Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat!, Vol 1: Hooked On A Feline by Kate Leth & Brittney Williams

Freaking adorable. It’s less superheroics than woman-with-superpowers-tries-to-deal-with-the-real-world and I loved it. It reminded me a lot of old Archie comics, from the slightly more cartoony art style to the all-ages humor and storyline. I loved that it leaned more towards the original Patsy Walker romance comics than to the almost gratuitously tortured iteration of the character from the 2000s. I mean, I loved the husband-and-wife occult investigators aspect from the 1970s, but her resurrection etc seemed awfully derivative to me.

Anyway, this comic is like a breath of fresh air, as Patsy tries to adjust to a normal life despite being a superhero and broke and, embarrassingly, exploited by her childhood frenemy, Hedy, who’s somehow managed to obtain the rights to the popular romance comics Patsy’s now-deceased mom once wrote about Patsy and her friends. PWAH is sweet and funny and emphasizes the importance of friendship (and is unafraid to include non-heterosexual characters in important roles and everyday situations.) This was another book I immediately went and bought the sequel to, tho the final volume will only be available in August (and boo, Marvel’s epic sale on Kindle seems to be over.)