Perhaps Patsy Walker has taken one too many trips through the revolving door of character revision. During her nearly 70-year run, she’s been a lovable girl next door, a romantic archrival, a superhero and... an undead superhero who lives in hell.
One of Marvel’s most metamorphic heroines, Patsy bustled onto the comics scene in Miss America Magazine #2 (November 1944). A year later, she overshadowed the beauty queen to receive her own comic title, Patsy Walker. In it she wooed Buzz Baxter, charmed her parents and teachers and chagrined her constant competitor for Buzz’s affection, the ravenous Hedy Wolfe.
During the 20 or so years that Patsy Walker resided on comics stands, several spinoff titles cropped, including Patsy & Hedy and Patsy & Her Pals. But by 1967, Archie Comics had already secured the “All-American Teens” niche and interest in Patsy’s prances through the primroses waned.
Even so, Marvel didn’t give up on Patsy. It only took them five years to reinvent the character. She reemerged in 1972, as a recurring figure in The Beast appearing in Amazing Adventures #11-17. This series, in which former X-Man Henry McCoy/Beast further mutated into the blue furry form he inhabits today, introduced readers to a “new” Patsy. The storyline informed readers that some time had passed and Patsy was trapped in an unfulfilling marriage to Buzz, which she ended during the series’ run. Buzz was now a retired military officer working as head of security for the evil Roxxon coporation, where McCoy had been working as a research scientist.
Marvel unknowingly laid the groundwork for the next phase of Patsy’s life with the introduction of heroine The Cat in November 1972. Coincidentally, this was the same date as Patsy’s final appearance in the Beast series in Amazing Adventures #15. The Cat ran only 4 issues, through June 1973, and its star next appeared in May 1974 in the oddly-named Giant-Size Creatures #1, where she was transformed into the half-cat, half-human Tigra. The Cat was gone and seemingly forgotten.
The Beast joined the Avengers during one of their period roster shake-ups in Avengers #131 (January 1975), and his Amazing Adventures supporting cast soon followed. An epic storyline taking the Avengers, with Patsy in tow, into the seamy underbelly of the Roxxon corporation, led to a momentous discovery. While the heroes prowled through a Roxxon warehouse in Avengers #144 (February 1976), Patsy uncovered a box containing an old costume formerly belonging to the Cat. Patsy donned the outfit and dubbed herself Hellcat. After the adventure was over, Avenger Moondragon took Patsy under her wing, training her in martial arts and other crimefighting techniques. Eventually, Patsy left the Avengers and joined the Defenders. It was during this time that she met the man who would become her second husband, Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan.
The couple left the Defenders in 1984, and resurfaced for Daimon’s own new series Hellstorm in ’93-’94. Soon, this marriage too dissolved, leaving Patsy once more on her own. She has starred in several more limited series from 2000 to 2023.
