The Good
Oh, Nathan Edmondson. After the runaway success of Daredevil on Netflix, it’s not fair to give us a glimpse at both Matt Murdock and Natasha Romanova happy and at peace at long last. Especially since that vision proves to only be just that: a glimpse. The organization that’s given Black Widow so much grief over the last year and a half finally reveals itself and its goals and, maybe, they don’t sound so bad. Oh, except for their METHODS of coercion, threats, and violence...that’s mayyyybe not the best. Edmondson has shown a side of Natasha that isn’t often glimpsed, and it’s not her vulnerability. As a tough female comic book character, her vulnerability is well documented. What Edmondson is showing is her willingness to forego her own happiness and follow her instincts. This is an interesting turn for the character to take, because it’s not her overcoming an “illusion” or slipping out of some kind of construct to overcome a mental attack, it is her straight up sacrificing a beautiful future for herself so that she can help the present. THAT is a true showing of strength and will. Edmondson also does a fantastic job of laying on the themes thick without them becoming eye-rolling or too pretentious to take seriously.
Phil Noto continues his streak of providing great art to the series in this issue. This one’s an odd one because it jumps around not only in terms of location, but in terms of time and Noto does a good job of ushering the reader through, allowing them to go with Widow on her journey and experience what she’s experiencing as she’s experiencing it. The subtle shifts in color make it more evocative, giving the reader a great sense of not only tone, but the unrealness of what’s going on from one page to the next.
The Bad
Noto’s been an absolutely unstoppable force on this title since issue 1, but it may be time for either a hiatus or a fill-in (preferably the former, frankly). This issue lacks the water-colored look of previous ones, and looks flat and overly-posed as a result. It’s not a terrible thing and it’s far from ruining the issue, obviously, but it’s clear that a corner had to be cut somewhere and it definitely lessens the overall impact.
The Verdict
The art is still good-to-great across every page, and it’s to the book’s credit to this point that such a minor thing could cause such a blip, but that’s the trouble with setting the bar so high. This is a phenomenal issue for showcasing Black Widow’s strength of character without resorting to a lot of cliches and tropes. We get a Natasha who has a ton of nuance and character, but ultimately puts duty and her own sense of the right thing above what she might want, either in the short or long term.