Natasha Romanov: Black Widow Appreciation 2020

[ed2962]

Some time ago I read in an article that Macchio and Perez had finished that story already in the late 70s or early 80s but at that time Marvel didn't have a book to put it in so it was shelved. When Marvel started the Fanfare series they decided to publish the story there, thus ignoring that Natasha had gotten a different look in the meantime.

Absolutely. Marvel Fanfare ended up publishing a lot of what was called "inventory stories" at the time. These were comics that were either planned and then cancelled for one reason or another or else stories that were created to fill in for missed deadlines but were never used.

[ed2962]

By 1984, both Marvel Team Up and the Avengers had her shorter hair and new costume. In fact that Avengers issue 239 was the first meeting of Mockingbird and Nat to my knowledge. Love how Milgrom includes the long haired wig!

Attachment 95758Attachment 95759

Seems Stern and Milgrom were hedging a bit tossing out the gray for blue

Was that their first meeting? I seem to remember that West Coast Avengers Annual were Quicksilver framed both teams and some members recruited former members and Mock was the person who reached out to Nat...

[Electricmastro]

Was that their first meeting? I seem to remember that West Coast Avengers Annual were Quicksilver framed both teams and some members recruited former members and Mock was the person who reached out to Nat...

I recall they were both summoned to be at the Contest of Champions in 1982, though they likely didn’t meet.

[tliscord]

My only resource I used was Marvel Unlimited ... you may be right about their first meeting being earlier perhaps. I’ll make sure to check out WCA.

In the meantime, since Winterboy likes badassery so much I thought I’d pick out 2 Panels from some badass colleagues both written by Hickman, drawn by Deodato and my other favorite - needs to be back on the Avengers ... forever Mr. Caselli!

48EA1C40-84CD-4878-81CC-81079448DDF6.jpgA3DA6FAF-0029-4F30-BA7D-11B77F3C6AC5.jpg

Gods I’d love a miniseries with these two! By Hickman! Rotating Deodato and Caselli!

[Electricmastro]

Black Widow as she appeared in Avengers #27 (January, 2020).

[Winterboy]

https://www.serialbox.com/serials/black-widow?season=1

Interesting.

[Winterboy]

My only resource I used was Marvel Unlimited ... you may be right about their first meeting being earlier perhaps. I’ll make sure to check out WCA.

In the meantime, since Winterboy likes badassery so much I thought I’d pick out 2 Panels from some badass colleagues both written by Hickman, drawn by Deodato and my other favorite - needs to be back on the Avengers ... forever Mr. Caselli!

48EA1C40-84CD-4878-81CC-81079448DDF6.jpgA3DA6FAF-0029-4F30-BA7D-11B77F3C6AC5.jpg

Gods I’d love a miniseries with these two! By Hickman! Rotating Deodato and Caselli!

Big fan of Hickman's Secret Warriors.

Silver Sable and Natasha by caselli.
IMG_20200421_024510629.jpgIMG_20200421_024510629.jpg

[juan678]

[Marveld2]

I going to tier 3 her right away

[Winterboy]

Awesome!

[kcekada]

Classic Black Widow by Dan Morton....

Attachment 94817

I really like that outfit -- but it loses something when there isn't a leotard under the fishnets. Of course, the look design by John Romita is far superior, but I still dig that first costume.

[Thirteen]

Since the grey suit era of the Widow was brought up...
I was never really a fan of the look, having missed much of its heyday when Natasha was a regular player in Daredevil. Mostly because the color grey would come off so FLAT or muddy on the page. Very once in awhile I would see a strong showing for the look (Jim Lee on Uncanny X-Men #268 and in Punisher War Journal springs to mind). Or in some of the painted depictions of Natasha from posters and collectibles.
But looking back into particularly those Frank Miller days, I can see the graphic appeal of the use of screentone dots (that was top coloring technology!) contrasting with the string blacks to make the Grey Widow Really pop on the page. Even moreso on a purely b&w page. It’s as if Miller worked with B&W being the intended format and addition of color is unnecessary.

[kcekada]

Yeah, that suti only really worked when an artist used zip-a-tone, but that was a laborious process. These days, you can create the dot effect in Photoshop, but I don't know it would be quite the same. I believe Neal Adams used this effect a year prior in Ms. Mystic #1 -- before Frank used it on Widow.

But giving credit where it's due -- look at Natasha being so acrobatic -- that's what I miss in her most recent books-- they lean too heavily into spycraft and don't feature enough of her in action.

[OOTCS]

Was that their first meeting? I seem to remember that West Coast Avengers Annual were Quicksilver framed both teams and some members recruited former members and Mock was the person who reached out to Nat...

Avengers 239 came first. That was Hawkeye's return to the Avengers after his miniseries in 1983 where he and Mockingbird got married. A few issues later, in #243 or so, Vision proposes that Hawkeye open up a West Coast branch of the team. Hawkeye and Mockingbird head to LA and set up the team, yadda yadda yadda. Then you have Avengers Annual 15 and West Coast Avengers Annual 1, in 1986, where Quicksilver frames the team and Bobbi and Nat discuss whether it's all a bluff or not.

[klynn]

Speaking of artists, what are your favorite Natasha artists of all time?

Mine would be in no particular order:

John Romita sr. (for inventing Nat's definite look)
George Perez (because he's George Perez)
Daniel Acuna (maybe the best of the modern ones)
Butch Guice (love it how he incorporated her ballet background into her fighting style and thus made it look the most elegant, also drew a beautiful face)

No particular order.

Gene Colan
Frank Miller (Natasha vs Bullseye)
Jackson "Butch" Guice
Steve Epting
Daniel Acuna
Mike Deodato
Michael Lark

I'm surprised no one mentioned Phil Noto. I absolutely love his Natasha.

I'd add to Romita Sr, Colan and Deodato as favorites.