Mary Jane Black Cat 3 of 5 Preview.

[Kevinroc]

I think we can all agree that, for one reason or another, this just isn't as great a mini as it could be.

It's not. The problem is the Wells run. (There are other problems too. But the main thing is the Wells run.)

[Rzerox21xx]

spoilers:

there was a Last page splash page left MJ and Felicia in a bind of the tentacle monster that if you are a anime fan and seen ecchi or hentai, you might be familar with the trope naughty tentacles. nothing too bad, of course not Felicia first as she was in a far worst tentacle scene with that the famous Heros for Hire cover by Sana Takeda in 2007.

end of spoilers

[TinkerSpider]

That's the most surface level reading of what the story is actually about. The story is not that complicated. Felicia and MJ are forced to work together to get back home but the changes in their lives since their last team-up are causing turmoil for the pair. All the stuff about Limbo and Belasco and the soul sword do not actually matter.

Your definition of “story” just doesn’t exist in the real world. Words have meanings and definitions. What you might be more talking about is theme, but the theme is more like “keeping secrets and not being honest with your companions only hurts you and holds you back.” You are splitting semantic hairs for some reason, but whatevs!

spoilers:

there was a Last page splash page left MJ and Felicia in a bind of the tentacle monster that if you are a anime fan and seen ecchi or hentai, you might be familar with the trope naughty tentacles. nothing too bad, of course not Felicia first as she was in a far worst tentacle scene with that the famous Heros for Hire cover by Sana Takeda in 2007.

end of spoilers

spoilers:

Tentacle hentai, heh

end of spoilers. I guess they know their audience. Can’t think of another reason to read this.

[Kevinroc]

Your definition of “story” just doesn’t exist in the real world. Words have meanings and definitions. What you might be more talking about is theme, but the theme is more like “keeping secrets and not being honest with your companions only hurts you and holds you back.” You are splitting semantic hairs for some reason, but whatevs!

A story is its themes.

[TinkerSpider]

A story is its themes.

A story has themes

Themes are not a story.

Just ask any English (assuming that’s your first language) or literature teacher you’ve ever had.

[Frontier]

spoilers:

there was a Last page splash page left MJ and Felicia in a bind of the tentacle monster that if you are a anime fan and seen ecchi or hentai, you might be familar with the trope naughty tentacles. nothing too bad, of course not Felicia first as she was in a far worst tentacle scene with that the famous Heros for Hire cover by Sana Takeda in 2007.

end of spoilers

Leah Williams approves .

[Kevinroc]

A story has themes

Themes are not a story.

Just ask any English (assuming that’s your first language) or literature teacher you’ve ever had.

And a story isn't a story without themes.

[TinkerSpider]

And a story isn't a story without themes.

Stories don’t need themes. Themes make a story more resonate, but there are gazillion stories that exist just fine with one. For example:

Run, Spot, run. See Spot run! Running looks like fun. But where did Spot go? Let’s look for Spot, Jane. Here, Spot, here! I don’t see Spot. This is not fun. Look, Jane, look! Spot is over there. Let’s run to Spot!

A complete story, even including a mystery. No theme.

[Kevinroc]

Stories don’t need themes. Themes make a story more resonate, but there are gazillion stories that exist just fine with one. For example:

Run, Spot, run. See Spot run! Running looks like fun. But where did Spot go? Let’s look for Spot, Jane. Here, Spot, here! I don’t see Spot. This is not fun. Look, Jane, look! Spot is over there. Let’s run to Spot!

A complete story, even including a mystery. No theme.

And we're done here.

[TinkerSpider]

And we're done here.

You didn't like the story?

But it is a story.

There's an inciting incident: Spot is running.

There's building action: Watch Spot run! Running is fun.

There's a midpoint that changes the trajectory of the story: oh no, Spot is missing.

There's more rising action: Let's look for Spot.

There's a dark moment: Spot can't be found.

There's a climax/resolution: There's Spot, he's under the tree!

There's a denoument: Let's run to him (and be reunited).

Classic story structure.

[Kevinroc]

You didn't like the story?

But it is a story.

There's an inciting incident: Spot is running.

There's building action: Watch Spot run! Running is fun.

There's a midpoint that changes the trajectory of the story: oh no, Spot is missing.

There's more rising action: Let's look for Spot.

There's a dark moment: Spot can't be found.

There's a climax/resolution: There's Spot, he's under the tree!

There's a denoument: Let's run to him (and be reunited).

Classic story structure.

The fact that you ignore the fact that all stories have themes, even See Spot Run, and insist on trying to mock me even after I stated that I didn't want to continue this childish argument shows that you are engaging in bad faith arguments and harassment.

We're done. This is over. Any attempt at a follow-up will be promptly ignored.

[Ursalink]

Read it and this is all I can tell you

spoilers:

Felicia struggles to find the courage to tell MJ about her and Peter and its just her thoughts bubbles conflict, nothing on MJ inner thoughts, boring Sym talk and getting attack by Limbo traps and creatures, MJ pull a slot on her powers and came in bad and figure out that her luck powers is being affected by Felicias who she noticed in quiet and look guilty, issue ends Sym, MJ and Felicia being attack by a tentacle creature and MJ asking Felicia, "is this about Peter" and Felicia realized the jig is up.

end of spoilers

after reading this and then Lost Hunt, OMG, its such a relief. Please don't ask me about Lost Hunt spoilers, you will find out but I will tell you this, its so much better than whatever going on in ASM and MJ BC. Lost Hunt really convinced you how much Peter and MJ mean to each other, so whenever you get it, enjoy.

Well, I was suspecting Felicia's luck powers and MJ's could end up interacting, but I expected they would be for the best, not for the worst. After all, bringing bad luck to her enemies would be good luck for Felicia, so it would be fitting than a life-or-death situation could be saved if MJ has the good luck to gain the appropiated powers.

[Alex_Of_X]

I think #3 was a step up for #2! The main conflict is coming into view, there's escalation, and enough space in the remaining two issues that I can't see how exactly it's gonna shake out. Wish there was more flavor to Limbo--Wells did such a great job giving character to the place, while in this mini it's the most generic "Fantasy Hell" I've ever $^^#ing seen.

Fun fact of the day: S'ym is based on Cerebus the Aardvark, created by Dave Sim

[Jman27]

I did wonder if Mj and Felicia powers would interact nice to have that confirmation.

[Vworp Vworp]

It's awful.

So much so, it's on the cusp of ruining my enjoyment of Mackay's previous Black Cat runs. All of which I own. Because whenever I look at them now, I fear a part of me is always going to remember this horrible, horrible book and how it's portraying Felicia and MJ. Not as actual characters. But as barely realised plot devices for Peter's wacky life.

And he's not even in the book.

This is not bad by association with Wells. It's bad entirely in its own right. Whatever editorial orders Mackay was under when he wrote this thing, surely there had to be a better way to put it across. Cos I'm struggling to think how he could have made it any worse. Though I await his request for me to hold his beer, as there are still two issues to go.