Review: Patsy Walker: Hellcat, Agent of the Initiative 1

Some say Spider-Man has a convoluted history, what with the clones and the deals with Mephisto. Others think the Legion of Superheroes, which seems to get rebooted weekly, is confusing.

But if you want your mind twisted, try on Hellcat for size. Patsy Walker was a female Archie before she was imaginary, before she was married and became a superhero, before she got divorced and married Satan’s kid, before she went insane and killed herself, before she was a gladiator in Hell, before she was brought back to life, before she joined the Initiative as an instructor.

And now? Now she’s in her own book, a pretty light-hearted (if a touch too streamlined) story about Patsy Walker as Alaska’s sole superhero.

Fans of an only semi-jerky Tony Stark will enjoy a bit of back-and-forth in this issue, though things move pretty fast and get a bit confusing once the action moves far north. Still, writer Kathryn Immonen crafts a fun little story. If this wasn’t a mini-series, I’d honestly be more interested in it. As it is, with four more issues to go, I worry that the slight tone won’t have time to build to something more engrossing.