Natasha goes undercover to thwart Fatale's attempt to seduce and kill the son of an assassinated politician - - a young man who just happens to blame the Black Widow for his loss.
The Good
Swierczynksi seriously knows how to play on your expectations. Every time I thought I had a handle on Black Widow and Fatale's dueling "badger traps" he'd go on and totally switch things up. I felt a lot like the kid who's caught between them in this issue. Seeing as how it's so easy to call the shots before they're fired when you're dealing with familiar characters like this, getting actually surprised like this was a quite novel, and quite welcome, experience.
The Bad
Natasha's been portrayed as super-spy who holds the cards... so it seems a little too clumsy a move on her part to expect the mark in this caper to trust her. She knows he suspects that she killed his father, she knows that his quest to nab her has been verging on obsession... and she really believes she can get him to come along with her without KO'ing him?
The Verdict - 4/5
With the creative team transition, this isn't as stylish and sleek as it was under Liu and Acuna... but that isn't necessarily a minus. Instead, we've got a more white-knuckle, hard-boiled thriller that's just another shade of the spy genre's spectrum. I'm eager to see what happens in issue #7, because this issue ended on a bang of a cliffhanger.
This issue is definitely a more action packed and exciting issue than what Lui and Acuna delivered. But on the other hand, it lacks the deep characterization and brilliant handle on the character that Lui brought the series.
I'm liking the new team. I felt Liu's Widow moved too much from maudlin to bad ass and back to the point that you wondered why she got so worked up over a bad guy she treated like an afterthought. A more direct approach is nice.
As for Natasha being clumsy, she did try contacting him in disguise. And when was she supposed to KO him? While still fighting Fatale in the bathroom? While he was driving? She did what she could in the situation.
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