Cat #4Issue(s): Cat #4 Review/plot: In this issue we learn that in addition to being a big bull-man, he can psionically control cattle! It's no coincidence. When the Cat knocks him out, the cattle immediately become confused. Underutilized power, there. The story starts out with Greer and a friend in a seedy bar resisting unwanted advances by a guy (who turns out to be the Man-Bull). Aside from that set-up, and this panel... ...it's a pretty typical hero/villain fight issue. Which is actually sort of the point. Despite the complaint we saw in the lettercol for last issue, this book isn't really advancing any feminist cause other than the very basic idea of a female super-hero. It's not a particularly good story, but it's interesting for what it is. I couldn't tell you how the pencils are split up between Starlin & Weiss. This is the final issue of the Cat, although there's no announcement saying so. The next issue blurb says: "The Cat meets --?", so i guess Linda Fite wasn't plotting that far ahead (although the comment from Matthew below suggests otherwise). The plot for this issue turned out to be five pages short as well, so Linda Fite's first writing assignment for Marvel, a Marvel Girl back-up from Uncanny X-Men #57, is included. Quality Rating: C Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A References:
Crossover: N/A Continuity Insert? N My Reprint: N/A Inbound References (7): show 1973 / Box 7 / EiC: Roy Thomas CommentsLinda Fite eventually married Herb Trimpe. Posted by: Mark Drummond | December 24, 2011 5:53 PM Psyonic control of cattle is a neat idea...except for the fact that all I can see now is a rematch where Greer is now Tigra...and just goes for the milk from said cows. But hey, controlling a stampeding herd is something useful regardless. Posted by: Ataru320 | March 17, 2013 9:46 PM You'd think he'd have become a rancher or something. Posted by: Paul | March 21, 2013 6:18 AM Fite's marriage actually took place during the brief run of THE CAT. Trimpe was congratulated in the credits of INCREDIBLE HULK #161 (March 1973), and the next issue of the normally bimonthly CAT, due that month, was published in April instead, although I don't know if there was any specific connection between the wedding and the delay. Posted by: Matthew Bradley | October 7, 2013 11:10 AM A fifth issue was drawn by Ramona Fradon but never published, per a BACK ISSUE article (which I do not have) quoted on Wikipedia. Posted by: Matthew Bradley | October 7, 2013 11:14 AM It is interesting: Greer did have quite a bit of a following regardless of the four issues of the "Cat" comic that emerged, if the letters were positive (heck even Frank Miller liked them) and people wanted her to be an Avenger, let alone matters such as Spidey Super Stories and her "positive" team-up with Spidey that established her feminism vs. someone like Man-Killer. But by the time she returns next in comics, they decide to make her follow the horror fad and become a werewoman. I think thinking it over that Greer's timing was just completely off preventing her from really living up to her potential: if the Cat emerged during the Shooter era, she probably could have found her own niche like Carol, Jessica or Jen instead of just being sacrificed for a fad (though it did make her more legacy in a way and I do like Tigra) and literally replaced with Patsy Walker to at least have "a" Cat, if not "the" Cat. Posted by: Ataru320 | April 18, 2015 7:24 PM Even though the fifth issue of The Cat was never officially published, various excerpts of Ramona Fradon's artwork from it have shown up in magazine articles over the years, as well as in the Art of Ramona Fradon book published by Dynamite. Consequently, even despite the fact that the issue was never even finished (I believe it was only partly inked by Jim Mooney when the series got the axe) over the years Fradon has been asked to draw more than a few sketches & commissions featuring The Cat. I located a scan of Fradon's artwork for the splash page to The Cat #5. Here's a link... http://postimg.org/image/e5ci0zx77/ Posted by: Ben Herman | August 12, 2015 10:05 PM I kinda like the idea that Man-bull just started the fight because Greer and her friend rejected him. You can imagine a loser like Bull Taurens reacting in exactly that way, thinking because he's got power he can use it as revenge against women who reject him. its realistic motivation. Posted by: kveto | October 6, 2016 3:04 PM Per that linked splash to The Cat #5, Greer would be threatened by "a snare set by a sinister sorceress"…I wonder who? With his "cattle-call" powers, Man-Bull should have applied to be a Taurus in Zodiac at some point. Posted by: Dan Spector | March 2, 2018 1:45 PM The Man-Bull was clearly in the wrong corner of the Marvel Universe. With his cattle-control power, he should have been used in the Marvel Westerns timeline as a cattle thief. It's not that far-fetched an idea when you consider the Rawhide Kid once faced off with the Living Totem! Posted by: Brian Coffey | March 18, 2018 10:33 AM Comments are now closed. |
|||||||||
SuperMegaMonkey home | Comics Chronology home |