Patsy Walker is an old character. She came from the Golden Age of Comics, at a time when Marvel Comics wasn’t called Marvel Comics yet–but it turns out that Patsy Walker #95 was the first (with Journey into Mystery #69) to be labeled a “Marvel Comics” on its cover. Created in 1944 by Stuart Little and Ruth Atkinson in Miss America Magazine #2, Patsy Walker was not a superhero. She was the star of a teen romantic-comedy series–up until 1967.
This version of Patsy entered briefly the world of Superheroes with a cameo in Fantastic Four Annual #3 in 1965, but this had no consequences on who she became. It turns out that–with the help of a retcon–those Patsy Walker comics were the work of Dorothy Walker who used her daughters and her friends (notably Hedy) as an inspiration for this fictional series that exists in the Marvel Universe.
In 1972, Steve Engleheart who remembered that FF cameo and was familiar with the Patsy comics thought it would be a fun idea to make her a real character in the Marvel Universe. With artist George Pérez, he did just that in the feature he was doing in the anthology book Amazing Adventures #13. She only appeared in three issues (and was not “Hellcat” yet), but came back two years later for a few issues of The Avengers, and officially took the name of “Hellcat” and the costume of another hero, Greer Grant Nelson’s The Cat. In 1977, she joined The Defenders and met (in issue #92) Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan. They got married and went on to do some supernatural investigations. Eventually, like all of Marvel’s heroes at some point, she died (in the mid-1990s).
Hellcat was resurrected in 2000 and got her first miniseries. More would come as she’s still active today, mostly working alongside her friend She-Hulk.
Hellcat, Patsy Walker Comics Reading Order
As we are focusing on Patsy Walker’s adventures as Hellcat and not on her teenage romances, we are starting with The Avengers comics. Steve Engleheart had already rapidly reintroduced Patsy in his comics anthology Amazing Adventures, but he really did something with her when he wrote Marvel’s leading superhero team. First with brief cameos starting with issue #139, before she found The Cat‘s costume and became Hellcat in issue #144. She stayed with the team up to issue #151.
- Avengers Epic Collection: Kang War
Collects Avengers #129-149, Giant-Size Avengers #2-4. - Avengers Epic Collection: The Final Threat
Collects Avengers #150-166, Annual #6-7; Super-Villain Team-Up #9; Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2. (only in #150 and #151)
Following her departure from The Avengers, Hellcat joined The Defenders comics and became a regular member of the team. She first joined the comic book series in Defenders #44 and left after her marriage in Defenders #125.
For now, all those issues are not properly collected in one collection. Marvel Comics is slowly adding new volumes to its Epic Collection and Marvel Masterworks Collection.
- Marvel Masterworks: The Defenders Vol. 6
Collects The Defenders #42-57, material From FOOM #19. - Marvel Masterworks: The Defenders Vol. 7
Collects The Defenders #58-75, material From Marvel Treasury Edition #16. - Marvel Masterworks: The Defenders Vol. 8
Collects The Defenders #76-91, material from Tales to Astonish #13.
- Defenders Epic Collection: The Six-Fingered Hand Saga (vol. 6)
Collects The Defenders #92-109; Marvel Team-Up #101; Captain America #268. - Defenders Epic Collection: Ashes, Ashes… (vol. 7)
Collects The Defenders #110-125; Avengers Annual #11.
For a short while, Patsy and her now-husband Daimon Hellstrom didn’t appear in new comics but finally came back in Defenders (1972) #148 to work on a short mystery. Then, they joined the West Coast Avengers comics for a three-part adventure (in West Coast Avengers (1985) #14-16), before once again going away for a couple of years.
In 1993, Marvel launched the Hellstorm: Prince of Lies ongoing comic book series in which Patsy Walker is… destroyed, let’s just say. It’s not your fighting Hellcat. She appears in issues #2 to 14, and those are not well-collected.
- Hellstrom: Prince Of Lies
Collects Hellstorm: Prince of Lies (1993) #1-11. Issues #12-14 are not collected yet.
Hellcat Resurrected
Patsy Walker died in Hellstorm: Prince of Lies #14 in 1994. It took 6 years to bring her back to life in a two-part story published in the comics Thunderbolts Annual 2000 and Avengers Annual 2000. Following these two issues, she got her first Hellcat comics miniseries–there were only three issues and she got a new costume, but she went back to the classic one quickly after that.
- Thunderbolts Annual 2000/Avengers Annual 2000 are collected in Hawkeye and Thunderbolts Vol. 1.
- Hellcat (2000) #1-3 have not been collected yet.
Once Hellcat was back in action, she rejoined the Defenders team–the Kurt Busiek and Erik Larsen comic book that only lasted for 12 issues but continued in The Order 6-issue comics miniseries.
- Defenders (2001) #1-12 have not been collected yet.
- The Order (2002) #1-6 have not been collected yet.
Possible Entry Point! After that, Hellcat only did a few inconsequential brief apparitions until 2007 when Stuart and Kathryn Immonen took the character over. They bring her back in Marvel Comics Presents before she got a new short five-issue comic book miniseries.
- Patsy Walker: Hellcat
Collects Patsy Walker: Hellcat (2008) #1–5 and material from Marvel Comics: Presents #1–4.
Patsy then joined Avengers: The Initiative in a minor role (in Avengers: The Initiative #20-23). Following that, she was cast as one of the “Divas” with Firestar, the Black Cat, and Photon, in Marvel Divas. Next, Patsy had a supporting part in Models, Inc., a murder mystery set during the NY Fashion Week. Then, in Heralds, superheroines of the Marvel Universe (including Hellcat, of course) must work together to stop a cosmic catastrophe.
- Marvel: Divas
Collects Marvel: Divas #1-4. - Models, Inc.
Collects Models, Inc. #1-4. - Heralds
Collects Heralds #1-5.
Hellcat & She-Hulk
After those comics miniseries pairing Patsy Walker with multiple heroines of the Marvel Universe for quite different stories, she went back to making cameos or brief appearances before joining She-Hulk for a new job. Jennifer Walters has her own firm and recruit Hellcat to do investigating work.
- She-Hulk by Soule & Pulido: The Complete Collection
Collects She-Hulk (2014 series) #1–12, Wolverines #13, and material from Gwenpool Special #1.
Possible Entry Point! Not too long after that, Patsy finally got her first ongoing Hellcat comics titled “Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat!” written by Kate Leth and drawn by Brittney Williams. Patsy decides to open a job agency for superpowered people while trying to put her hands on the rights to the old comics written by her mother that are now being republished.
- Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat! Vol. 1: Hooked on a Feline
Collects Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat! #1-6. - Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat! Vol. 2: Don’t Stop Me-Ow
Collects Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat! #7-12. - Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat! Vol. 3: Careless Whisker(s)
Collects Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat! #13-17.
After that, Patsy reconnects with her friend She-Hulk…
- She-Hulk Vol. 2: Let Them Eat Cake
Collects Hulk (2017 series) #7-11. - She-Hulk Vol. 3: Jen Walters Must Die
Collects She-Hulk #159-163.
…Before being once again sidelined for a short time.
Hellcat & Iron Man
In 2020, Marvel relaunched the Iron Man comics with writer Christopher Cantwell and artist Carlos Alberto Fernandez Urbano. Tony Stark wants to go back to the basics, but it’s not that easy. Hellcat is here to help and they develop a complex relationship.
- Iron Man Books Of Korvac I: Big Iron
Collects Iron Man Vol. 6 #1-5. - Iron Man Books Of Korvac II: Overclock
Collects Iron Man Vol. 6 #6-11. - Iron Man Books Of Korvac III: Cosmic Iron Man
Collects Iron Man Vol. 6 #12-19. - Iron Man Books Of Korvac IV: Source Control
Collects Iron Man Vol. 6 #20-25.
After issue #20, you have to read the Iron Man/Hellcat Annual #1, collected in the following book below, before reading the last issues of the Iron Man run. Then, follow Patsy in the 5-issue 2023 Hellcat comic book miniseries:
- Hellcat: Devil on my Shoulder
Collecting Iron Man/Hellcat Annual #1 and Hellcat (2023) #1-5.
Leaving all that behind, Hellcat finally resurfaced as a recurring character in the last Sensational She-Hulk comics (starting with issue #4).
- She-Hulk by Rainbow Rowell Vol. 4: Jen-Sational
Collects Sensational She-Hulk (2023) #1, #2 (A story) and #3-4. - She-Hulk by Rainbow Rowell Vol. 5: All In
Collects Sensational She-Hulk (2023) #6-10.
And then came the Venom War! During the Symbiote event, She-Hulk and Hellcat fight in the street of New York in the Venom War: Zombiotes miniseries.
- Venom War: Zombiotes/Venomous
Collects Venom War: Zombiotes (2024) #1-3, Venom War: Venomous (2024) #1-3, Black Widow: Venomous (2024) #1, Venom War: Daredevil (2024) #1.
The story continues…
