The Creators — Kelly Thompson – Writer, Rafael De Latorre – Artist, Jordie Belaire – Colours, Cory Petit – Letters

The Players — Black Widow, White Widow

The Story — Natasha continues to pick up the pieces of her life and notices a little bit of herself in a thief who tries to steal her wallet. That and some fisticuffs against a few villains to make things interesting.

The Take — Kelly Thompson has been doing a killer job on the latest series to feature Marvel’s superspy – action-packed, heartbreaking, full of drama and excitement and everything else one could ever want in a book like this. This latest issue continues that and it introduces a new character who could make things very interesting for the Black Widow going forward, a girl who could very well be a young Natasha though obviously, without the Red Room background. Also factoring into the book is a mission to confront the man called Apogee and to do so means going through multiple floors full of bad guys who have no qualms about killing her. Whether it was coincidence or perhaps due to a little planning, Natasha finds the girl she met earlier knocked out in the penthouse and means to take her in, the Widow’s heart having softened a little over the last while thanks to recent events. Yelena is quick to notice it. The artwork by Rafael De Latorre and Jordie Belaire is fantastic and beautiful to behold, the book full of clean lines and some incredible panels that really paint the Widow as the star of it all – as she should be. While she has left her son and husband behind, the trauma is still with her and though it looks as if that chapter of her life is closed, one has to wonder if they will reappear at some point. If there is a positive to it all, it is that their introduction into the Widow’s world has led to some complex emotions for Natasha and Thompson has mined it perfectly to make for some compelling issues.  Where it goes from here is hard to predict but Thompson obviously has a plan in mind and so far, she has been knocking it out of the park, this particular run featuring the Black Widow as readers have not seen her before. 

Worth It? — Yes.