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Black Widow (2014-) #1 (2014)

by Nathan Edmondson(Favorite Author)

4.1 of 5 Votes: 5

languge

English

genre

Graphic Novels & Comics

publisher

Marvel

series

All-New Marvel Now Black Widow

review 1: It’s a shame as our first contact with it is the cover, and it’s a pretty amazing one done in the vein of the 70s spy novels because the story it offers has been done to death, only this time is totally devoid of any humour or life.This collection lies in the strength of Phil Noto’s art. Noto is an awesome illustrator. He can draw perfectly flawed next door girls, alluring heroines that look approachable and not the goddesses that used to walk through comic books; but sadly he’s not that good when it comes to narrating or creating the illusion of movement. His style here is a mix of Kyle Baker (the light colours used, the outline of facial features) and Bill Sienkiewicz (the action lines, the sketchy finish, backgrounds), but he doesn’t get anywhere near any of t... morehose 2 masters. His narration is functional but paltry and that’s a big problem when you’re doing a comic. People like Sienkiewicz and Dave McKean can get through that thanks to how amazing and personal they are, but Noto is not in that league, and he cannot just get away with it because he draws breathtaking females.Going through it made me feel like I was reading the 30th retread of Elektra Assassin with none of the bite of Frank Miller’s script and only a part of the charm of Sienkiewicz’s art.About the story, let’s say it starts with the following text: Natasha Romanov is an Avenger, an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, and an ex-KGB assassin, but on her own time she uses her unique skill set to atone for her past. Then it uses the next 20 pages to tell you exactly that all over again, even using those same words thrown in dialogues. It is just boring. The assassin/spy routine is numbing and derivative, and it gets totally out of character for the Widow. For example, she puts a guy (with a bulletproof vest) in front of a sniper to be shot to locate the sniper’s position. The sniper shoots the target in the chest (what if he shot him in the head? another kill on the Widow’s tab for getting too cocky) and then she fires a damn rocket at the building, which is supposedly an inhabited one. That wouldn’t work even for Frank Castle, and Black Widow is not a nutjob killer like Punisher.I bring Castle up because this is the same writer as the new Punisher collection, and I think it has a lot of the same problems on it being more focused on having “cool” moments than in actually trying to write interesting scenes. But while Punisher’s introduction worked pretty well, Black Widow’s introduction is pretty lame with Natasha pulling off some hostage negotiation by telling a fairy tale about her past. It didn’t add up that the bomber would believe the story, but it’s so obviously a throwaway scene that it’s irrelevant and there just to have a cool entrance for the Black Widow, and it doesn’t work.The best part of the comic is the ending, where a more relaxed Widow is out of the job and winds down is charming, but then it has to end with more “I’m too cool for you” type of dialogue, that doesn’t really make her cool. We end up with the comic not knowing more of the character or its world and with no idea where this collection will go apart than possibly more forgettable spy stuff and a lot more gloomy internal monologue.It might improve later on, but this self contained number 1 is a disappointment and worse, a drag. But yes, Phil Noto’s girls are lovely, that much cannot be denied.
review 2: Really love this book - it's a fantastic intro issue and I've never read anything Black Widow or Avengers before except for Matt Fraction and David Aja's HAWKEYE. For a newcomer, this is super accessible, and I imagine that fans can also enjoy what's being presented here.Most of all though, I'm really in love with the art. I've already re-read this issue a couple times just to admire Phil Noto's work. Lots of beautiful, soft strokes of color and no heavy black lines to set them apart. Even if I wasn't in love with the story, I'd probably keep coming back for the art as long as the writing was at least OK. less

Download links for: Black Widow (2014-) #1

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