Review of Black Cat: Queen in Black

Black Cat, Vol. 4: Queen in Black by Jed Mackay

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Who loves a comic volume that ties in with another series – utterly devoid of context and separate from the story arc of preceding books? No one. Why is this a requirement of comic franchises? Characters will inevitably interweave, prompting interest in picking up different series. Why muddy the waters with random stories? (And it’s not even like Mr. MacKay felt the need to throw in a helpful asterisk to direct the reader to the originating volume)

Knull arrived out of nowhere. And while I’m a fan of Venom, trying to parse out how the invasion fit into the arc left me flipping back through previous volumes. A waste of time and energy because there wasn’t anything there to find. It’s nothing more than a blip. Entertaining to read, but not much in the way of plot advancement. Lift it out, and it stands on its own – a random entry.

The square-off between Queen Cat and Black Cat made more sense and at least contributed more to the original plotline. (Granted, I needed another point of reference to understand where she entered the picture, but there was at least an asterisk there) Why wasn’t more of the volume devoted to that story? From the standpoint of attracting the usual demographic, two women in form-fitting costumes? I think Marvel missed the boat on that one. (Although the diary thing is overplayed and uninteresting to read)

From a reader’s standpoint, this was one volume that could easily get skipped. Unless you wanted a comfortable read for the evening.

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