Patsy Walker A.K.A. Hellcat #9 Review and *SPOILERS* - Marvel Mondays

My Supervillain Ex Boyfriends

Written By: Kate Leth
Art By: Brittney Williams
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: August 24, 2016 
Publisher: Marvel


*NON-SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM*

OK, have we all stopped crying after the Civil War II tie in? Because I sure haven't.

*Smacks self*I have to be strong for the reader!

But seriously folks, the last issue was just as emotional as I thought it would be and just as great. However, like all tie-ins, we need to keep moving forward, and the issue before last definitely set up something bad for Patsy Walker's life. Patsy finally pulled the rights to her old comic series away from her frenemy(though very much an enemy at this point), Hedy Wolfe, ruining her chances of becoming rich. Obviously, that would drive anyone to do some heinous deeds, right? Well, let's dive in and find out...

So I bet a few of you were wondering, "What has Hedy been up to after losing the Patsy Walker rights?" Well obviously as the main antagonist, she isn't going to give up that easy. She decides to go to the two people that will go against her with the right motivation: Patsy Walker's evil exes. The first she finds is Daimon Hellstrom, The Son of Satan, and she convinces him that Patsy is planning to kill him. The second is their oldest friend, and Patsy's High School Sweetheart, Buzz Baxter, now going by Mad Dog.  Hedy tells him that Patsy had a cure for his beastly mutation... Obviously, both men are ticked off and go off to face Patsy.

While this is going on, Patsy is still suffering from the loss of She-Hulk. To add to that immense stress, the loss of the law firm has made The Super-Temp Agency the sole source of rent for the building, and they will need to quadruple their clientele if they want to keep it, as well as take bigger cuts from the clients they already have. Obviously our heroine is too sweet to do that to her clients, so she excuses herself for a cappuccino break.

As Patsy drinks her cappuccino, her assistant, Jubilee, tries to convince her that they are going to be just fine by showing how her new updated system works. While Patsy is thankful, it's shown that she needs a bigger pick-me-up... And nothing says pick-me-up than karaoke night! 

This next scene shows where the book has always succeeded since the beginning: the friends interacting. Yes, we can have action scenes, and yes, they can be entertaining, but just hanging out with these characters is always way more fun. They feel alive with every interaction that doesn't revolve around superheroing. Seeing Ian swoon as Tom sings Poor Unfortunate Souls from The Little Mermaid as Jubilee teases him might be one of the funnier things I've read this week.

When Patsy goes to get her phone to record Tom, Daimon is already waiting. He leads her outside and begins to beat down Patsy as Mad Dog comes into the Karaoke Bar looking for her as well. If only we had a kick ass ex-X-Man to help our heroine! Oh wait, yes we do and she takes on the crazed Mad Dog. Soon the conflicts cross paths outside, and when both men say that it's Hedy who told them about Patsy's 'plans', Patsy tries to convince them that Hedy is lying.

This is where I have my big problem of this issue: Why do these two believe Hedy when she has no physical proof? Okay, they hate Patsy, and Daimon seems like the kind of guy who would be kind of a dick for the sake of being one, but literally there is zero reason to believe Hedy. Mad Dog grew up with her, and should already know of her kaniving ways! As for Daimon... HE'S THE SON OF SATAN! He should be able to sniff out lies a mile away! Either he knows it's a lie and doesn't care, or he's a crap son of Satan.

In the end, Daimon captures Patsy in a pentagram circle and sends her to hell… Where she's confronted by an evil version of She-Hulk.

While I am usually a fan of the art of Brittney Williams, I had one pretty big issue when it came to the design of Mad Dog. For a guy that claims that he is stuck in a beast's body, he doesn't look half bad, especially in the face department. I looked up a picture of the "Mutated Mad Dog" and he looks horrific, where is this one looks more 'handsome grumpy dog'. 

Bits and Pieces:

Despite the questionable motivation behind the villains attacking, I still found myself enjoying this issue. Yes the action was decent, but once again it's the comedic interactions between this group of friends that win over me. It might not be as good as the Civil War Tie-In, but it makes me excited to see where this is going to go.

7/10