[Criticism Corner] Hellcat is... Weird (Patreon)

So with Jessica Jones season three, I want to take the opportunity to take another video off the backburner.  This is all about the insane history of Patsy Walker.

One of my favorite and least favorite things about comic book companies is their complete stubbornness to let things from their past go.  Sometimes they force characters into being a big deal even when the majority of audiences don’t really care about them.  I’m looking at you, Inhumans!  Other times, they’ll take concepts from their past and find a way to make them work in modern environments like Captain America.

Well did you know that there’s another Marvel character from Captain America’s early era of publication that’s hanging around in modern times as a superhero?  Oddly enough, I’m NOT talking about Winter Soldier (smack down the comic frames of Bucky and Cap), but rather a character from Marvel’s early ROMANCE comics.  Ladies and gentlemen, let’s talk about Patsy Walker.

Part 1: The 1940s

Most of you guys might know Patsy Walker from the Jessica Jones series on Netflix, but she predates almost EVERY Marvel character and even the NAME Marvel itself since at the time, they were still going by Timely Comics.  That’s right, Patsy Walker made her first appearance in 1944 just three years after Captain America first debuted.

Back then, comics were an INSANELY popular medium unlike today where it’s a challenge to find anyone who’s actually read a comic out in the wild.  Comics were so popular that multiple genres were mainstream in stark contrast to these says where cape comics dominate the non-indie industry.  Of these, some of the biggest and most thriving genres were teen and romance slice of life books.  Think Archie which is like the sole survivor from that era.

Debuting in Miss America Magazine, Timely Comics (who from here on out I will just refer to as Marvel to make things easier) had Patsy Walker as their answer to Archie and it’s not hard to see the similarities.  Both had red hair and both books revolved around melodrama and romantic plots.  Everything was usually simple small town issues that sprung up due to misunderstandings that whirl out of control, most of which where maliciously perpetrated by Patsy’s frenemy, Hedy Wolfe, who is like Archie Comics’ Veronica and Reggie wrapped up into one package.

The Patsy Walker stories ended up becoming so popular that they were spun-out into their own book in 1945 and it ran for one hundred and twenty four issues.  Clearly the dedicated Patsy books were doing well.  Well enough that they led to other spin-offs like Patsy and Hedy alongside Patsy and her Pals. These Patsy branded books lasted all the way until 1967, well into when superhero comics started dominating the market and when Marvel itself started focusing on the universe established by their relatively new hit book, The Fantastic Four.

In fact it was in the pages of Fantastic Four Annual #3 in 1965 where we got a quick cameo of Patsy and Hedy during the wedding of Reed Richards and Sue Storm.  Logic would dictate that this cameo cemented Patsy and her friends as a part of the Marvel universe.  However, in order to not just become a relic of Marvel’s past now that they decided to primarily focus on cape comics, Patsy needed to change.  Patsy needed to become a superhero.

Part 2: A.K.A. Hellcat

It really did seem like Marvel wasn’t content to let Patsy just be used for a quick cameo because in 1972, she was brought into the Amazing Adventures series for a surprisingly notable storyline.  This was when Dr. Hank McCoy A.K.A. Beast was researching the cause of mutation and ended up furthering is own, growing that iconic fur in the process. (Amazing Adventures Vol 2 #11 - 1972)

In the original romance comics, Patsy married her high school sweetheart, Buzz Baxter, and he was introduced in Amazing Adventures as an Air Force captain sent to investigate what was happening at Hank’s lab.  You see, the transformation had Beast going out of control and acting like well… a beast and getting out of control so action needed to be taken.  Eventually, Beast made it to the Baxter’s home in a wounded state, but Patsy decided to take care of him.

In his delirium, Hank babbled about his alter ego and his fur turned black… for some reason.  When he recovered, Patsy had a talk with Hank and sort of blackmailed him, threatening to reveal his identity unless he did her a favor, but the terms of the deal were done off panel.

A few years later, after Beast had joined The Avengers, Patsy (who had gotten divorced in the years of her absence from comics) dropped by the mansion to collect on her favor.  She wanted Hank… to turn her into a superhero.

Sadly, there was no time for Beast to get to work since The Avengers were needed to face off against the Squadron Supreme.  Patsy tagged along and during the fight, she found the costume of The Cat.  This one is kind of complicated so quick aside.

Part 2.5: The Cat

A woman named Greer Nelson was brought to her physical and mental peak due to an experimental conditioning project.  The costume itself was supplied by a wealthy benefactor who was bankrolling the experiment, hoping to use women at their peak performance to operate his health emporiums.  These costumes also had some abilities baked in such as night vision lenses, stainless steel claws on the gloves and boots as well as a hookshot.  Greer got her hands on one of these costumes and stopped the rich guy’s plans, taking up the mantle of The Cat.

Later on, it was revealed that the scientist that gave Greer her powers was a cat person and she changed Greer into a sort of were-tiger.  This caused Greer to drop The Cat persona along with the costume, now becoming Tigra and she’s acted in that role ever since.  Okay, back to Patsy.

After finding the Cat costume, Patsy decided to wear it and she was able to hold her own with her years of athleticism, but she also discovered that the costume heightened her abilities.  However, it was later said that this was more just the power of suggestion. (OHotMU Vol 2 #5 - 1985) Despite the placebo, all of this set the stage for Patsy to become a superhero.  She had finally become Hellcat.

Part 3: Gone and Forgotten

Marvel REALLY tried to make Hellcat into the next big thing, having her join The Avengers and later The Defenders.  They even tried to give Patsy more depth by making the original romance comics from the 40s literal books WITHIN the Marvel universe, having been written by Patsy’s mother about her daughter’s life.  This was a cool development that broke the 4th wall 

Marvel also tried to add more complexity by having her ex-husband, Buzz, become a supervillain, but even with all of this, Hellcat was still not that popular.

Marvel more or less pushed Patsy to the side by having her get married to one of her teammates on The Defenders, Daimon Hellstrom, the son of Satan.  The two left the book and popped up together from time to time, helping other heroes out with occult stuff, but then things took a… weird turn.

You see, we’re in the 90s now and everything in the world of comics needed to become dark and edgy.  Marvel brought Daimon back to the forefront of comics with Hellstorm.  Okay so one of the main reasons why Daimon and Patsy got married was because the son of Satan was purged of the source of his demonic powers, the Darksoul.  However, we find out in Hellstorm that without this energy, Daimon was dying.  Patsy took it upon herself to summon Satan and get the Darksoul back, but in the process, she looked upon her husband’s true face which caused her to go insane and later kill herself. (Hellstorm #14 - 1994)

This tragic end would be the last we see of Patsy for a while until 2000 when Marvel decided to try and make Hellcat the next big thing… again.  Hellcat was resurrected and after spending time in Hell, she gained legitimate powers of her own including the standard superhero cocktail of super strength, durability, and endurance, but she also had magical resistance and could summon her costume at will.  And since this was the 90s, you better believe she had a costume redesign.

For the first time since 1965, Patsy had a book all on her own with Hellcat #1, but again, the character didn’t take off in the way Marvel has hoped.

Ever since, Hellcat has been one of those characters that show up from time to time.  She had another mini-series in 2008, but it did about as well as you’d think.

These days, Patsy is mostly known from her supporting role in the Jessica Jones Netflix series and her book in 2016, Patsy Walker A.K.A. Hellcat which I SERIOUSLY enjoyed.  Honestly though, it really is going to take something big to make people care about Hellcat and I just don’t see that happening any time soon, but at the very least, I still think that she’s a fascinating character with an even more fascinating history and I’m just glad that I could share it with you guys.