Saturday, September 02, 2006
Comic Art
In what seems to be the neverending stream of "Who?" heroes that
were a part of the Defenders, we turn our attention today to Hellcat. Here's the basic bio. In "real life" she is Patsy Walker, now Patsy Hellstrom, and Patsy Walker may have had the strangest evolution of any character in comics. She started as sort of Marvel's answer to Betty and Veronica (from the Archie comics) -- married the "Son of Satan" (we'll get to him soon) and now is undead. This "official" bio barely mentions her past, at least in terms of "reality" - She even rates a Wikipedia entry (but then who doesn't?) which also includes some interesting information on her older incarnations.The analog to Batman's nemesis "Catwoman" seems obvious, but is never discussed. The two characters have such radically different stories that the analog is completely superficial, but comics are a visual medium.
But then, while she is a feminine feline character, she is drawn quite differently too - and I don't mean just the differences in costume. Selina Kyle (Catwoman) always, and I mean always, looks like she is trying to seduce every man in sight. (Remember Michelle Pfifer in that second Michael Keaton Batman film?) Patsy, on the other hand, is all teeth and claws. You sort of had the impression that if she did seduce you it would hurt - maybe that is why she had to marry the "Son of Satan"?I do think this goes a long way to account for the relative success of the two characters. Catwoman was a fantasy - Hellcat was just another costume.
Patsy did hold her own on the Defenders, she was quite the competent hero. And, given the generally mystical nature of the Defenders foes, her "Hell" connection was probably more important than her feline qualities.Do not confuse Hellcat with an earlier use of the costume called Tigra - that was a mutant that went on to go all furry on her own and did not need the costume anymore. Walker inherited the costume, and somehow seemed to gain power from it in some completely inexplicable manner. Which may also account for a lot - she has the least sensical "origin" of any hero I have ever encountered.
Related Tags: comics, comic books, comic art, Marvel, The Defenders, Hellcat
