Jed MacKay’s run on Black Cat has been, and continues to be, one the highlights of my four colour year. Before he picked up the reins and stat to eloquently carve and plot Felicia’s destiny, she’d always been, in my mind at least, a bit part player whose primary function always seemed to be hopelessly tied to propelling the chronicles of other, supposedly better heroes and villains forward. She was a B movie actress in a big budget world, and it always felt like she was chasing her own tail in floundering desperation. Then MacKay took charge, everything changed and Felicia became a lightning bolt in a light bulb factory and was transformed into an electrifying, complex anti-hero who was impossible to ignore and incredibly easy to adore.

Picking up where Grand Theft Marvel left off, in Cat On The Run Felicia is forced to rescue her mentor, finds herself at war with the Thieves Guild of New York while trying to balance some semblance of a personal life with the big jobs that she needs to pull to prepare for the grandest gig of her career and in a deliciously convoluted and beguilingly gorgeous twist of prestidigitation, ends up at the top of Madripoor’s most wanted list. Razor sharp, fast and furious and magnificently engaging if On the Run was a novel, it’d be sitting pretty on best seller lists the world over.

With a team of artistic giants bringing his vision to life, every single page and panel feels like MacKay is upping the ante as he weaves an intricate, gorgeously textured web that’s designed to guide Feilicia to the end game of this arc with a flourish and confidence that you can’t help but be more than a little enamoured with.  In MacKay’s hands, Felicia is a flawed diamond in the rough who, just like every other member of her species is hampered by her own desires and belief in impossible what if’s and it’s these everyday qualities that make her far more human, her story more intriguing and have made her a true force to be reckoned with in the Marvel Universe.  This is one cat who knows exactly where it’s at… Tim Cundle