Infinity Stones are a Girls Best Friend in Black Cat #8

Black Cat embarks on her biggest heist yet, going head-to-head with Nick Fury in a race for the most valuable gems in the Marvel Universe. It’s “The Infinity Score”, baby. Black Cat #8 written by Jed MacKay, drawn by C.F. Villa, colored by Brian Reber, and lettered by Ferran Delgado.

Zoe Tunnell: WELL, WELL, WELL. LOOK WHAT THE CAT DRAGGED I-*is shot by a sniper*

Allison Senecal: Felicia would take you out at the knees for that too!! Time has no meaning I don’t even remember the last time we had the Black Cat Chat (which I just realized is Black Cat Cat in French kinda- *also shot by a sniper*)

Zoe: Well, that’s the article folks. Last one, too. Shame.

Allison: Anywho, we’re back and so is C.F. Villa. WAHOO. No shade to some of the great artists we’ve been seeing but WAHOO!

Zoe: Literally the first thing you sent me after reading the issue was I ALREADY PICKED OUT A PANEL, IT’S THE ONE WITH THE LEGS. Which is to say, thank you C.F. Villa from the bottom of our gay little hearts.

Allison: He just really nails Hot Felicia. Especially casually hot Felicia?? I missed him so much.

Zoe: Okay okay we should throttle it back for a little bit and actually talk about the issue since it’s the start of a BIG storyline for Felicia. How’d ya feel about “The Infinity Score” Part One, Allison?

Allison: I really liked this opener! MacKay still really rocks at making Felicia shine via her dialogue. I was kinda wondering when Nick Fury would show up in Black Cat because *sweeping hand gesture at all of MacKay’s other Marvel series*.

Zoe: He really loves that guy, huh? I Gotta say, he works here. Everything about this issue is just pitch-perfect Cool Heist Business and Nick is the ultimate no-nonsense super cop (he’s CLOSE ENOUGH) foil to Felicia’s super thief.

Allison: Granted I have some extreme brain fog going on right now, but I could not for the life of me think of who she could be robbing. Felicia throwing around “technical boy” a lot re: Nick Fury cracked me up in hindsight. He does work well here though, you’re right. MacKay writes a great Fury – he’s someone like Doom where I can get tired of his guest appearances, but nope.

Zoe: I feel like MacKay understands two truths about Nick that make his take on the character work: 1) he’s a mean bastard and 2) he’s like a terrier once he’s got a target or mission. The dude will just never let up. It’s a fun mirror to the equally stubborn Felicia.

Allison: Too true! To cut right to it – what do you think of the Star reveal? Was it much of a reveal? I haven’t been plugged into any of her Marvel appearances and the only thing I know is she has an Infinity Stone (I think).

Zoe: Oh no, Allison, she IS an Infinity Stone.

Allison: WAIT WHAT.

Zoe: The Infinity Stones got turned into people! They’re all living folks and have weird power mish-mashes and it’s a whole thing, I assume the Nick Fury-led back-ups Jed did with Juan Ferreyra through the Infinite Destinies annual event will come into play here but yeah, bud, Star’s a whole-ass Infinity Stone in lady form.

Allison: Well. Huh. I guess I did miss a whole lot while I wasn’t reading jack%&$# besides this series. And I assume she’s the…Reality Stone based on her being so red-themed.

Zoe: It’s weird. She’s the reality stone but she’s powered by Star’s mastery of TIME?? The stones all swapped power sources or whatever. To be honest it feels like someone went one step too far when trying to flesh out the Living Infinity Stone idea and everyone else is having to run with it.

Regardless, Star’s here, and while a satisfying last page reveal it wasn’t exactly a surprise given her being all over the gorgeous, cover of the next issue.

Allison: Wow even Super Gay Brain forgot about that cover. Christ. Well, the convolutedness of the current Infinity Stone stuff actually makes Felicia going after her make more sense to me in light of what she’s…possibly? Likely? Up to – so thank you for holding my hand through Marvel’s Summer Drama.

Zoe: I do what I can. Okay, let’s get back to the important stuff here, like Felicia revealing her hobby is picking and hacking locks while watching The Saint. God, do I love this woman.

Allison: I thought I couldn’t love her more but then the depressed day-drinking and multi-tasking thirst-watching happened. Bless. And we thought there was nowhere to go but down after the all-you-can-eat lobster!! I really do appreciate all the little personality quirks and details we get in pretty much every issue.

Zoe: There’s a moment in the day drinking that I wanted to bring up. It’s a clear low point for her, especially after the very HIGH point of last issue’s big kiss. While she’s obviously very sad about Black Fox, we see a brief moment where she gets a phone call that shocks her so much that she drops her champagne and shatters it on the floor.

The comic kind of gestures at it being the call that tips her off to Star’s location, but between the look on her face and the sheer act of her wasting booze, it looked like something much worse. What do you think?

Allison: Oh. OH! I had assumed it was just, yeah, the Star call. Maybe it was Batroc calling to tell her Peacock was taking The Saint off their streaming service (as if Felicia doesn’t just torrent). I’m kidding- I have no idea, but you’re absolutely right – I think we’re going to get another curveball in the next issue?

Zoe: I think we gotta. It’s easy to say Felicia wants the Stones just because they’re Big Ticket Items on a cosmic scale, but she wouldn’t risk her neck JUST for that and piss off Fury. She’s got some sort of scheme for those damn things.

Allison: Now that I know Star’s whole deal, I’m wondering if she’s going to try to use them to undo the events of the last arc. I know we speculated a little bit during the King in Black event about if she would really gun for the Stones, thanks to that little teaser, but now there’s a real reason?

Zoe: I’m sure there’s something up her sleeve.

Okay let’s talk about the fight scene now, I know you’ve been dying.

Allison: I *screamed* because you know that Felicia knew she was going to get shot if she made a direct move on Fury and I LOVE IT. The “SKIN IN THE GAME” line. CHEF KISS.

Zoe: QUEEN %&#@. Just full-on taking a bullet to the leg, shocking the hell out of NICK FURY in the process, and dumping his ass out of the air is maybe the single most badass thing Felicia has done in this whole run and I loved every minute of it. Villa, you beautiful genius, you killed it.

Allison: Zoe, I love her so MUCH. Felicia getting in over her head is fun, but it’s even more fun when she’s full-board AWARE that she is in over her head and just goes for it. I’ve been excited for this arc ever since it was first teased just because Felicia going into such enormous cosmic territory when she’s a street-level character is the biggest &%$#ed Felicia move.

Zoe: I do really want to call out Ferran Delgado’s lettering here too. It has a more hand-written, energetic quality to it than a lot of Marvel’s output, and the whole Felicia v. Fury brawl where they’re just screaming at each other over the air whooshing by is really cemented by his work as much as it is Villa’s art.

Allison: Delgado is a lettering champ. I always love his work on this run, but yeah so much YELLING, and it’s perfect for this whole scene. I noticed his effect lettering a lot more in this issue than usual. Just wonderful.

Zoe: Okay now you mentioned Hot Casual Felicia.

What about Hot Casual Felicia Bandaging a Bullet Wound on Her Thigh????

Allison: Again, time is a flat circle, but I think the creative team teased this panel BEFORE the issue dropped so it has been living in my brain for weeks now and I- thank you. Thank you for the horny food.

Zoe: It’s, like, the perfect example of how this book manages the miracle of being written and drawn by, almost exclusively, men but manages to never dip into the male gaze and let Felicia be an undeniable bombshell who makes my little lesbian brain melt while also being a, for lack of better phrase, strong woman who never feels like we’re leering at her.

Allison: Felicia holding a piece of tape in her mouth is as close as Marvel will let me get in 2021 to seeing her smoke a cigarette so I’ll take it.

Zoe: The small victories.

I feel like our reviews always descend into Sapphic Screeching at some point but, to be honest, that’s a non-negligible part of this book. It’s horny! It’s confident! It embraces its sexuality and appeal in a way most Marvel books either aren’t interested in doing or get sanded down by Disney Guidelines and it’s something I am genuinely grateful for every issue. Black Cat remembers sex exists, and it’s better for it.

Allison: It really stands out from the last five years or so of Marvel female solo titles. I’ve mentioned it in passing before but this team avoids my most dreaded pitfalls – infantilizing and .. “pedestaling” – that isn’t a word. I won’t get long-winded here, but yeah – grateful about covers it.

Zoe: It’s been going strong for two years now (good lord, what is time) and the level of quality and consistency of both the book itself and its handling of Felicia as a character is unlike just about anything else Marvel’s doing and hopefully we aren’t the only ones loving it.

Allison: I feel like all of these things end with us going “PLEASE READ IT” but please.

Zoe: PLEASE! IT’S COOL! IT’S SEXY! IT’S TEXTUALLY QUEER! WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT???