Happy Monday! With the start of another week its time to start things off on the right note by looking a some of the titles that released last week. For this week’s wrap-up I am going to spotlight Giant-Size Black Cat: Infinity Score #1 and Mighty Morphin #14. With Giant-Size Black Cat we are getting another conclusion to the latest volume of Black Cat by Jed MacKay. For Mighty Morphin #14 we got the third part in The Eltarian War crossover. How do these two big comic books turn out? Let’s find out.
In case you missed them, reviews with full spoiler synopsis for Batman #118, Dark Knights Of Steel #2, Devil’s Reign #1, and Inferno #3 are live on the website.
GIANT-SIZE BLACK CAT: INFINITY SCORE #1
Creative Team
Writer: Jed MacKay
Artist: C.F. Villa
Colorist: Brian Reber
Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10
The Good: Jed MacKay has really done a great job consistently showing why Marvel should always have a Black Cat ongoing series going. Giant-Size Black Cat: Infinity Score #1 was just another example of that as MacKay used the extra page count to explore the different aspects of Felicia Hardy he has been developing throughout his run. In the process you are able to see how Felicia isn’t just Black Cat. There is a person behind the masks and thievery.
At the same time, with the Infinity Score heist you see how someone like Black Cat is able to combine her experience and skills to reasonably keep up with powerful characters like Star. The heist all goes to show that there is no one in the Marvel Universe that is a better thief than Black Cat. But even as she is not always doing what can be seen as the right thing Black Cat is a superhero. She just does things her own way which is part of what makes her so appealing as a character.
C.F. Villa nails the artwork for the style that has been established in this series. The powers of Star are well showcased to make her the big threat she should be. This helps to add to how Black Cat is able to use all her experience and skills to win at the end of the day. The big double page spread shot does an excellent job choreographing different layers of action to maximize the characters involved in the fight.
The Bad: Nothing.
Overall: Giant-Size Black Cat: Infinity Score #1 was a great way for Jed MacKay to wrap up his run on this series. Mackay and C.F. Villa maximized the page count they were given to full put over how great of a character Black Cat is. In the process they were able to wrap up the Infinity Score storyline in a satisfying way for those who have been following this story. Hopefully we don’t go too long without a Black Cat ongoing series.
MIGHTY MORPHIN #14
Creative Team
Writer: Ryan Parrott
Artist: Marco Renna
Colorists: Walter Baiamonte and Katia Ranalli
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
The Good: After how action heavy the first two issues of The Eltarian War have been Mighty Morphin #14 settles things down to get the characters better prepared for what comes next. Doing this with the third chapter of The Elatarian War is smart as Ryan Parrott makes sure every character involved is given something important to do. There is no corner of this crossover that is not explored with how multi-layered Parrott is making this story. In process we see how the complications the developments of the Eltarians has really challenged the Power Rangers mythology in new, fun ways.
What I was particularly invested in was all the scenes with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Omega Rangers. Parrott does a good job showing that the decision Jason, Trini, and Zack made at the beginning of the Power Rangers series is not forgotten because of this crisis. But given the seriousness of the threat that the Eltarians pose it shows a ton of growth that Kimberly and the others can set aside their differences. This type of character development allows the emphasis to stay on the main conflict of The Eltarian War while leaving the door open to explore the different dynamics between the Power Rangers and Omega Rangers teams.
The ending of this issue also effectively hits on how we really don’t know where The Eltarian War will end up going. There is so much behind the backstory of the Eltarians that the return of Zordon really just creates more questions than answers. Which all leads to greater excitement for how this crossover will continue to develop.
The Bad: The Eltarian War is heavy on continuity. This is not a crossover for fans who have not been reading both this and the Power Rangers series. If you are interested in this crossover I honestly would wait until its over and read it in collected form since it is not the most new reader friendly story to get into BOOM! Studios Power Ranger comic books.
Overall: The Eltarian War gets slowed down a bit as Ryan Parrott and Marco Renna put in a lot of work to set the stage to make this crossover event even bigger. All of the set-up that is done in Mighty Morphin #14 provides even more reason to be interested in how things will turn out for both the Power Rangers and Omega Rangers. The ending in particularly should lead to some major, can’t miss character development for fans of the franchise.
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