Patsy Walker AKA Hellcat #8 works as both a Civil War II tie-in while also exploring Patsy Walker’s relationship with She-Hulk and slightly shifting her status quo as she gets a new office, new assistant, but still has support from her friends. There’s not much in the way of plot, but writer Kate Leth and artist Brittney Williams go for maximum emotion and show how much Jennifer Walters’ friendship has inspired and meant to Patsy, who doesn’t care about the wars between heroes and crossover events, but just wants to get her temp agency off the ground.

Hellcat #8 starts adorably with Patsy sleeping in her “Meow” sheets, but the tone goes from relaxing to tense as Ms. America crashes into the window in her usual dimension shattering way. However, Leth doesn’t have Hellcat picking a side or anything, but fiercely caring about her best friend and even busting into the Triskelion to hold her hand hopefully one last time. The reds that Rachelle Rosenberg uses in the scene where have a deathly feel to him, and Leth trades in the fun quips for pessimistic medical talk as it seems like She-Hulk is about to pass away. Hopefully, she doesn’t, but the as Leth and Williams take time to show happier.

Just like the super sad and classic episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “The Body”, Leth and Williams remember to sprinkle in some humor to alleviate the tragedy of She-Hulk’s injury. Howard the Duck is kind of the Anya of the group (Because she was formerly an ancient Vengeance Demon, Anya didn’t know how to process normal human loss.) as he makes threats and boasts about standing up to Thanos and knocking his block off. But the funniest and cutest part of the issue is definitely a superhero team-up between Hellcat and She-Hulk as she does her own version of the Fastball special on the way to Patsy’s marriage proposal to a giant, delectable pizza. One day I hope someone looks at me like Patsy looked at that giant pizza, which is a reminder of happier days when Patsy was She-Hulk’s private investigator during Charles Soule’s run on She-Hulk.

Hellcat #8 has a much more serious tone than the previous issues of the series as Leth makes her characters act like human beings when facing death and not as denizens of a shared superhero universe. This can definitely be seen in some of Williams’ art style choices and Rosenberg’s colors as well. For example, Patsy wears a dress that isn’t brightly colored to in striking contrast to her fun blue and yellow outfit when she hangs out with She-Hulk. She also draws four successive panels of Patsy staring into space as she tries to process She-Hulk’s injury before slipping into a kind of flashback space. For the most part, Rosenberg’s palette is pretty somber, but then she introduces bright yellow towards the end of the issue to signify the appearance of Jubilee as a new supporting character in the book. She is all smiles and coolness and adds a moment of cheeriness to a seriously down issue. I am looking forward to Patsy and Jubilee’s fierce and fun banter in issues to come.

In Hellcat #8, Kate Leth, Brittney Williams, and Rachelle Rosenberg take a break from the battle between Hedy and Patsy to zero in on the relationship between Patsy and She-Hulk, and how Civil War II has affected it. And the issue is a fitting eulogy for the strong, smart, and funny superheroine. (Hopefully, she pulls through and has a solo title in the future.) It’s a pretty emotionally devastating comic book with the slightest touch of light (No fireworks sadly.) at the end.

 

Story: Kate Leth Art: Brittney Williams Colors: Rachelle Rosenberg
Story: 8   Art: 9.5   Overall: 8.7   Recommendation: Buy