Black Widow (2016-2017) #1

This is good stuiff.Deconstructed but cinematic this is an engaging story, wonderfully paced and intelligently presented adventure..Grounded in her own continuity, strongly influenced by her movie persona but definatly reminiscent of all her incarnations throughout her Marvel career Natasha comes over as an intriguing central character.The creative team spin out of new Daredevil to produce this series and I would welcome a Winter Soldier series by them but this deserves a wide audience.It is quality.

Waid/Samnee are superb on this series - enjoyed parts of their DD run, but BW REALLY suits them - pages of limited dialogue, with the story carried by image alone..... leaving your imagination to fill in the detail. And this IS Natasha, with a very deep (and decidedly Red) history. Loved it. Over too damn quickly. Please, Vol.2 asap.....

Great comic. My daughter loves Black Widow

great read, well worth the money

Niece loves it.

Top notch.

The first six issues of the post-Secret Wars Black Widow series are collected as  Black Widow Vol. 1: S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Most Wanted .I did think about using the title “Original Sins II” or “The Fifth Skrull”, but that last one would have only confused people, as there are no Skrulls in this story - at least none that I noticed. The reference there would have been to the fourth Skrull, who went missing from Fantastic Four #2 and didn’t turn up until Roy Thomas remembered and built an Avengers story around him in Avengers #97 (1971).The relevance, you ask? Well, this story reaches into the depths of the Black Widow’s career, as Mark Waid & Chris Samnee remind us that the Black Widow has been around long before Scarlett Johansen made her a global star (deservedly so, I add; and I can only assume that Ms Johansen’s medical advisors warned her that she’d not survive the stress of a full-length Black Widow film), and has had her fingers in many of Marvel’s oldest pies. Spoilers prevent me from mentioning just what, but the first of these is revealed in issue #6, guest starring Tony Stark (and it is nothing to do with assassinations - this is the Marvel Comic Book Universe - Stark’s parents were never a “thing” back then), and the two of them reminisce about the Good Old Days, when - “You sent the Crimson Dynamo after me. You dropped a building on me with an anti-gravity ray. And I don’t even want to talk about the path you sent Hawkeye down before he turned into a good guy”. I was there for all that, back in Tales of Suspense.The first issue is the pre-credit sequence, to use a Bond film reference, one which leaves Spectre’s in the dust, AND also reminds us of Marvel’s heritage; though I have to complain about a Ferrari being painted in British Racing Green (not as a Ferrari fan, but as a British Racing Green fan); but hang on, didn’t Steranko do just that? I don’t have a very good colour memory unfortunately, but that’s the sort of thing you have to watch out for in this book.One thing noticeably missing from this story (so far) was any reference to the Red Guardian or the Winter Soldier, one being from the original origin story, and one from the revised edition, though the head of the Red Room (now retired) does make the comment “The years appear to have been kind to YOU, of course”, which could mean anything, until it suddenly becomes meaningful in a later story.Anyway, this story is a relaunch in any number of ways, and while continuing with the recent flashbacks about the Red Room also reminds us about the original Black Widow appearances, and sets her off as a lone agent with “every hand against her”, to use an old Marvel story-title, but there are plot turns and twists along the way, and much is never quite as it seems until it is to late.This story builds on the Black Widow’s current cinematic fame to remind everyone about her ‘real’ heritage and give her another shot at the comic-book A-list, with an A-list team producing the comic, which helps a lot.Or you can just read an excellent story and leave the baggage for the baggage-handlers.PS: For another excellent Bond tribute (and brilliant return-to-the-roots story), including a Shirley Bassey theme-song, see  Grayson TP Vol 4 .

From writer Mark Waid (Captain America, Daredevil, Fantastic 4 amongst many others) and artist Chris Samnee (who most recently collaborated with Waid on Daredevil), comes one of the latest titles to be released as part of Marvel comics most recent 'All-New-All-Different' - 'Black Widow'.This book the Black Widow (Natasha Romanova) enacting a daring escape from her often-employers, SHIELD having stolen something - the identity of which at this point remains unknown - but with the voice of SHIELD Director Maria Hill blaring over the loud speaker that the Black Widow is now to be considered an enemy of SHIELD.Blasting a hole in the wall of their Helecarrier, Widow finds herself in free-fall thousands of feet above the city. Proven right in her belief that they would want to capture her alive, SHIELD dispatch a squad of agents to pursue Widow with jet packs and the obligatory flying car, which only suceeds in allowing Natasha to complete landfall as only one of the worlds greatest spys could!Once on the ground the pursuit continues as Widow liberates herself a motorcycle from one unfortunate member of the public and leads the one remaining SHIELD agent on a death defying chase through the city streets, a construction yard, and ultimately - when that agent decides to interpret SHIELD Director Maria Hill's instruction to capture the Black Widow at 'any cost' quite literally - terminating in an explosion in the wilderness.Despite being bloodied and mud splattered, the pursuit is not yet over, as Natasha is forced to battle hand-to-hand with the final agent intent of hunting her down - a battle that does eventually end when Natasha picks up a rock and.....kills him.....?What was it that could compell Natasha to turn against her employers and perhaps even the entire United States of America? An even more crucial question is what could be so important that Natasha - most commonly known these days as a hero and Avenger - would see fit to resort to apparantly lethal means against a SHIELD agent just trying to do his job? As with all good debuts, these early issues provide readers with far more questions than they do answers.The volume is on occasion especially light on dialogue, and prefers to concentrate on dynamic action, but Mark Waid has certainly done a great job of scripting an exciting debut on the book in a style that positively screams 'clandestine espionage', and artist Chris Samnee continues his brilliant work at Marvel by in particular by constructing several exciting and dramatic fight and chase scenes.I thought it a promising start and will certainly be coming back for volume 2!