Monday, April 19, 2010

Black Widow #1

It's good to see the Black Widow getting her chance in the spotlight, although it's obviously happening because of her appearance in the Iron Man 2 movie (which I'm really looking forward to, by the way).

Natasha Romanoff has actually been around almost as long as Iron Man himself. She first appeared as a Russian spy trying to steal secrets from Tony Stark. Over the years since she's gone from stereotypical bad girl to reformed super-hero, Avenger and SHIELD super-spy.

Her first issue is kind of an interesting mish-mash of stories, hints and odd sidelines, as a mysterious figure from her past attacks and leaves the Widow in a surprisingly vulnerable condition.

The story by Marjorie Liu hints at several possible future storylines and establishes the supporting cast for the Widow, but it makes Natasha almost a secondary character in her own comic - perhaps it would all go down better if we saw more of the Widow in action.

The art by Daniel Acuna is quite good - dark and moody, with some outstanding paint effects.

At this point, it's difficult to give this one a strong recommendation - it's a good setup, but the story is still too deep in mystery to tell if it's going to actually be a good one.

The best advice is to wait for the collection. Or the movie.

Grade: B-

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