Black Widow #1

Black Widow #1

Deanpool already had a sense that this issue, or this series for that matter, would follow a route similar to that of Hawkeye. Focus more on Natasha Romanoff’s private life and show another side of her than just her assassin/ex-KGB life. Not that’s a problem, it’s just a matter of how many issues can that story go on for. First off, out of all the other Marvel debuts that came out this week, this one had the most comics taken OFF the shelf on its first day at Deanpool’s local comic book store. Or hear it in these terms: Deanpool wasn’t even considering picking up this comic until he saw what little number of issues was left. Didn’t know the Black Widow fan base was that big. And if it’s not, maybe others knew something he didn’t. Anyways, the general reviews for this issue were quite good, too. But let’s get into Deanpool’s thoughts. From the get-go the readers hear a lie from Black Widow as she tells a fake background story of herself to get a suicide bomber to drop his guard. Like all great lies, there’s a bit of truth that makes it sound so believable. This may set the tone for the rest of the series as to whether or not readers will ever really learn of Natasha’s real past, or simply just hear more cleverly constructed lies as Black Widow. For fans of the Avengers 2012 film, they’ll remember the “red in the ledger” that was affiliated with Black Widow. This is the typical back-story of Natasha’s character and as such, the main theme for the beginning of this series is atonement. Natasha explicitly states that the jobs she takes are meant for her to atone for bad things she’s done and she only takes jobs that involve truly bad people. It’s hard to consider her an antihero, but the lines between moral and immoral are definitely blurred when it comes to the Black Widow. For every bad deed she has committed, a good deed doesn’t necessarily erase the bad one. The issue ends with Natasha having a moment in her kitchen asking herself how many more jobs it’ll take for her to finally atone for her sins. The artwork appears muddy but the economic use of space and the light, warm palette used set a fitting tone for red-headed Avenger. As a new series, it gives new readers and long-time fans a chance to see Black Widow in her own solo series. The story moves along smoothly and there isn’t some overwhelming feeling that there’ll be a lot of moving parts for her stories. For now it’s simply Natasha taking as many jobs as she can to atone for her past. Never for profit, never for her benefit. But yes if you expect deception, espionage, moral ambiguity, secret agent related weapons i.e. rocket launchers, you can find it all in this one issue. 

Black Widow is a master of disguise.

Agent. Assassin. Avenger.

Oh, and she has a cat. How fitting, right?

Deanpool says he’s excited for the series, but may just wait for a trade paperback version of the first volume to see how stories play out. Still, a surprising 8.5/10 go to Black Widow’s debut for the jam-packed, action-filled story. Simplicity is key. Her purpose in her series is clear and the art compliments the simplicity of the comic while not taking any of the action away from it.