Black Widow, Volume 1: S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Most Wanted

Black Widow, Volume 1: S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Most Wanted by Mark Waid
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Black Widow's past comes back to haunt her when the Weeping Lion blackmails her into getting some files for him in exchange for not revealing her darkest secrets. Will the Widow do what he asks? Will she let the Weeping Lion live when she does?

Since Mark Waid and Chris Samnee on Daredevil was some of the best comics I read in years, I decided to take advantage of my Marvel Unlimited subscription and check out their Black Widow run. Coming off the glacially paced Infamous Iron Man, I was pretty pleased with the first volume of Black Widow. While still decompressed, each issue was a satisfying morsel in its own right.

Samnee's art is as crisp as ever, equally at home portraying action, landscapes, or two characters talking. His Black Widow drawn to resemble Scarlet Johansen and he does a great job. The limited color palette makes the book pop, much like his work on Daredevil.

Waid takes the Widow through all sorts of locales, like the SHIELD helicarrier, a cemeterary, and the Red Room, the place where the Widow was originally trained. I liked how the story explored parts of the Widow's past. I also liked how the Black Widow seemed very deadly and not just the girl on the Avengers.

The blackmail part of the plot was a little weak, particularly when the dirt on the Black Widow was revealed. The ending of the arc lead into the next one but I'm not sure I'm interested enough to follow.

I loved the art on SHIELD's most wanted but the story was average. Three out of five stars.


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