Customer Reviews

Spider-Man / Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do (Amazing Spider-Man)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The long delays that often dog Kevin Smith's comic-book scripts can sometimes have devastating results. In the case of "The Evil That Men Do," a tale pairing Spider-Man with ex-flame Felicia Hardy (the Black Cat), the long gap between issues caused fan interest to wane -- and created a Jekyll and Hyde dichotomy between the first half of the miniseries and the last.

Set in a period when Peter Parker was separated from his wife, Mary Jane, the reintroduction of the Black Cat was boiling with potential. While Mary Jane has proven time and again to be Peter's soulmate, there's no denying the chemistry when Spider-Man romps over the rooftops with Felicia. (Their relationship back in the day was more sexual than romantic, after all, and Felicia fled the scene when Peter wanted to get more serious.) Now regretting her hasty flight, Felicia returns to New York City in search of a missing friend. She of course runs into Peter, and their flirty interactions just bubble with possibilities. "No one's ever tried to French me through the mask before," he tells her, after a life-saving clench. The first half of the six-issue mini just trills with the stuff, and fans were left wondering if Mary Jane was going to return after all, or if this daring beauty was poised to take her place.

Then Smith took his long, unscheduled hiatus from the book, and when he came back, he was in a much darker frame of mind. (No wonder, he spent the time off finishing "Jersey Girl," and that would ruin anyone's good mood.) Playtime was over for those crazy kids on the rooftops; now, Smith wanted to deal with issues such as rape and incest. Credit where due, he deals with difficult topics well, with sensitivity and tact. The story is, no denying it, powerful.

But damn, Kevin, where was your turn signal? The sudden shift in tone is jarring, to say the least. It feels less like a delay, more like a different writer stepped in to finish the script. (Of course, by the time Smith submitted his final pages, Peter's separation from his wife was over, and his flirty fling with Felicia was no longer appropriate.)

The book is gorgeously illustrated by Terry Dodson, who draws with a focus on Felicia that leaves you no doubts he was bottle-fed as a child. Still, for all her eye-popping glory, the pages jump with color and action -- although the book takes on a suitably darker cast as the story shifts into its less light-hearted mode.

by Tom Knapp, Rambles.(net) editor

--This is the collected version of the limited series by director Kevin Smith and artists Terry and Rachel Dodson.
--This dark tale featuring Spider-Man, Black Cat, Daredevil and Night-Crawler and deals with extreme issues like drug overdoses, child molestation, mass murders and rape (both men and women).
--Black Cat comes out of retirement to find a missing girlfriend and Spider-Man is looking to find out why one of his students died of a drug overdose.
--They team up to find that one of NY most prominent figures may be involved somehow.
--They start playing cops which leads them in the middle of a drug war.
--There is one sexy female villain in the whole book and she's gone in no time.
--Without giving too much more away, half way thru the book, the action stops and its turns into a guide on how to deal with child and adult molestation and rape.
--People are revealing their stories of rape survival and not much else is going on.
--I don't mean to be cruel, but it took over the second half and it felt weird in a Spider-man book.
--Night-Crawler was only available only as a consultant.
--It look like it was going somewhere, then Smith gave Marvel anything just to get his check and get Marvel and fans off his back. (Basically, it took 3-4 years to complete this series.)
--One good point was Daredevil was in it.
--Also, It has DVD style extras in the back.
--What actually makes this book fit for purchase (and the 3 stars) is the excellent art work by the Dodsons.

This was a good book-- but suffered because of a huge delay in waiting for the original comics to come out. By huge delay, I mean that, I had no idea what the story was about when the next issue finally hit stores-- and it almost feels like the first half of the story and the last half of the story were from 2 totally different series... kind of mashed together... readers took offense more to the lateness of the book than to any complaints about the story itself, but that's what they will pin it on if asked. Im sure it would have been a non-issue if it had come out on time-- but that was then, this is the trade paper back now, and the reason I love it, is for the art of Terry Dodson... which is the reason I wanted it in the first place. --and it's everything that I was expecting from his work. Just really nice stuff-- along the same lines as Adam Hughes, as far as style. Great stuff--

Side note though-- this story is not for kids-- it ventures off into a drug induced personal violation of it's female lead that becomes the focus of the story... so just for us big kids in a Spiderman : CSI kind of way:)

BM

This book starts off as a typical super-heroes vs. drug pushers book (done to death in the 80's...), and ends up as an after-school special on sexual abuse, complete with characters quoting statistics ("...some studies show that 1 in 4 women..."). There are several reviews here that question whether the miniseries was ever finished. For the record, the miniseries was completed--this trade paperback includes all 6 issues of the miniseries. Without trivializing the very real issues at hand, I have to say that Kevin Smith's dialogue in the final two issues comes off as hokey rather than heavy.

Why recommend this book, then? Well, the first four parts of the series could very well be the best Black Cat/Spider-Man team-up ever. Smith has a great handle on the dynamics of their relationship, and it really makes you wish that they'll hook up again in the future (once Marvel kills off that whiny model Mary Jane...).

Kevin Smith never even finished the miniseries that inspired this Trade Paperback. How can they be publishing it? Don't get me wrong, I like the guy's stuff. It's just that he has yet to finish anything close to being ontime, and I am seriously tired of it. And now Marvel is publishing an unfinished miniseries as a standalone story? What's next the Daredevil/bullseye TPB with 22 pages of story and almost 90 of blank pages?

So, I just got finished reading Evil That Men Do. Coming into the mini, I was sort of unsure of whether I'd enjoy it much; while it was written by Kevin Smith - writer of the fantastic Daredevil and Green Arrow relaunches - at the same time, it seemed to recieve a lot of jeering from the fans. However, this jeering seemed to stem mostly from the lateness of the last 3 issues of the series, and since I was reading this in TPB, I really couldn't complain about that.

With all that in mind, I began reading. The first thing that struck me about the book is just how wonderful a spotlight it was for Black Cat. As the title suggests, this is Spider-Man AND the Black Cat. And it's all done very well. The characterization and banter between the characters is excellent. It plainly reminded me why I've quickly become a bit of a fan of Black Cat, and what a solid supporting character she can be to Spider-Man.

Now that's the first half of the book. The second half - while still focusing very much on Black Cat - takes a very different angle. Namely rape and sexual abuse. This is dark stuff. This is disturbing stuff. The kind of subject matter that is almost always uncomfortable to read. At the same time, it's a subject matter that should be read. People should understand what it's like to be raped. Both as an act of prevention against committing it, and as a compassion for the people who have suffered it. Smith details that perfectly. He shows exactly what it does to people. Shows just how truly horrible it is. And that, while uncomfortable, is ultimately powerful. Very powerful.

With that said, I would be remiss to mention the art. It's fantastic. I've always been a fan of the Dodson's, and this - next to their current Wonder Woman run - may be the best art they've ever turned out. While I generally consider their style to be a rather light one, it actually ends up fitting the darkness of the story very well, making the whole book all the more captivating to read.

While it may very well be too uncomfortable for me to read again, I must say, the book certainly left a great impact on me, and I'm certainly glad I spent my $13 bucks, and 2 hours to read it. It's one of the better Spider-Man stories I've read, and one of the more powerful comics in general I've read. If you can forgive Smith for his three years of lateness, Evil That Men Do is certainly a book you should pick up.

I love just about any story with the Black Cat and Spider-Man and this one was good. It gave a human feeling to her character of the person who is still in love with Spidey. The villians weren't the best but a female Scorpion was a plus. I recomend this book as part of the Spider-Man story that will probably be seen again in his comics.

I think the art of this book is great.
I love Dodson works (he's as good as Adam Hughes), so I bought this after the MK Spider-Man hardcover and I'm not disappointed at all.
The story is a strange mixture o superheroes and super real problems (some ideas on the superheroes or supervillains side seem to be used only to talk about the real problems). So I'd say: maybe it's not what you would expect from a Spider-man / Black Cat tale, but it's the kind of approach you'd expect from Kevin Smith. If you love him, you'll love this book.

I can see why this is being released as Kevin turned in the final 2 issues about 2 months ago and it is just awaiting artwork, by the Dobsons. So it's release of issues 4 and 5 (it was always meant to be a 5 issue series) should be out this year. This therefore has come out to renew interest in the story. It is a good story (so far) but not worth buying till they release the full one, probably by the end of the year. Kevin is apparently also finished writing Daredevil Target issues 2-5 and that is awaiting artwork too.

This book is a definite must have to any self proclaimed black cat fan. Its a great story with awesome graphics, an excellent presentation and a great way to get all 6 issues in one,although i also have them separate. Its cheap and also there aren't many paraphernalia or stuff out there of this great marvel character to collect, so like i said before, is a total MUST HAVE! You wont regret it.