Book Review: Black Widow: Marvel Team-Up by C. Claremont et al.

Black Widow: Marvel Team-Up written by Chris Claremont and others with art by Sal Buscema and others

This is another anthology of Black Widow adventures, this time featuring her working with other Marvel superheroes:

Marvel Two-in-One #10 (The Thing and Black Widow)--Black Widow is in a car chase through Central Park and almost crashes in to Ben Grimm (aka The Thing) whose on a date with his blind girlfriend Alicia Masters. Ben knocks the car out of the way and tosses Alicia to safety, but he and Black Widow are captured by her pursuers. They take the two heroes to their evil lair in the middle of the Atlantic. The bad guys plan to drop the biggest nuclear bomb ever to the bottom of the ocean, causing a radioactive tidal wave that will wipe out the American east coast. The Widow and the Thing work together to thwart the plan. The story is a fairly standard action yarn. Black Widow and the Thing make an unlikely but fun team.

Marvel Team-up #57 featuring Spider-man and Black Widow--Spider-man thwarts a gang of thieves in the post-Christmas lull in crime. They are working for the Sliver Samurai, who has some bigger, unidentified scheme. Meanwhile, Black Widow has returned to New York at the summons of Nick Fury, only to find the safe house seemingly abandoned. As she goes in search of Fury, she sees the energy blasts from the Samurai's sword. She investigates and the team-up begins. It's a fun action story but it's just the start of some other arcs in other comics.

Marvel Team-up #82-85 featuring Spider-man and Black Widow (and Nick Fury and Shang Chi)--Spider-man discovers a red-headed woman about to be mugged in an alleyway. She sure looks like the Black Widow but she claims she's Nancy Rushman, a New York school teacher. She can't remember her address or what school she teaches at, so there's a mystery to solve. Unfortunately, they are attacked by a S.H.I.E.L.D. taskforce before they can get more clues. The story spins into a larger conspiracy...pretty typical for a story from the 1970s! It's another entertaining story that moves at a good pace.

Marvel Team-up #98 featuring Spider-man and Black Widow--They are back together, this time fighting gun runners in New York City. Nothing too special about this story, other than it seemed a little short.

Marvel Team-up #140-141 featuring Spider-man, Black Widow, and Daredevil--A New York City blackout leads to rioting. Spider-man is just short of preventing a pawn shop owner from being killed by the neighborhood gang. The gang points the finger at an innocent man who is being represented by Daredevil's regular identity, lawyer Matt Murdock. Matt needs help finding proof of innocence (other than his ability to listen to someone's heartbeat and detect if they are lying). Ex-girlfriend Black Widow steps up to help Matt. Spider-man wants to investigate because he feels guilty about not saving the pawn broker. So they work together, though a bigger conspiracy is at hand. Also, Spider-man is snatched mid-story for the Secret Wars crossover, when he got the black suit that turned out to be the symbiote Venom, a whole other story. He returns to this story, which comes to a satisfactory conclusion.

Marvel Comics Presents #53--Black Widow and Silver Sable hunt the same villain in Paris, France, eventually fighting over him at the Eiffel Tower. The story is very short and fairly entertaining. It even manages to avoid the fight between the two females looking like some sexist cat fight. It's just a fun showdown between two evenly-matched fighters.

Marvel Comics Presents #70--Black Widow teams up with Soviet superhero Darkstar (A Russian mutant with Darkforce energy, whatever that is) and Starlight (another Russian hero who is under the mind-control of the Presence, an overpowered Russian who got his power from exposure to nuclear radiation). They manage to free Starlight from the mind-control so she can talk some sense into the Presence. The story is very short and feels like it serves some other ongoing narrative.

Marvel Comics Presents #93--Black Widow and Daredevil infiltrate a secret Hydra base and take it out. Another quick, fun story, especially when the Widow has to talk blind Daredevil through disarming the self-destruct bomb.

Mildly recommended--the stories vary in quality but most are fine. Nothing is a must-read; nothing made me sorry I read it.

Book Review: Marvel's Black Widow Prelude by S. Lee et al.

Marvel's Black Widow Prelude written by Stan Lee and others

As a preparation for the movie, Marvel has published one of its "Prelude" volumes, based on individual comics sold in the lead-up to the movie's release. This book came out a year ago, since the movie was supposed to come out a year ago. I finally read it through Hoopla. Here are the contents...

Black Widow Prelude #1-2--This two-issue lead-in to the movie is entirely a recap of Black Widow appearances in other Marvel films. This reads like a shameless money grab by the publisher. I guess if you haven't seen the movies, the content is new, but why are you reading this if you haven't been following the MCU all along? The end recommends seeing more in Marvel's Black Widow.

Tales of Suspense #52-53--The first appearance of Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff has her facing off against Iron Man as a Soviet scientist tries to defect. Iron Man's decent treatment of her (like leaving her alive after her failure) forces her to stay in America rather than face the inevitable back in Moscow. She tries to be bad but Iron Man still keeps her from doing bad and saves her life. Her fate is left for further issues to reveal. The end recommends reading more in Black Widow Epic Collection: Beware the Black Widow trade paperback.

The Avengers #43--The issue features the first appearance of the Red Guardian, the Soviet answer to Captain America. Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow has been captured and taken to a secret Chinese base. The Avengers get some intel that Hawkeye and Hercules (yes, the son of Zeus is also an Avenger in the comics) use to go free her. They wind up battling the Red Guardian. The end recommends reading more in Black Widow Epic Collection: Beware the Black Widow trade paperback.

The Avengers #196--The issue features the first appearance of Taskmaster, a villain who can imitate any move or tactic as soon as he sees it. At first, he thought of using this ability to be a superhero, but he realized there's more money on the other side. Then he realized there is more safety in training lackeys for other supervillains rather than being a supervillain himself. One of his trainees tries to defect to the Avengers, blowing Taskmaster's scheme and drawing the attention Earth's Mightiest Heroes. The end recommends more Taskmaster action in Taskmaster: Anything You Can Do... trade paperback.

Web of Black Widow #1--Natasha infiltrates one of Tony Stark's swanky fundraiser parties to take down a villain she helped back when she was a bad gal. She tries to keep Tony out of it but you know how Iron Man is. The end recommends reading more in The Web of Black Widow trade paperback.

So basically, this graphic novel is just a bunch of half stories given so that the reader will buy more comics or a ticket to the movie. Ho-hum. I'm glad I borrowed this digitally from the library. I may borrow those other trade paperback on Hoopla. 

Mildly recommended.

Movie Review: Black Widow (2021)

Black Widow (2021) directed by Cate Shortland

Following the events of Captain America: Civil War, Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) is on the run from Secretary Ross (William Hurt). She tries to lay low, but her more remote past catches up with her. She's at a safe house in Norway when her off-the-grid resource guy brings some stuff from her Budapest safe house. The items include a small ammo box that has some mysterious chemicals in it. She's ready to take it to the dump but en route she is intercepted by Taskmaster, a villain who can imitate the fighting style of anyone just by watching them. Taskmaster has watched the whole back catalog of the MCU and easily mimics Black Widow's moves. She realizes Taskmaster is after the chemicals, not her, so she escapes with them and then heads to Budapest for more answers. She finds out the Red Room, the Russian secret project that trained her, is still active and training more widows. Natasha wants to finish the job she thought was finished long ago, i.e. shutting down the Red Room for good. At this point in the MCU timeline, the Avengers are all either against her or in jail, so she has to find other help--her former Russian "family" including her "father" the Red Guardian (David Harbour), her scientist "mother" (Rachel Weissz), and her "sister" Yelena (Florence Pugh). They were all part of a spy project in the 1990s to steal stuff from America. They posed as a family for three years in America before fleeing to Cuba, where they were separated. Natasha and Yelena went to the Red Room. They have baggage like a family does even after twenty years apart.

The story moves along at a good pace, balancing out action, plot exposition, and interpersonal drama. The twists were nicely unpredictable and the ending was, like most superhero movies, a bit too over-the-top. Some plot elements look like they were recycled from other Marvel movies. Dealing with the "sins from her past" went by too quickly. Even so, the film was entertaining and had built up enough excitement and heart that I didn't mind them turning it to eleven.

Recommended.

Book Review: Black Widow Vol. 3 by N. Edmondson et al.

Black Widow Volume 3: Last Days written by Nathan Edmondson and art by Phil Noto

For my review of the first volume, go here, and for the second volume here.

Black Widow continues her search for redemption and to find out who is behind the enigmatic yet ever-present Chaos. Her lawyer/money manager has been shot and is slowly recovering in the hospital. She's been outed as having a very black past by a cable news network. She decides to lay low when she sees even her apartment is covered by news vans. But she won't stay on the sideline for long. She fights her way through the Chaos organization to reach a final conflict with The Prophet, a man possessed (maybe literally) by a vision of a better future. Black Widow doesn't buy it even though he offers her an easy life.

This book finishes the storyline for Edmondson. The ending is satisfying, creating an interesting character arc for Black Widow and a solution for the ongoing plot. The art as usual fits the story nicely. It is refreshing to read a book about a female character who isn't treated visually as a sex object. She doesn't even treat herself like a sex object. 

Recommended.

Book Review: Black Widow Vol. 2 by N. Edmondson et al.

Black Widow Volume 2: The Tightly Tangled Web written by Nathan Edmondson and illustrated by Phil Noto and Mitch Gerads

For my review of the first volume, go here.

Natasha Romanov (aka Black Widow) runs through a bunch of international assignments, trying to earn money to pay back to people she has hurt. In this issue, she teams up with various other heroes (including Daredevil, the Winter Soldier, the Punisher, Hawkeye, and X-23). "Team up" is too strong a word for some of the situations. The issue with Punisher is paired with the same story told from the Punisher's point of view in his book, making a fun contrast. Her ongoing story is her relationship with her lawyer (not Daredevil) who is kidnapped by an enemy who wants chaos to rule.

The book has a subdued art style that fits with the (mostly) serious storytelling. The action is fun and Black Widow, even though she has turned to good, still struggles with her harsher inclinations. The book is entertaining and I will definitely read the next volume.

Recommended.

Book Review: Black Widow: No More Secrets by M. Waid et al.

Black Widow: No More Secrets written by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee, art by Chris Samnee, and color by Matthew Wilson

This is a sequel to Black Widow: S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Most Wanted, which I reviewed here. By this point, Black Widow has turned the tables on her enemy, The Weeping Lion. She's using him to go after The Dark Room, a rebirth of the Red Room project that created the Widow back in the day. Her old teacher, the Headmistress, is training a new set of young girls who are being robbed of a normal life, something Black Widow wants to stop. Even though the Widow tends to be a loner, she has the Winter Soldier and an old Russian friend living out in the middle of nowhere helping her. 

The plot is fun but goes a bit too far over the top when the Widow and the Soldier take a spaceship to visit a zombie-like Nick Fury on the moon for some intel. The rest of the plot was fine with a very satisfying ending. Like the previous volume, this book takes the Black Widow seriously (except for the moon bit) and not sexily. It's refreshing to read the story of a female hero who gets by with her wits, determination, and skill, not her scantily-clad body. The art is reminiscent of Mike Mignola's Hellboy style, which is a bonus in my eyes.

Recommended.

Book Review: Black Widow: Sting of the Widow by S. Lee et al.

Black Widow: Sting of the Widow written by Stan Lee, Mimi Gold, Gary Friedrich, and Don Rico with art by Don Heck, John Romita, John Buscema, and Gene Colan

This retrospective of early Black Widow comics covers some highlights of her comic book career:

Tales of Suspense #52--First, Black Widow arrives on the scene as part of a duo of Soviet agents. They are trying to get Ivan Vanko, the Crimson Dynamo, back on the Russian side after he was defeated by Iron Man. Vanko defected thanks to the kind and compassionate treatment he got from the West. The duo pose as foreign dignitaries who want to tour Tony Stark's labs. After a bit of touring, Tony ask Madame Natasha (Black Widow) out to dinner while her comrade continues the tour. The bad guy finds and captures Vanko working in the lab, taking him to their submarine just off New York's shoreline. He goes back to Stark's labs and tears up the place. Iron Man is called in, though he is captured in the fight. He's also taken to the sub, where he rescues Vanko. They go back to the labs in time to stop Black Widow and her nefarious partner, who is killed by Vanko. Natasha escapes to the streets. She can't go back to the Motherland since she knows the price of failure exacted by the KGB.

A synopsis page details Black Widow eventually falling in love with Hawkeye. They date for a while but break up. She works briefly with the Avengers and SHIELD. She tries going back to being just the socialite Madame Natasha, but the shallow life is not for her. This leads her to...

The Amazing Spider-Man #86--Natasha decides to reimagine herself as a hero. She ditches her old costume (fishnet leggings and a purple cape with a mask just like Hawkeye's) and designs the now-familiar black suit with chain belt and wrist shooters. Her powers are similar to Spider-Man's (she uses suction cups to climb walls and shoots ropes to swing from building to building). She fights Spidey in hopes of learning what gives him his powers and how he uses them. Her timing isn't so great--Peter is feeling woozy from fighting Kingpin and he's easily defeated by Black Widow. She decides to go her own way with her own style of fighting. And her own comic book...

Amazing Adventures #1 to 8--Black Widow starts some solo adventures (though the book was split between her and the Inhumans). Her housecleaner's son is in trouble, so she helps out by beating up the shakedown artists who have been harassing him. Then she gets involved with the Young Warriors, a group of young men who want to set up a soup kitchen in Spanish Harlem. Their main problem is they set up shop in a corrupt congressman's building. The congressman works to kick them out with less than legal means. His thugs have a run-in with Black Widow. They manage to waylay her back at her apartment since she's now recognizable without a mask. She beats the bad guys and heads back to Harlem just in time to settle the stand off between the police and the Young Warriors.

Her second solo adventure has her facing off against The Astrologer, who plots his crimes based on what he sees in the stars. He and his gang of teenagers have mostly done petty crimes but now they are going after New York's blood supply! One of the teenagers flees and runs into Black Widow, who is ready to stop the gang. She has a rooftop fight with some gang members who try to get the teen back. The battle ends with the teen knocking a gang member off the roof. Both plummet to their deaths. The Widow feels guilty but keeps working the case. A few more adventures and another death leave the Black Widow in a funk over how people die around her.

Her last adventure in Amazing Adventures finds her and her henchman Ivan being captured by the Watchlord. He was exposed to radiation as a child in Germany--Soviet radiation! He naturally has an aversion to Russians, so he wants to eliminate Black Widow and her henchman. She manages to escape him. In the final conflict, Watchlord dies and she feels guilty again.

Daredevil #81--Black Widow was dropped from Amazing Adventures (which only lasted two more issues with the Inhumans). She moves over to Daredevil (hey, they're both in New York City so it's not surprising). Daredevil is tossed in the river by The Owl, a fairly nondescript villain who thinks he's a genius. Black Widow happens to be nearby and saves Daredevil from drowning. They separate before he knows who saved him. The Owl is the minion of a bigger villain (who is also smarter, but don't tell Owl!) who wanted DD captured, not killed. The Owl goes off on his own, which turns out to be a bad decision when both Daredevil and Black Widow show up to defeat him. Thus a partnership was formed between Daredevil and Black Widow. Their subsequent adventures are not in this book.

I found the stories interesting but they are definitely products of their time. Initially, the Soviets are Red Commie menaces who can do no good unless they defect to the welcoming West. As the stories progress, the writers are a little softer on her Russian background. She is occasionally drawn like a pin-up rather than a superhero, which hasn't changed much over the years. The Young Warriors seem like any hardcore youth group from that era, fighting "the man" in City Hall. Some of the dialog, like the quips during the fights, are occasionally wince-inducing but mostly fine. If you can handle that stuff, you will enjoy this book.

Slightly recommended as some historical filler and background on Black Widow.

Book Review: Black Widow: S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Most Wanted by M. Waid et al.

Black Widow: S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Most Wanted written by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee, art by Chris Samnee, color art by Matthew Wilson

As you might guess from the title, Natasha Romanoff (a.k.a. the Black Widow) is on the outs with S.H.I.E.L.D. She's being blackmailed by a mysterious figure who calls himself "The Weeping Lion." He uses very compromising information from her past to make her play along. In addition to stealing information from S.H.I.E.L.D., she needs to collect other intel from her former Soviet handlers back in the motherland. The direction of the conspiracy is not clear to readers or Black Widow, but that doesn't stop her from trying her best to get out from under the Weeping Lion's heel.

The twisty plot is fun and covers a great deal of Natasha's history, giving her a nice depth of character. She has just as many brains as brawn. Her conflicted history (villain turned into hero, or at least mostly a hero) makes her interesting. The action sequences are exciting if not always plausible. The art is serviceable--neither noticeably great or bad. Happily, Black Widow is drawn like a normal woman and isn't even remotely sexualized. She's a person with a difficult past and the wits to turn the tables if circumstances will let her.

Recommended.

Book Review: Black Widow Vol. 1 by N. Edmondson et al.

Black Widow Volume 1: The Finely Woven Thread written by Nathan Edmondson and art by Phil Noto

Natasha Romanov, former KGB-trained assassin now known as Black Widow, is trying to make up for her past sins. In addition to working with the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D., she does free-lance assignments. She has an accountant to manage the finances and get the jobs. The money goes to families she hurt in one way or another. The stories here mostly focus on her free-lance work. The jobs are varied and very shady, often requiring the killing of evil people (which she is okay with). Sometimes plans go south or the target isn't exactly what she was told, so she has to improvise. A couple of times improvisation costs her the fee, which the accountant balks at because of all the expenses they have to maintain an international spy. These stories are stand-alones and work to give some character depth to Black Widow. They also have fun action sequences. And there's a bit of Black Widow's home life, dealing with a neighbor and a stray cat trying to become her pet.

The last half of the book is devoted to a job she does for S.H.I.E.L.D. An embassy in America is blown up, which could be construed as an act of war, but really the target was one person in the embassy. Black Widow has to follow a trail of clues across the globe which pits her against an extremely difficult opponent. This story was more interesting to me than the first half's stories.

The art looks more like water colors than like typical comic book art. The shift suits the more somber mood of the book. Happily, Black Widow herself is not drawn as some pin-up girl who doesn't know how to zip up her shirt (though two of the alternate covers in the back of the book do treat her that way). She is much more realistic and thus easier to take seriously as a character. She does bleed and she doesn't always win but she always does what she thinks is right. I look forward to more of her  adventures from this creative team.

Movie Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) directed by Anthony and Joe Russo

Captain America as a character doesn't quite fit in modern culture. He's a flag-wearing patriot who believes in following the chain of command and doing what's best for the country he loves. Perhaps this attitude was a lot easier in World War II 1940s when issues looked so clear. Nazis and the Axis countries were bad; America and the Allies were good. Modern culture doesn't allow for such neat divisions into moral categories. What's a super-soldier to do?

At the beginning of this movie, Captain America is working for S.H.I.E.L.D., a highly resourced and highly effective intelligence agency. One of their ships in the Indian Ocean is raided by pirates intent on ransoming the crew and the scientists on board. Cap leads a rescue mission. In addition to regular S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Black Widow is on the team. After securing the boat, Cap discovers her taking information from the ship's computers, an assignment she had from Nick Fury, head of S.H.I.E.L.D. Cap knew nothing about it and is frustrated that Fury didn't let him in on it. As he and Fury discuss it, Fury acknowledges that Cap wouldn't have gone on the mission if Black Widow's assignment had been the primary goal, but she is willing to do things he isn't. Cap doubts he's working for the right people if information is more important than lives. Fury shows Cap a new S.H.E.I.L.D. initiative that will enable them to kill bad guys even before they are going to commit crimes. It's a combination of low-orbit weapons and high-tech surveillance. Cap bristles even more at this project. Following the chain of command and doing what's best for the country he loves comes into conflict.

A mysterious figure (later identified as the Winter Soldier) tries to kill Fury. Fury goes to Cap's home and tells him not to trust anyone. Things with the project are fishy and he gives Cap the USB drive with the ship's information. Fury is taken off to the hospital and Cap comes into conflict with Fury's superior (played well by Robert Redford), who wants to know what Fury told him. Cap is accused of withholding information S.H.I.E.L.D. needs and has to go on the run. Black Widow joins him, presumably because she's used to trusting no one. Events spiral out of control.

So in addition to the usual comic book film action sequences, which are plentiful and exciting, the film has an elaborate conspiracy plot that keeps viewers' brains engaged. I was a little worried when Cap and Black Widow went on the run they'd be shoe-horned into a romantic relationship but they kept it professional (and Black Widow wasn't treated as eye-candy the way she was at the beginning of The Avengers). The unraveling of the plot is well paced, heightening the drama and providing plenty of opportunities for action. It's a fun film that moves the Marvel universe forward in interesting ways.