Fresh off the high of watching Captain America: Civil War, and praying for Scarlett Johansson to get a solo Black Widow movie (seriously, she kicks so much ass), I decided to check out one of the lady’s solo titles. I have previously avoided most Avengers-related comics as I find them really difficult to jump into, with so many crossovers and characters that I end up spending more time Googling than I do reading. However, this story was completely stand-alone, requiring no previous knowledge of the character whatsoever (although the tidbits gleaned from the MCU were probably helpful). But mainly it was the perfect excuse to get more Black Widow in my life.
We jump right into the thick of it, with Natasha Romanoff in Berlin, trying to talk an apparent suicide bomber into surrendering. To gain his trust, she tells the dude her tragic backstory – killed her parents as a teen, fell into the criminal underworld, married a drug kingpin then killed him and his mistress, became a gun/badass for hire – only to inform the sap that the whole story was a crock about two pages later, after he hands over the detonator. The job done, Natasha heads back to New York to meet with her lawyer/manager, Isaiah, to go over the details of her next assignment. It’s a handy little scene, that gives the reader further insight into Natasha’s motives (she’s not doing this for money, she’s doing it for a shitload of money! atonement). Additional narration throughout the rest of the issues provides more glimpses into Nat’s head, letting you know how isolated she is, so scared to let anyone get close that she won’t even adopt the stray cat meowing outside her door.
To be fair, I don’t want to give away much more of the plot, because it was delightfully twisty, even for a spy story. Natasha gets in seemingly over her head doing a job for S.H.I.E.L.D., which uncovers some political machinations and leads to multiple confrontations with a giant, gun-toting Russian zealot who calls himself “The Hand of God”. This volume also includes something called All-New Marvel Now! Point One #1 (Marvel, dude, too many words) that was a single issue story with no purpose other than to demonstrate how much of a complete badass Black Widow can be. No complaints here.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. At first glance, I thought I was not going to be a fan of the art – I usually prefer the more classic comic style, full of sharp lines and bright colours – but this style is uniquely suited to the story. The dreamy, almost blurriness of the panels fits perfectly with the overall murkiness of Black Widow’s assignments, and the fluidity of her methods. The colours are vibrant without losing the sfumato-like quality of the art, with her gorgeous red hair standing out in almost every panel. The writing somehow managed to be both minimal and engrossing, setting out Natasha’s grim determination to atone for her past sins, while keeping a careful distance from the world, even as she gets wrapped up in a larger political plot. My only criticism would be that I wanted to see more of the super ridiculously kick-ass Black Widow, who is savvier than everyone in the room, as opposed to “in over her head” Black Widow. No worries though, this damsel might be in distress occasionally, but she sure as hell doesn’t need a man to save her.
Check out the gif-happy full review here