Spider-Man / Black Cat: The Evil That Men Do #1

History

Following celebrated runs on Daredevil and Green Arrow at Marvel and DC respectively, filmmaker Kevin Smith was recruited by Marvel with the expectation that this six-issue mini-series would serve as a launchpad for him to take over as the ongoing writer of The Amazing Spider-Man from J. Michael Straczynski. Terry Dodson — whose profile had risen through stints on Generation X and Harley Quinn — was paired with Smith as penciler, with his wife Rachel Dodson on inks. The first issue shipped in August 2002 and was promoted in part alongside the wave of attention surrounding the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man film, but the series became notorious almost immediately: after only three issues, Smith's film commitments (including Jersey Girl and the early development of Clerks II) caused an unplanned hiatus that stretched over three years before issue #4 appeared in December 2005. A further wrinkle emerged when Smith disclosed in 2005 that, due to a clerical error in Marvel's then-newly computerized payment system, he had not received any compensation for the final three scripts and was unaware of this until after completing the work.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Published August 2002 by Marvel Comics as issue #1 of a six-issue limited series; written by Kevin Smith, penciled by Terry Dodson, inked by Rachel Dodson, colored by Lee Loughridge, and lettered by Richard Starkings/Comicraft; edited by Axel Alonso.
• The series was designed as a deliberate vehicle to reintroduce Black Cat to readers after she had made scant appearances in Marvel's main Spider-Man titles for several years.
• Issue #1 contains the earliest hint in 616 (mainline) continuity that Felicia Hardy is bisexual, via a line of interior monologue noting it had been too long since she had 'a boyfriend or a girlfriend'; this was formally confirmed in Black Cat #10 (2020) and Black Cat #7 (2021).
• The issue introduces Mr. Brownstone — the alias of Garrison Klum, a mutant drug lord with the ability to teleport small quantities of matter directly into a person's bloodstream — as the primary antagonist of the series.
• The first appearance of Hunter Todd (actor and Brownstone associate) also occurs in issue #1, while the first full appearance of Garrison Klum and the first appearance of his brother Francis Klum (later the third Mysterio) take place in issue #2.
• The series' title is a literary allusion to Mark Antony's funeral speech in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar: 'The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.'
• Kevin Smith was originally slated to transition from this mini-series into an ongoing run on The Amazing Spider-Man, a plan that was abandoned due to scheduling conflicts; that slot was ultimately given to Mark Millar.
• Marvel collected all six issues into a trade paperback (hardcover May 2006, softcover May 2007) and also issued a reprint of the first three issues in 2005 to allow readers to catch up before the long-delayed fourth issue shipped.

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