Natasha Romanov: Black Widow Appreciation 2018

[Winterboy]

I bought Spiderwoman 17 because Natasha was in it. Does she appear in other issues in this series?

Spider Woman vol 5 #10 (few pages)



Spider Woman vol 6 #1 (one panel)

[Stormcrow]

This reminds me - what do Nat fans think about the Liu/Swiezcynski series? I thought The Name of the Rose was pretty good, if a bit disjointed, and I loved Daniel Acuna's art, but the last three issues were terrible.

I love "The Name of the Rose", definitely my favorite Black Widow story. Daniel Acuña would be my top Widow artist if Phil Noto hadn't come along. Marjorie Liu's tone was pitch perfect and it has probably my favorite Nat/Bucky moments. Her encounters with Elektra and Lady Bullseye were pretty cool. And I really liked the Black Rose character.

I agree the story felt a bit disjointed, though. The baby stuff came out of nowhere and I wasn't impressed by the villain reveal.

The Swiezcynski issues, on the other hand, were just the kind of generic story that infuriates me. What a waste of those last three issues...

[millernumber1]

I love "The Name of the Rose", definitely my favorite Black Widow story. Daniel Acuña would be my top Widow artist if Phil Noto hadn't come along. Marjorie Liu's tone was pitch perfect and it has probably my favorite Nat/Bucky moments. Her encounters with Elektra and Lady Bullseye were pretty cool. And I really liked the Black Rose character.

I agree the story felt a bit disjointed, though. The baby stuff came out of nowhere and I wasn't impressed by the villain reveal.

The Swiezcynski issues, on the other hand, were just the kind of generic story that infuriates me. What a waste of those last three issues...

Nat, though she's been sadly underserved in writing, has had some amazing artists - Acuna, Noto, and Samnee are all phenomenal talents. The relationships Nat and the rest of the cast have were really solid, agreed. The baby stuff was indeed what I was thinking about for the disjointedness - like...where did that come from? I mean, it's not a terrible idea, but the way it just plopped into the plot was super strange.

Yeah, the generic spyness (not to mention annoying narrator idiot) was not impressive. I still don't know why they didn't just call it a miniseries and cap it off at 5.

[Seren]

I'm currently re-reading Ales Kot's Secret Avengers and I still love the dynamic between Jess and Nat. And I appreciate the book a lot more the second read through. It's a lot of fun and a great story.

[millernumber1]

I'm currently re-reading Ales Kot's Secret Avengers and I still love the dynamic between Jess and Nat. And I appreciate the book a lot more the second read through. It's a lot of fun and a great story.

The character interactions of that book were fun, but I was really put off by the memory erasure stuff.

[Matternativ]

I'm currently re-reading Ales Kot's Secret Avengers and I still love the dynamic between Jess and Nat. And I appreciate the book a lot more the second read through. It's a lot of fun and a great story.

Kot's run on secret avengers was my favourite thing ever.Three of my absolute favourite characters, the simplistic art and the hilarious dialogues fit just so well together.

The character interactions of that book were fun, but I was really put off by the memory erasure stuff.

The memory wipe thing came before Kot took over the reigns and before Jess joined I think.
It was basically another comic entirely then.

[millernumber1]

The memory wipe thing came before Kot took over the reigns and before Jess joined I think.
It was basically another comic entirely then.

Hmm. I think you're right - looking at it, Reverie (which is what I really hated) seems to have been by Nick Spencer. On the other hand, I do remember trying the next run of Secret Avengers, and was offput by how zany it was. My favorite Secret Avengers run was probably Warren Ellis's six standalones in the first volume (which was a bit too exposition heavy, but still more the tone I expected).

[Matternativ]

Hmm. I think you're right - looking at it, Reverie (which is what I really hated) seems to have been by Nick Spencer. On the other hand, I do remember trying the next run of Secret Avengers, and was offput by how zany it was. My favorite Secret Avengers run was probably Warren Ellis's six standalones in the first volume (which was a bit too exposition heavy, but still more the tone I expected).

Hahaha fair enough. With Secret Avengers you expect some brooding spystuff after all instead of a comedy.

You are talking about the one with Cap, Valkyrie, Moon Knight and drawn by Deodato right? It was alright but i tend to don't read anything drawn by that guy more than once. Don't really remember what happened plotwise either.

[millernumber1]

Hahaha fair enough. With Secret Avengers you expect some brooding spystuff after all instead of a comedy.

You are talking about the one with Cap, Valkyrie, Moon Knight and drawn by Deodato right? It was alright but i tend to don't read anything drawn by that guy more than once. Don't really remember what happened plotwise either.

Yeah, pretty much that is the tone I'm looking for.

Well, the Ellis run was six one-shot issues in a row, with a different artist each time. Deodato might have been one of them, but the first one was drawn by McKelvie. The plots are fairly typical Ellis - superscience with lots of exposition. But Nat's solo issue (#20) was really well done - having a mini timetravelling device, and really using that idea.

[Winterboy]

Well, the Ellis run was six one-shot issues in a row, with a different artist each time.

McKelvie, Walker, Lark, Aja, Maleev and Immonen.

What a great list of artists.


...and Maleev really know how to draw Natasha...

[millernumber1]

Indeed! Maleev, I believe, is the one on Nat's solo issue.

[responsarbre]

This reminds me - what do Nat fans think about the Liu/Swiezcynski series? I thought The Name of the Rose was pretty good, if a bit disjointed, and I loved Daniel Acuna's art, but the last three issues were terrible.

Liu/Acuña's five-issue run is still my favorite. I'm a big fan of the sappy lyricism of Natasha's narration, the real attempt at a twist-filled spy plot, and the effort to reference parts of her past that hadn't been explored by other authors. No one else since has told a story that had to with either her time in World War II or her tenure in the Avengers in the 90s.

It's smart, stylish, and more than a little emotional, which is what I like in a Black Widow story.

I think the Swierczynski stories had the potential to be good, but the fact that the run was cut short and then forced into the Widowmaker crossover messed up the pacing and confused whatever was supposed to be going on in the story. I really liked the disguise gag at the beginning of his run, for example.

The memory wipe thing came before Kot took over the reigns and before Jess joined I think.
It was basically another comic entirely then.

The second volume, aka the memory wipe book, was mostly written by Nick Spencer, but Ales Kot came on as co-author for the last five issues to help wrap things up and set up his own book, which I suspect is where the confusion is coming from. This also means that Kot is partially responsible for Yelena's awkward death scene

[ed2962]

Spider Woman vol 5 #10 (few pages)

Ouch! (10 chtrs)

[Bl00dwerK]

Marvel must be getting some of these artists at a discount.

[Winterboy]

After re-read the Velvet series I can' t stop thinking about how cool Brubaker chronicling Natasha's untold tales (missions, honey traps...) could be.