Writer: Jed MacKay

Artist: Farid Karami

Color Artist: Federico Blee

Cover Artists: Valerio Schiti & Alex Sinclair

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Reviewer: StoryBabbler

The Avengers tried to sneak in a grand space casino owned by the Grandmaster himself and steal a data archive, only to find Kang and Black Cat beat them to the punch. Now the Avengers are in pursuit of the thieves, but what events could lead to this temporary alliance between Kang the Conqueror and Black Cat. Read Avengers #23 to get those answers as the duo race for their lives to the exit with the Avengers hot on their heels.

Review:

Okay, now that we know Black Cat and Kang have the data codex, the comic goes right in with Avengers quickly hot on their trail. But the comic wastes no time in also showing just how Kang and Black Cat ended up working together. It’s a very simple thing, Kang shows up at Black Cat’s apartment and asks her to help him steal from the Grandmaster and she quickly accepts. The comic very much still reads like a heist story, as we get snippets of Kang and Boack Cat’s preparations throughout the comic.

From there the comic’s art team does a great job with showing Black Cat and Kang run for their lives in epic fashion to escape the casino. Of course, the Avengers catch up, or some of them anyway, namely the heavy hitters Vision, Storm, and Scarlet Witch. When Kang points out they failed him in the past, Scarlet Witch does reply that they can work together again since they understand the threat, but Kang doesn’t buy it. It also doesn’t help that she’s manifesting an intimidating red, phantasmal dragon behind her while saying that, but Kang isn’t intimidated as he has his own muscle.

Admittedly, the muscle for Kang’s crew are the Technet, characters that I’m not very familiar with and are either deep cuts from way back when or probably relatively new. Either way, these alien mercenaries hold off the Avengers long enough until the heroes quickly mop the floor with them and catch up to Kang and Black Cat. While Carol demands the data coded from Kang, who gladly gives it to her, Tony asks why Black Cat would work for him, and we get an actually straightforward and heartwarming answer. It’s so she can pull a heist job with her father, Walter Hardy, who actually has the real codex and signals Kang’s ride, his fleet of warships.

I said before in my review for the previous review, and I’ll say it again, Jed MacKay really likes writing Black Cat and this comic shows that. While MacKay might sometimes struggle with the more heroic characters, he has a strong grasp on writing Black Cat and showcasing her distinct personality and voice through her narration boxes and dialogue with characters. It also helps that even the art in this comic is better when Black Cat is on page every time compared to other panels and pages with other characters who just look good while she looks great. It also helps that things develop at a good pace here and while the action seems to end, it only gets ramped up right on cue to directly set up the next issue.

Final Thoughts:

Avengers #23 continues the heist story, this time from the Black Cat’s perspective. With Black Cat as the main POV character, the heist reads better and has more energy to it than it did with the Avengers. The art team do a great job illustrating Black Cat and Kang’s mad dash to escape the casino, and action ensues throughout the comic. And right when it feels like the jig is up, the thieves pull the rug right from under the Avengers and gear things up for the next issue.

8/10