Much of NYC is out to KILL MARY JANE WATSON Including BLACK CAT There s something sinister going on and it s tied to a classic Marvel villain with ties to our co stars Jackpot u0026 Black Cat 2024 2 of 4 I m not quite sure how Bronfman managed to go even lower than the nadir of last issue s My Little Batpot but she managed to drill below the Earth s core with this issue Where to start With the hurried rushed art of the two artists it took to work on this mishegas Artists who can t be bothered to remember that MJ Watson has dimples and a cleft chin and instead drew her like the inanimate china doll Bronfman treats her as The action scenes in the candy store are especially confused. With Paul I was just a good German son following orders Rabin planetary murderer who feels really bad he fell for his daddy s lies y all but who still can t muster up a single atom of remorse for all of his victims Hannah Arendt would have had a field day with Paul who is the epitome of the banality of evil. With Felicia and MJ promising unconditional support to each other only to immediately start lying to each other and putting each other at even greater risk for all they know Names are in scare quotes because these characters are Felicia and MJ in name only Not even in appearance see above With MJ for whom Batpot is supposedly empowering but who spends her time placating the emotions of the planetary murderer who forgets that MJ was also tramautized by Rabin who chained her with fake kids so she of all people has reason to want to avoid being manipulated by others but sure Paul choosing to help his daddy of his own free will needs to centered instead The misogyny internalized and otherwise continues to drip off the pages of anything associated with the Zeb Wells run. With the shock ending twist that everyone saw coming except for the very real character assassination of Felicia Hardy who is allowing her girlfriend to blackmail everyday citizens of the Marvel Universe and to put out assassination hits without a qualm Even if there is another twist coming it does not excuse the set up in the first issue Not to mention that the twist is as nonsensical as the tech described in the mini so far So Fel and Amelia are using Obscura to blackmail ordinary citizens as well as a cover for Fel to do heists why does Fel need a cover She s the Black Cat That s what she does so they can give the money to the Owl while taking a cut but they plan to later rob the Owl of ALL the money while pinning Obscura on Amelia s former boss Wyatt like HUH With Bronfman revealing the sheer dishonesty amateur hour of her writing since the shock twist means that Felicia was lying to the reader in her introduction in Issue 1 even though we are in Felicia s head and therefore should know everything she knows People I can t stress enough what a cheap dirty writing trick this is It destroys the foundation of trust between reader and writer and someone should have pointed this out to Bronfman but as usual editor Nick Lowe continues to be the laziest person in comics No one comes out looking good in this mini They re all braindead dolls in a convoluted plot that falls apart with active character assassination for the title characters Stay away folks this one is poisonous 24 As much as I might like to look at the Jackpot art it s very hard to accept her as a crime fighter as far as I know she has absolutely no skills or training Especially since there was a major Black Cat arc back in the day about her nearly getting killed while hanging with Spider Man for the exact same reason. This gauntlet she wields while interesting is suddenly a slot machine of super powers that she can roll and roll until she gets what she needs rather turning it into a super weapon At least in the first series there were some negative spins to keep it balanced now always pays off. Limiting her spins to 1 a day would force her to be creative with what she gets She also knows exactly how to use whatever she gets If a new X man were born with any of these powers like shadowmancing they would have to train in the danger room for months and months before they re ready MJ just executes like the Taskmaster. That said the banter between MJ and Fe is still spot on and keeps the panels flowing at a fun pace The story also flexes to show how clever Black Cat really is which is the most difficult aspect of her character to get write 24 If this were a series in a show this issue would be an in between episodes issue It has some elements that keep your interest but you re not quite sure what you signed up for just that it includes Jackpot and Black Cat 24