is the first comic to ever make me gag. Now I didn’t review the first three issues of this miniseries and I actually disagreed with the mention that this miniseries was going a little too far with the possible rape of Black Cat back in issue 3’s review. I thought to myself that this is a great place to explore such an issue, but what Mr. Smith here did was complete overkill. I no longer know what the theme of this book is, its been littered with so much heavy that you don’t know what to even look at. I guess on the positive note I found my own “mature content” stomaching level…

- Chronology again…

- Nightcrawler was barely used in this story, hopefully it will all come together next issue. I don’t feel like Kevin Smith owes me more of Nightcrawler I would just like it if he did. The cover featuring Nightcrawler and Black Cat got my hopes up.

Favorite Quote: Nightcrawler: Jawohl und nien

Spider-man: That means yes and no

Daredevil: What am I, retarded?

Rating: 1 out of 5. Way too much for my stomach, I found myself wishing that Kevin Smith forgot this miniseries back in 2002 for good.

Reviewed by: BtmxComedy

Spider-Man and the Black Cat “The Evil that Men Do” #4 (of 6)

Title: A Study in Scarlet
Writer: Kevin Smith
Penciler: Terry Dodson
Inker: Rachel Dodson

Cover Date: February 2006

Background: Read the first three issues of this miniseries, which came out four years ago…Yes you heard me, four years ago. Most people stopped believing that it would ever be completed, but at the end Marvel did not fail us.

Plot: Felicia Hardy is at Ryker’s Island and her new lawyer has come to see her. We find out that Black Cat could be tried for the murder of Garrison Klum (a.k.a. Mr. Brownstone). The lawyer wants her to take the stance that she was raped which as far as we could tell last issue is true, however Felicia argues vehemently that she was not raped. Oh and then we find out that the lawyer’s name is Matt Murdock, but if the comic is in front of you, you already knew that by the red glasses six pages ago.

We find out that Murdock was actually hired by Peter Parker. Parker gets all the details from Murdock and comes to the conclusion that its time to break her out. After a lengthy conversation he manages to convince Murdock to join him.

The two arrive at Ryker’s Island to find that every guard has been beaten to death and Felicia is in the hands of Francis Klum, Garrison’s younger brother/ sidekick. Francis apparently has mind control powers because he gets Daredevil to fight Spider-man. Felicia urges him to stop and he does…as he teleports himself and Felicia away.

Likes:

- Nice introduction to the second half of “Evil that Men Do.”

- Tension and mystery of part 3’s cliffhanger (what seemed to be the beginning of Garrison raping Black Cat) is maintained. Hey it has been four years we can wait one or two more months.

Dislikes:

- After four years…so so very late.

- Chronology! Part 3 was released in 2002, this part is here near the end of 2005. Things have changed since then! It would have been ok if those elements have been ignored but they were not, they were incorporated. The most notable of this is Matt Murdock’s secret identity problem, which didn’t exist at 2002. Likewise we can’t move this entire story to 2005 because in part 1 of the miniseries we got the reunion of Spider-man and Black Cat after some years, and since then they have appeared together in the pages of Marvel Knights Spider-man.

Favorite Quote: Matt Murdock: “Peter you’ve got me wishing right now, for the first time, that a radioactive isotope took my hearing instead of my sight.”

Rating: 2 out of 5. Pretty average but like in high school…points off for late assignments.

Reviewed by: BtmxComedy

Spider-Man and the Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do #3-"Hate Crimes"
The Story: Kevin Smith is making a Max/Marvel Knights comic under a PG rating. Drugs, T&A, Violence and dark themes, all under a PG rating. Kevin is getting way too much leniency with this series. We also find who Mister Brwonstone is, and how he can make so many people OD.
The Good: Sigh...not much, really. A nice image of Peter in full costume (minus the mask) sitting at a desk, contemplating, while Felicia stands on a balcony getting some fresh air, and also the next page with the two startling Mister Brownstone.
The Bad: The series is seeming to take a nose dive since last issue. Kevin is taking this PG rated title far too far beyond the limits. Oh, and Black Cat's in some SERIOUS trouble.
The Rating: 2.5 Black Cats out of 5

Spider-Man: Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do #2- "A Ruse By Any Other Name..."