Patsy Walker, aka Hellcat Vol 2: Don't Stop Me-ow by Kate Leth and Brittney L Williams

Patsy Walker, aka Hellcat Vol 2: Don't Stop Me-ow written by Kate Leth and illustrated by Brittney L Williams is the direct sequel to Vol 1: Hooked on a Feline, which I reviewed last year. Volume 1 ended part-way through a story arc and Volume 2 picked up where that story left off.

In another world they might be gal pals who help each other through hard times. But when Patsy Walker and Jessica Jones meet at last in the Marvel Universe, could it be they'll end up as...best frenemies?! Not everyone can get along all the time, which is why the world's heroes are about to be rocked by a second Civil War! But when the fallout from the battlefield hits close to home, Patsy is forced to take stock of her life and face what it really costs to be A.K.A. Hellcat! Plus, fallouts with former friends don't get any worse than Patsy and Hedy. Now Ms. Wolfe is about to torment her rival more than ever, with a little help from Patsy's evil exboyfriends! Will Hellcat get burned by her old flames?

As well as picking up mid-way through a story arc, Hellcat Volume 2 also ends part-way through a story arc, which was kind of annoying. Especially since it felt a lot more unfinished, being an incomplete villain face-off. Having a "to be continued" when it seems like only one more issue would finish off the story was very frustrating.

Another thing that was frustrating was the tangential impact of the latest comic event on Patsy's story. In this case Civil War II takes out one of Patsy's regular friends (I suppose I'll refrain from spoiling who or how) and everyone has to spend a little while reacting to that, which wasn't otherwise necessary to Patsy's story.

Negativity aside, I enjoyed this volume and I continue to enjoy reading about Hellcat. Patsy has interesting friends and interactions with them. I especially like her housemate, who gets a bit more story progression in this volume than in the previous one. There's also a section involving Jessica Jones, which was pretty great. Less interesting was the part where Patsy was revisited by ex-boyfriends/husbands, but that was at least resolved pretty satisfactorily.

The villain that appears towards the end (and doesn't get resolved in the included issues) is Black Cat, as you may have guessed from the cover art. I particularly liked how Black Cat recruited what amounts to a girl gang to do her henching and I hope we see more of them after the storyline is resolved.

Overall, if you liked the previous volume of Hellcat, I definitely recommend picking up this next instalment. Unnecessary cliffhangers aside, I'm definitely planning to pick up the next volume, although I'll probably wait until I've cleared out a bit more of my current comics backlog (I'm pretty sure the next volume is already available, if that matters to you). If you haven't read any Hellcat before, I'd recommend starting with the first volume, which properly introduces all the supporting characters as well as Patsy herself. In general, I also recommend this series to fans of female superheroes, because duh.

4 / 5 stars

First published: January 2017, Marvel
Series: Hellcat, ongoing series, trade volume 2 of 3 so far, containing issues #7–12
Format read: Trade paperback
Source: All Star Comics, Melbourne

Patsy Walker aka Hellcat! Vol 1: Hooked on a Feline by Kate Leth and Brittney L Williams

Patsy Walker aka Hellcat! Vol 1: Hooked on a Feline written by Kate Leth and illustrated by Brittney L Williams is the first collected volume of a brand new ongoing series featuring (obviously) the titular character. You might remember me mentioning Patsy/Hellcat in my She-Hulk reviews. This new series follows on from the same situation, with some overlapping character and also some new characters. And, of course, a focus on Patsy rather than She-Hulk/Jen.

Patsy Walker has managed to escape her past, her enemies and Hell itself (literally) - but nothing compares to job hunting in New York City! Between trying to make rent and dodging bullets, Patsy barely has time to deal with her mother's exploitative romance comics about Patsy's past resurfacing, much less how they start to interfere with her work and dating life. As she goes from living a double life to a triple, what the hell is Patsy Walker supposed to do? There'll be friendship and burgers, monsters and rent checks and a ghost from the past with questionable motives! Comics' most flexible heroine has been a provisional Avenger, a Defender, Satan's daughter-in-law and a dead woman–but she's never been anything like this!

This comic was excellent and even better than I expected. I was expecting to enjoy it because I like the character (and She-Hulk!). What I didn't see coming, however, was the lightheartedness and sheer fun of the comic. On that front, I'd say it was probably most like Squirrel Girl, with a similar — but not identical — style of puns, quips and jokes. There were several laugh-out-loud moments for me.

The story is basically: Patsy gets fired from being Jen's investigator because Jen is broke and then Patsy has bad-guy-thwarting adventures while trying to set up a new business. There's also the matter of romance stories that Patsy's mum wrote about teenaged Patsy and friends resurfacing, which Patsy is not impressed by.

I also really liked the art. It was bright and cheerful and Hellcat was often drawn in a chibi style, which was just adorable. Also, She-Hulk got to have pants as part of her hero costume! Win!

This was an excellent and entertaining read. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys fun comics and doesn't hate female characters. I will definitely be reading the next volume in this series and hope that it runs for MANY issues. <3

5 / 5 stars

First published: July 2016, Marvel
Series: Yes, first collected volume of an ongoing series, containing issues #1–5
Format read: Trade paperback
Source: Some comic book shop or other (Orbital Comics in London, I think)