Never Let a Black Cat Cross Your Path!

[robinzegblu]

For my first post here on Scans_Daily, I’d like to present the history of everyone’s favorite cat-themed, black catsuit-clad villainess.



Our story begins in Amazing Spider-Man 194 by Marv Wolfman, Keith Pollard and Frank Giacola. First, a little context: Aunt May is deathly ill (again) and Peter has just jumped ship from J. Jonah Jameson’s Daily Bugle to K.J. Clayton’s Daily Globe.





The Black Cat makes her getaway, but Spidey catches up to her. And then this happens:





Meanwhile, back at the Globe, Peter overhears a relevant news report. Between this and the Spider-Man comic strip, I’m starting to think this is one of his powers.



He correctly surmises that the Black Cat is going to break Walter Hardy out of prison, and shows up to stop her.





Amazing Spider-Man 195 picks up right where the last one left off.



Kinda wearing that catchphrase into the ground, huh? Anyway she takes Walter Hardy back to his home and we get a shocking revelation.





Spider-Man found out that Walter Hardy had an adult daughter and came to the obvious (for a comic book) conclusion. Once again, they tussle.







And there you have it: the tragic story of Black Cat, a promising new character, taken from us too soon. Who knows what heights she would have risen to if she’d survived her initial appearance? Ah well, one can only dream.

Comments

[auggie18]

Hey, welcome to the community! Boffo first post!

Always sorta liked Felicia's look better than Selina's. Just visually, it's a neat outfit.

And cornsarnit, is Aunt May never not sick?

[robinzegblu]

I left it out, but this issue actually ends with her DYING.

Granted, Peter finds out via telegram and we never see the body, but still.

[lbd_nytetrayn]

...who sent Peter a telegram about it?

[robinzegblu]

The rest home she was staying at, but it turned out the head of the rest home was actually MYSTERIO! AND IT WAS ALL AN ILLUSION!

[richardak]

It is no accident that Black Cat is still wearing the same costume she premiered in, while Catwoman has changed hers about a dozen times.

[leoboiko]

The problem is that few writers are both able and willing to work with Catwoman’s inherent BDSM-ness.

[richardak]

It isn't just, or even primarily, that. Aesthetically, Selina Kyle presents a challenge that Felicia Hardy does not, simply because she has black hair. Felicia's silver hair means that you can put her in a black catsuit with silver trim on the wrists and feet, and you have a visually striking costume. Put Selina Kyle in a black catsuit, and you have empty, dark space on the page. The problem does not go away if the costume covers Selina's hair, as many versions have done; that just makes it that much more of a challenge to make her appearance visually interesting.

It's the same reason why Batman's costume is a mix of blue, grey, and yellow, with a big yellow oval at its center. A good superhero or supervillain costume has to be visually interesting, and that generally means having at least some color contrast. That's why some versions of Catwoman's costume have included bright green, bright orange, or bright purple. At the same time, that poses a challenge that might not exist for a character like, say, Iron Man or Superman, whose costumes are pretty much all bright colors: a cat-burglar's outfit also has to be plausibly stealthy.

Writers' troubles with the bdsm aspects of Catwoman's character do play a role, but an even bigger role in why her origins and personality have been so radically rewritten so many times. But that's a different issue.

[md84]

Oh what a tragedy that Black Cat and Aunt May die in this issue. It's a shame that in comics people stay dead all the time.

[cleome45]

I think there's a distinction to be made between a story in which a character thinks another character's dead, and a story where Editorial hypes the death as being totally! super duper!! reals forever!!11 even when they know for sure that it's not.

Also, I think the latter form of obnoxious bait-and-switch was less common back then than it is now, though that could just be my memory playing tricks on me. :/

[lbd_nytetrayn]

She was wrong... unless it was on a missing page, she never told him to never let a black cat cross his path.

Love her design, very attractive here overall. Especially for the older style.

[leoboiko]

So Peter is looking for a girlfriend who’s a swinger? Well, figures…

[arilou_skiff]

Oooh, great stuff. I love Felicia's early appearances.