Black Widow Vol. 2: No More Secrets

Nice conclusion to a near perfect arc. I tend to agree with the reviewer who thinks that it gets a little sharky on the moon issue but it regains its footing quickly.

Black Widow Vol. 2: No More Secrets  collects issues #7-12 of this latest Black Widow mini-series. Now, there is a lot going on in here, and a great danger of spoilers if I am not careful, so I will try and be discrete.The story opens with the rather surprising secret origin of the Weeping Lion, and Natasha’s final confrontation with the former head of the Red Room. It then gets a bit confusing (though I was reading this on a bus and in a café between courses, so it was a bit more episodic than I am used to nowadays) as Natasha and the Lion have to track down a new generation of killer schoolgirls produced by the Dark Room – the successor to the Red one and run by Recluse, ‘daughter’ of the Red Room’s Headmistress, and who was also the ‘sister’ that Natasha never wanted.Natasha wants to rescue these girls, while the Lion wants them for his own ends, while Recluse just wants revenge on Natasha for past and present slights. As the story progresses, more of Natasha and Recluse’s history is revealed, and we even get a trip to the Moon to visit Nick Fury, courtesy of [spoiler].In my review of the previous volume, I said that there were two major characters missing from the story; well at least one of them shows up here, and there may be a cleverly disguised happy ending also.This particular volume did seem a bit confusing to me, but as I said above, I was reading it intermittently. It is also a fairly self-contained story, though the story begins in volume 1 -  Black Widow Vol. 1: S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Most Wanted  – so you need to read that first. This story also clears a lot of the ‘red’ in the Black Widow’s ledger, and brings her life back on a sort of even keel, ready for the next stage in her very long career.The two volumes together made an excellent ‘reintroduction’ for the Black Widow and showed us her place in Marvel history.

Loved this book. There have been a lot of excellent Widow books - she's been very well served by a number of Authors over the last few years, but the Samnee artwork really suits, and attached to a decent and cohesive story - excellent. 'Mini-series'? Not sure how long this collaboration is intended to last, but I hope it will continue for longer. 'Street level' heroes (liked the Daredevil series too) are ideal for this team...