Customer Reviews

Black Widow

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of my all-time favorite comics stories. It was originally a mini-series of three monthly issues, collected here, all together, for one price.

The writing by Devin Grayson, with artwork by J.G. Jones are career high points for both creators, in this book. This is also my favorite story concerning both of the Black Widow characters in this book; who have never looked so good, never in a smarter, more intelligent tale than in this book.

This book is about two different, Soviet trained secret agents. The original, old school Black Widow, (who left the Soviet Union a generation ago), is competing with the self-proclaimed new "Black Widow," who just happens to have a chip on her shoulder towards upstaging and outdoing the original Black Widow.

The way that each Black Widow takes care of business is also an analogy of the different viewpoints between comic book stories from the 1960 & 1970's (when heroes were goody-good, and won with little bloodshed, few casualties), versus the comic book story styles of the last decade of the 1990's and later, (when heroes are borderline homicidal maniacs, shooting everything in sight, and get the job done at any cost). With that in mind, we see that each approach has its pros and cons.

The old style Black Widow shows more experience, patience, and is harder to outsmart; while the new style Black Widow gets to the point faster, and is more unpredictable, but often realizes that she may have bit off more than she can chew in various situations.

The story is fast-paced, with lots of surprising twists, and intriguing developments, and the artwork is realistic and beautifully rendered, almost "photo-quality" at times. You can't go wrong with getting this book!

Not only is the artwork great, the women gorgeous, the action non-stop and the plot compelling, what distinguished this graphic novel was its human story. It would have been easy for the authors to create a good girl/bad girl scenario. But by making it a good girl/good girl situation, they've doubled the suspense. You want Natasha to win, but you can't help but worry about naive young Yelena. A terrific read.

I really enjoyed this one. Check it out!

This book has two complete stories in it:

Part One - "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" - It's the story of two Black Widows duking it out for their right to claim the name, and a great bio-weapon/spy story. The writing has a great forward motion to it, and the artwork is sexy without being crass.

Part Two - "Breakdown" - This is more about the two Black Widows, with a story similar to the movie Face-Off. There's a major stylistic shift in the artwork here, more of a painted look. It works well. Great appearances by Nick Fury and Daredevil too.

This book is a fun read, but definitely not for little kids. Black Widow is a great character, and this book does her justice. I'm looking forward to her next TPB coming out in the spring.

This is everything a comic book should be. Awesome story---non-stop action---and beautiful artwork. Let me rephrase that. Art work that makes Jim Lee's stuff look like "Dick, Jane and Spot".

Why J.G. Jones isn't the most overused artist in the industry is beyond me. I honestly don't think I've ever seen better artwork in my life.

In the first tale, "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider", Devin Grayson spins a wonderful tale of espionage and intrigue---all while managing to make Matt Murdock the most annoying, pompous a-hole in the Marvel Universe.

The second story, "Breakdown" really isn't that great at all. Scott Hampton's pencils are pretty crappy, and Greg Rucka basically rehashes everything covered by Grayson in the first storyarc---while giving it a touch of the "Face-Off" treatment.

Regardless, and I assure you, this book is worth buying today. Now. Three seconds after you're done reading this.

It's fast-paced. It's heart-pounding. And like I said---it's a complete return to why we all started reading comic books in the first place. The ONLY reason this doesn't get 5 stars--is because of the lack-luster "Breakdown" story-arc. "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" alone gets 6 stars, easily.

I'm a very big fan of the James Bond movies, so that's why I picked up this Black Widow graphic novel. In this great story of espionage, action, and intrigue, we meet Natasha Romanov, who is the girlfriend of the famous vigilante Daredevil, and who is also a superspy known as the Black Widow, who works for the espionage organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D., that is headed by the super-tough superspy Nick Fury.
In this Black Widow story, the Black Widow is ordered to stop the sinister operations of an Arabian Warlord who plans to produce an army of vicious super-soldiers with a chemical virus. But along the way, Nastasha runs into Yelena Belova, who is a young spy still working for Russia and who believes she is the real Black Widow, and thinks that Natasha Romanov is just a pretender to the throne and must be eradicated. Thus, Natasha is charged not only with confronting this insane Arabian Warlord, but also with confronting this obviously misguided Yelena Belova.
This is really a great spy graphic novel, and is written by one of the greatest comic book writers of all time, Greg Rucka, who is famous for his superb works in the Batman mythos. As I said there is great action, suspense, espionage, and intrigue in this book. It also presents the fact that being a spy for your country does not always turn out to be the "gravy train" that it sometimes appears to be.
Any fan of the Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Elektra graphic novels would love this great spy thriller graphic novel!

I always looked at the Black Widow as one of the sexiest comic heroes out there. There's a hiddent mystery in her that just seems to mesmerize. That long red hair, that skin-tight, S&M leather costume of hers and that amazing perfect figure. The name, Black Widow, truly gives her justice. You fall in love with her and she kills you with every look.

In this book, written by the team of Devin Grayson and Greg Rucka (on loan from the Batman books, it would seem), weave an intricate web of story, where epsionage and betrayals are key and we're taken back to the days of the cold war. Natasha Romanoff is pitted against someone who might be her better who claims to be the Black Widow herself. We have a fiery cat fight between two beauties. I don't think anyone would mind that this lasts for eternity.

The character is true to her origins, being very cold and inanimate at times of great danger, but you just can't let go of the way she looks or the way her body moves. The person to thank for this would be JG Jones. Jones's Widow is sexy, anything else is just not an adjective to describe the character. Hampton's work, on the other hand, though appealing doesn't do the Widow justice when it comes to beauty. There's no detail that you get to see in Jones's rendition, especially the folds of leather on skin.

If this team is out to make another Black Widow story, then it's going to be a definitive winner. Girls can go head over heels for James Bond, we, guys, have the Black Widow to satiate out appetite.

You think that one Black Widow was dangerous? Well, in this master piece you will get two.

Two fabulous stories (Grayson and Rucka) with stunning art from J. G. Jones (the most beautiful Black Widow ever) and Scott Hampton (fabulous paintings) and the coloring is also top notch (Kemp, Haberlin, Hannin, Troy).

As another reviewer wisely stated, both widows represent their respective generations with their strengths and flaws. It is also the best psychological portrait of Natasha Romanov. She is the black widow not only because that spider is deadly and stealthy...she really lost her husband, she is a widow and a very lonely person - so, Yelena, although very competent, doesn't have the maturity and life experience of Natasha. She wasn't betrayed, she didn't experience loss...but she will get a true wakeup call in this fabulous action/spy mega stories:

"Itsy-Bitsy Spider" - Natasha must eliminate the threat of a new Biological weapon in the middle-east, but someone else also wants to be the widow.

"Breakdown" - Great intrigue story where the Black Widow tries to achieve two objectives in a single mission (finding nuclear weapons and teaching Yelena some truths).

This is one of the best comics from Marvel Knights line of products. You should get one quickly, there aren't much left.