Dark Web: Mary Jane & Black Cat #1: I’m Walkin’ Heahhh!

We’re just at the beginning of the DarkWeb event that’s going on, and Jed MacKay is back with this Mary Jane & Black Cat mini, giving us a light hearted and tongue in cheek adventure, with Vincenzo Carratu on art duties. What could these two…frenemies be doing to help New York from the Limbo invasion? You’ll have to pick up the issue to find out, but let’s talk about my thoughts on the issue. 

My love for Jed MacKay is something that I’ve never kept secret. His run on the two Black Cat ongoing comics has been some of the best written comics over the last 5 years, so anytime he gives us another chapter in the Felicia saga, I’m there for it. I’m gonna be honest: I’m not reading DarkWeb. I just don’t have the time, plus the treatment of Ben and Maddie just doesn’t speak to me, but what Jed and Vincenzo are giving here is something that’s needed in an event that’s so focused on the grim, and dark reflections of Jean Grey and Peter Parker. 

In this issue MJ has some weird, slot machine-esque type ability that lets her press her luck to get different abilities, in an almost Dial H for Hero scenario, and the effects lead to some very comical moments for the dump truck assed duo, with MJ having a body made out of pudding while battling some demons in limbo. Vincenzo’s art really helps to sell the absolute bonkers hilarity that MacKay’s scripts are providing. These two are a real class act in that regard. 

I’m unfamiliar with Vincenzo Carratu’s art, but his style is giving me notes of Pepe Larraz and CF Villa inspired styles here, which just adds to my enjoyment here. The action is fresh, crisp, and the motion feels natural, instead of stiff. Black Cat’s swinging through the canyon-esque New York skyline, not posing in ridiculous poses to bank on the sex factor for the two leading ladies. I hope to see him on something else in the coming months. 

But wait! There’s more! MacKay teams up with Black Cat alum, Michael Dowling for a fun little backup where Cat is giving the details to her poker pals that include Ben Grimm and Jake Lockley, on the time she stole the mask of Doctor Doom from him as he slept. It’s fun, and camp, and done in the best way possible, just a lot of fun. I also liked the shoutout to MacKay’s other book, Moon Knight. For those not in the know, Jake Lockley is one of the many personalities that makes up Moon Knight. Jake’s a cabby, who’s patterned off of Batman’s Matches Malone, and he’s a seedy, grifter type. Just some real fun stuff, and Dowling does it in style.