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Marvel Comics Presents (2007) #1-4
Patsy Walker: Hellcat
Patsy Walker, S.H.I.E.L.D. wants YOU to join the Initiative...and protect the frozen north. You heard me right, sister. The Klondike. Seward's Folly. Alaska. So pack some long johns and prepare for trouble. Plus, we all know Patsy Walker is Hellcat, so who's the other Hellcat?
Collecting: Patsy Walker: Hellcat 1-5 & material from Marvel Comics: Presents 1-4
Collecting: Patsy Walker: Hellcat 1-5 & material from Marvel Comics: Presents 1-4
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First published June 24, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
January 29, 2015
Shallow Comic Reader Buddy Reviews: Pink Taco Week! Books with female leads!
Dafuq I just read?
Hrm.
This collection of stories by Kathryn Immonen are gathered from a four-part series first published in Marvel Presents, and then in the eponymous five issue mini-series shortly thereafter.
In the story from Marvel Presents, Patsy Walker's diary gets upended by magic, and she finds herself face to face with several iterations of herself, based on past events or desires in her life. In the mini-series, she goes to Alaska at the request of Iron Man to sniff out some psychic abnormality that leads her into a shamanic world full of talking animals, Mayan calendars, and other weirdness. None of it makes much sense.
Immonen tries very hard to present Patsy as a kinetic nutcase, a cross between Titans Go! and the cutaways from The Family Guy. At one time, Patsy was a model, and therefore must be a ditz, right? She speaks nonsense most of the time, as does everyone else. The plots are convoluted and the author tries oh-so-hard to be cute, but it gets annoying quickly. I suppose she's trying to make this a "fun" comic, but I wasn't laughing.
The art is fantastic, though, throughout both stories. Lots of imaginative layouts and character sketches. It would have been better had Marvel let the art tell the story and allowed Immonen to ply her talents elsewhere.
Dafuq I just read?
Hrm.
This collection of stories by Kathryn Immonen are gathered from a four-part series first published in Marvel Presents, and then in the eponymous five issue mini-series shortly thereafter.
In the story from Marvel Presents, Patsy Walker's diary gets upended by magic, and she finds herself face to face with several iterations of herself, based on past events or desires in her life. In the mini-series, she goes to Alaska at the request of Iron Man to sniff out some psychic abnormality that leads her into a shamanic world full of talking animals, Mayan calendars, and other weirdness. None of it makes much sense.
Immonen tries very hard to present Patsy as a kinetic nutcase, a cross between Titans Go! and the cutaways from The Family Guy. At one time, Patsy was a model, and therefore must be a ditz, right? She speaks nonsense most of the time, as does everyone else. The plots are convoluted and the author tries oh-so-hard to be cute, but it gets annoying quickly. I suppose she's trying to make this a "fun" comic, but I wasn't laughing.
The art is fantastic, though, throughout both stories. Lots of imaginative layouts and character sketches. It would have been better had Marvel let the art tell the story and allowed Immonen to ply her talents elsewhere.
June 4, 2023
patsy is cute i guess but it’s the racism for me.
June 9, 2016
This is really frustrating, because all the pieces are here to make something good, but it's almost as if they were assembled without looking at the finished product as a whole.
Patsy is written in such a way that it could be fun and fit with the background of someone who was a High School Queen, but never advanced beyond it...but she just comes off as truly unlikeable. Imagine Veronica from Archie comics as a super hero...complete with cheesy all-ages lingo like "Golly," and "Cheese-and Crackers." Only, unlike Veronica, there are no likable aspects to Patsy. She just comes off as a brat, and a bully.
All these things; peaking in high school, cheesy lingo, and impulsive and push nature could have worked if it was presented with a little more care and forethought. Context is everything after all.
And once again, I have found a book with truly terrible panel layout. Half the time I have no idea what's happening.
Patsy is written in such a way that it could be fun and fit with the background of someone who was a High School Queen, but never advanced beyond it...but she just comes off as truly unlikeable. Imagine Veronica from Archie comics as a super hero...complete with cheesy all-ages lingo like "Golly," and "Cheese-and Crackers." Only, unlike Veronica, there are no likable aspects to Patsy. She just comes off as a brat, and a bully.
All these things; peaking in high school, cheesy lingo, and impulsive and push nature could have worked if it was presented with a little more care and forethought. Context is everything after all.
And once again, I have found a book with truly terrible panel layout. Half the time I have no idea what's happening.
April 27, 2019
I've never really known too much about Hellcat, which is why I bought this book. Turns out she is a model who is also a superhero, and is sent to Alaska by Tony Stark to cover that huge territory on behalf of the Initiative, which organization she has only just joined.
Arrived in the tundra, Patsy becomes embroiled in some kind of shamanic, magic-infused ritual criminality, but I didn't really get it and I certainly did not care for her vapid nonsense. The dialogue here is painfully unfunny, but it's supposed to be funny, which just makes it worse. And the Young Person Speak is just total gibberish, and not in an I'm Too Old kind of way, just in a Poorly Written This is Not How Human People Talk kind of way.
Such a disappointment, especially as finding female comic creators writing female-led superhero comics is a relatively rare phenomenon, and I very much wanted this to be good. But it just isn't. It's mostly just dull, and felt like it took way too long to read, and given that this is a 5-issue comic book collection, that should just never be the case.
Sigh.
Arrived in the tundra, Patsy becomes embroiled in some kind of shamanic, magic-infused ritual criminality, but I didn't really get it and I certainly did not care for her vapid nonsense. The dialogue here is painfully unfunny, but it's supposed to be funny, which just makes it worse. And the Young Person Speak is just total gibberish, and not in an I'm Too Old kind of way, just in a Poorly Written This is Not How Human People Talk kind of way.
Such a disappointment, especially as finding female comic creators writing female-led superhero comics is a relatively rare phenomenon, and I very much wanted this to be good. But it just isn't. It's mostly just dull, and felt like it took way too long to read, and given that this is a 5-issue comic book collection, that should just never be the case.
Sigh.
June 24, 2025
I have a bit of previous experience reading Hellcat comics. Not a lot, but some. None of that matters here, really, apart from a few random references to the events of previous comics. It is two equally nonsensical comics. They stop short of being amusingly absurd, just kind of poorly written and dated, both in the language and references used, and the lack of understanding of cultures in the second story. Both stories explicitly deal with Patsy interacting with magic, which is one of her recurring themes, but while I know the disjointed nature is meant to represent magic, it comes across as simply disjointed, sloppy writing instead. One of the things that particularly bugged me with the second story was that Hellcat (a relatively minor player in the Marvel universe) as the only member of the Initiative in Alaska, which is a huge geographic area, when loads of other areas including in the middle of America have teams with dozens of members. It seems like you might pull a few off of other teams to actually have a team in Alaska, and not a single person. It just doesn't make sense from an in-universe context, and the only reason it makes any sense is that someone wanted to write a solo book and the Initiative was a reason to have a new setting. Anyhow, I was able to follow this book, but it was not particularly enjoyable.
April 15, 2018
I... didn't hate it? But it was really weird. Mostly confusing, super silly, odd characters. I've never read Hellcat before so I don't know if this is what she's supposed to be like, but she was pretty much Judy shallow, silly, and lame. I feel like there was some potential in a lot of spots for something good (like the multiple Patsy's in the first story) but it was handled really weirdly and reallly weirdly casually (like no one was overly concerned that there were multiple Patsys). I defs don't recommend this one. Kind of a waste of time unfortunately.
September 16, 2018
I would be untruthful if I told you that anything in these stories make sense, but I would also be untruthful if I said that they weren't a rollicking good time. Leave your suspension of disbelief at the door and enjoy these stories about your new favorite D-list superhero.
November 21, 2022
At one point in this story a giant spirit wolf says "you are disruptive and confusing". I agree. This comic looks great, and the covers are top notch, but the story is a little hard to follow due to the sky high level of sass in the dialogue. It's very charming though, once you tune in to it.
September 24, 2017
This one took the silliness of Patsy a bit too far, but it is a beautiful book.
July 22, 2019
The art and coloring on this was GORGEOUS. The writing was confusing and fell flat.
February 28, 2022
it’s ok
February 3, 2023
God I wanted to like this. So much potential and it just never goes anywhere but after its own tail.
December 7, 2023
While I had no memory of what it would be about, this was the first comic I ever read! It's kind of trippy and corny.
December 8, 2023
This book truly made absolutely zero sense which I’m starting to learn is a mark of a Kathryn Immonen book. Art was great though!
August 1, 2018
This book collects a 4-part story from Marvel Comics Presents 1-4 and then the mini-series Patsy Walker: Hellcat.
The 4-parter is a bit weird and interesting as Patsy goes on a date but her date is distracted by various version of herself that appeared in print. It's not great, but it's not horrible either.
The mini-series is set after Civil War with the 50-state initiative and she gets sent to Alaska where she gets charged with bringing the rebellious daughter of a Native shaman family. The story seems like it's supposed to be zany and hilarious, but to me it just comes off as weird and bordering on the incomprehensible.
I'm not certain who this was writen for, but overall, this book tries to be funny and fails and after that there's not much else to this book.
The 4-parter is a bit weird and interesting as Patsy goes on a date but her date is distracted by various version of herself that appeared in print. It's not great, but it's not horrible either.
The mini-series is set after Civil War with the 50-state initiative and she gets sent to Alaska where she gets charged with bringing the rebellious daughter of a Native shaman family. The story seems like it's supposed to be zany and hilarious, but to me it just comes off as weird and bordering on the incomprehensible.
I'm not certain who this was writen for, but overall, this book tries to be funny and fails and after that there's not much else to this book.
March 12, 2017
Confusing, but fun.
January 21, 2016
This volume collects Hellcat stories from Marvel Comics Presents #1-4 from 2007 plus the Patsy Walker: Hellcat miniseries from 2008-2009. And ... yeah.
I knew Patsy Walker had been in old romance comics before she was retooled as a superhero named Hellcat. I knew she's the same-ish character as Trish Walker in the Jessica Jones show on Netflix. I didn't have much of an idea of what to expect when I started this collection, though I definitely didn't expect what I got. That's one thing this book has going for it: It's surprising.
In a good way? Ha ha ha ha ha. No, not in general. The art is mostly good. There's a bit of humor in the Patsy Walker: Hellcat stuff that lands. But there's a big helping of WHAT IS THIS WHO IS THIS FOR that permeates the volume.
Marvel Comics Presents: The word that comes to mind for these stories is frivolous. We get a weird mixture of "let's knock his block off" vocabulary and "Come on, Red. How many demons can you have had in your bedroom?" Patsy Walker says "Wowzers" but then there's the time she references losing her virginity. It's weird. The stories also give the impression that Patsy is not that bright, which could come across as lovable but instead makes her a bit of a joke.
Patsy Walker: Hellcat: Gosh and golly, I guess this was written for 12-year-olds? Or maybe 14-year-olds? Who don't mind a sometimes confusing mystical plot that mostly squanders Hellcat's potential as a cool superheroine? It's a really strange plot choice for a limited-run series that could have encouraged comics readers, male and female, teenage or otherwise, to want more of Patsy Walker. I did like issues #2 and 4, and did find the writing working at times. It took awhile to get used to the golly-ness of Patsy's vocabulary, but it did get easier. I thought it was annoying how she flung around that Yeti guy, though. It just seemed inconsiderate (and where was his agency??? poor Pete).
I knew Patsy Walker had been in old romance comics before she was retooled as a superhero named Hellcat. I knew she's the same-ish character as Trish Walker in the Jessica Jones show on Netflix. I didn't have much of an idea of what to expect when I started this collection, though I definitely didn't expect what I got. That's one thing this book has going for it: It's surprising.
In a good way? Ha ha ha ha ha. No, not in general. The art is mostly good. There's a bit of humor in the Patsy Walker: Hellcat stuff that lands. But there's a big helping of WHAT IS THIS WHO IS THIS FOR that permeates the volume.
Marvel Comics Presents: The word that comes to mind for these stories is frivolous. We get a weird mixture of "let's knock his block off" vocabulary and "Come on, Red. How many demons can you have had in your bedroom?" Patsy Walker says "Wowzers" but then there's the time she references losing her virginity. It's weird. The stories also give the impression that Patsy is not that bright, which could come across as lovable but instead makes her a bit of a joke.
Patsy Walker: Hellcat: Gosh and golly, I guess this was written for 12-year-olds? Or maybe 14-year-olds? Who don't mind a sometimes confusing mystical plot that mostly squanders Hellcat's potential as a cool superheroine? It's a really strange plot choice for a limited-run series that could have encouraged comics readers, male and female, teenage or otherwise, to want more of Patsy Walker. I did like issues #2 and 4, and did find the writing working at times. It took awhile to get used to the golly-ness of Patsy's vocabulary, but it did get easier. I thought it was annoying how she flung around that Yeti guy, though. It just seemed inconsiderate (and where was his agency??? poor Pete).
January 3, 2016
This was a fun little series.
I appreciate the competence and confidence that Hellcat shows throughout the series. She's a superhero. She's faced mystical evils before. She gets the job done.
I liked the humanizing of the native characters. They are portrayed as people with differing goals, perspectives, and foibles. Too often often non-Western characters in superhero stories fall into stereotypes and this series is definitely not prone to that flaw.
The artwork is good. The character expressions are spot-on and the storytelling is clear.
My biggest reservation about this story is the lack of tension. I understand that Patsy is supposed to be cool and uber-competent and take all the magical weirdness in stride. However, the story shouldn't take them in stride. The first fight seemed a bit dangerous, but after that, everything seemed too breezy. I didn't feel that Patsy had anything at stake in this story. She was kind of a white savior dropped in to solve the problems of native spirits.
I appreciate the competence and confidence that Hellcat shows throughout the series. She's a superhero. She's faced mystical evils before. She gets the job done.
I liked the humanizing of the native characters. They are portrayed as people with differing goals, perspectives, and foibles. Too often often non-Western characters in superhero stories fall into stereotypes and this series is definitely not prone to that flaw.
The artwork is good. The character expressions are spot-on and the storytelling is clear.
My biggest reservation about this story is the lack of tension. I understand that Patsy is supposed to be cool and uber-competent and take all the magical weirdness in stride. However, the story shouldn't take them in stride. The first fight seemed a bit dangerous, but after that, everything seemed too breezy. I didn't feel that Patsy had anything at stake in this story. She was kind of a white savior dropped in to solve the problems of native spirits.
May 8, 2012
Los dibujos de Stuart Immonen son muy bonitos y los de David Lafuente directamente preciosos. Expresivos, coloridos, y simpáticos como pocos. En cuanto al guion de Kathryn Immonen... Bueno, muy entendible que digamos no es. Los diálogos son confusos, siendo generosos, y la historia parece que no tiene demasiado sentido en casi ningún momento. No se entiende qué está pasando y para cuando se entiende, ya pasó casi todo. En fin, decí que los dibujos siguen siendo buenísimos. Y el guion, quizás con una segunda lectura...
January 6, 2017
I didn't understand this story at all. Each issue/chapter seemed disjointed and I felt as though I'd missed something. Patsy is forced to go on a quest to find the missing daughter of these spirit mothers or something. Along the way she teams up with a polar bear with antlers, the missing girl's dad who is trapped inside a wooden wheel thing, and some other characters I can't remember (bunnies, maybe?). I like the new (2015) Patsy Walker stories that are coming out, but this one was just weird.
July 3, 2009
Fun stuff. What drew me to the series was LaFuente's artwork, but Kathryn Immonen's writing was really good too. A winning combo! What's weird is the first part of this collection has stuff from Marvel Comics Presents #1-4, written by Kathryn and drawn by Stuart Immonen-- only I didn't really like it. Maybe not a winning combo (even though they're married)?
June 21, 2010
My first introduction to Hellcat. Funny and irreverent, especially towards her friend, Irena ;)
December 9, 2013
There is a good book somewhere here just not sure where.
February 25, 2016
The writing style was confusing at times and I couldn't get a feel for her character. About half way through it picked up and finished strong.
August 3, 2015
Patsy is fun but this was so weird? I don't even know.
January 8, 2016
Lively, powerful main character. Amazing what you find when you are going to recycle old phone books. Found this between 2 directories. I had forgotten all about it.
September 29, 2016
I enjoyed reading this book, it really appealed to me. However the problem with graphic novels are that I always finish them very quickly.
August 5, 2021
I know nothing of this character but the alaska story is a mess and should be skipped by everyone. Also her red orange hair is magic and grows like 3 ft in costume.
November 26, 2015
Trying to explain what I just read to my husband was way better than the actual book.
January 23, 2016
Gotta love a racist depiction of native, drunk Alaskans! (Or not, how terrible)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews