Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil that Men Do

Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do
Cover of Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do #1, art by Terry and Rachel Dodson
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Schedule	Irregular
Format	Limited series
Genre	Superhero
Publication date	August 2002 – March 2006
No. of issues	6
Main character(s)	Black Cat Spider-Man
Creative team
Written by	Kevin Smith
Penciller(s)	Terry Dodson
Inker(s)	Rachel Dodson
Colorist(s)	Lee Loughridge

Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do is a six-issue comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics starring the superhero Spider-Man and the Black Cat. The series was written by Kevin Smith and drawn by Terry Dodson and his wife Rachel. The series was notorious for its delays, with a three-year gap between the publication of the second and third issues, and has received criticism for its shift in tone following the hiatus.

Publication history

Following his acclaimed and successful runs on Daredevil and The Green Arrow, Marvel Comics were eager to work with Kevin Smith, and he was planned to take over as writer on The Amazing Spider-Man. Terry Dodson, his profile growing after well-received stints on Generation X and Harley Quinn, would be the title's artist. While J. Michael Straczynski finished his work on Amazing Spider-Man, the new team were commissioned to work on a six-issue mini-series for the summer of 2002, planned to reintroduce Black Cat to readers after scant recent appearances.^[1] The first two issues shipped as planned in August, and September 2002. Smith intended to do his Marvel work alongside the Bennifer film Jersey Girl^[2] However, there was a two-month delay before the third came out, and then as Smith moved onto preparing for Clerks II fell off the schedule entirely, and Straczynski instead remained as Amazing Spider-Man writer.

Smith was instead planned to switch to an ongoing Spider-Man title under the Marvel Knights banner in 2004, but after further scheduling differences this was given to Mark Millar.^[3] Instead Smith would eventually continue Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do in 2005, with the fourth issue reaching stands in December - over three years after the previous edition. Ahead of the new material, Marvel published a reprint of the three issues to allow readers to catch up with the story. Smith expressed contrition for the script's late delays.^[4] Due to a clerical error, Smith was not paid in 2002 for issues #4-6, and was unaware until 2005; in an apology on his blog for the series' late delivery he wryly reflected "Justice, in some weird manner, has been served, I guess".^[5]

Synopsis

The Black Cat, the former lover of Spider-Man, returns to

The series has received mixed reviews. ComicsAlliance named it among the worst comics of the decade, with Nick Nadel especially criticising the post-hiatus shift in tone, the reductive retconned origin of the Black Cat and the lack of coherence in the final issues, surmising that "if you ever need an example of just how far off the map superhero comics went in their forced attempts to go "dark" during this decade, look no further than "Spider-Man/Black Cat."^[12] Several pointed out the juxtaposition of Terry Dodson's art with the grim subject matter; Comic Book Resources criticised the overly-sexual cover for the first issue,^[13] while Ian Keogh of Slings & Arrows wondered if Smith was merely adding elements to later issues for shock value, and expressed discomfort that the story trivialised serious issues.^[14] Mark Ginocchio noted the series seemed to represent Smith's status as a one-trick pony.^[15] In a 2014 Vulture article expressing reservations about a planned Black Cat film, Abraham Josephine Riesman noted the character's "raison d’etre in the form of sexual violence is more than a little questionable when analyzed through a feminist lens".^[16]

References

External links

• Spider-Man/Black Cat: The Evil that Men Do at the Grand Comics Database