Customer Reviews

Black Widow: The Sting of the Widow

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The Black Widow was a Marvel character created in the '60s. She bounced around as a villain for Iron Man, love interest for Hawkeye, and was one of the features of the new Marvel anthology, Amazing Adventures.

This book reproduces Tales of Suspense #52 (her introduction), Spider-Man #86 (where she adopts a new look/costume), Amazing Adventures #1-#8 (her brief, unsuccessful feature), and Daredevil #81 (starting her relationship with that character).

What is clear is that the Black Widow wasn't able to carry a book by her lonesome; she worked best as a supporting character. There was probably potential there but there were a number of writing/art changes over the 8 issues which killed any possible momentum.

The reproduction is substandard also. The Amazing Adventures covers are horrid. Fortunately we should see them reproduced much better when the Inhumans Masterwork comes out in a few months. The AA stories themselves are hit and miss reproduction wise, some look fine, others not so much.

In short, I can only recommend this book if you're a diehard Marvel completist, as the AA stories are unlikely to be reprinted again. Otherwise, give this one a miss.

I don't understand the complaints about the reproduction of the artwork in this book. Mine looks just fine. The art on the Amazing Adventures issues is crisp and clear, and in fact looks almost identical the the original comics except that this is printed on better paper. Maybe people just aren't used to the look of Gene Colan's art inked by Bill Everett, which has an almost sketchy appearance to it. In any case, if you're interested in this book, don't be swayed by other people's opinions, judge for yourself. To me, this book looks just fine.

The issues taken from the Marvel Masterworks files (Tales of Suspense #52, Spider-Man #86) look fine. All the other material from Amazing Adventures #1-8 and Daredevil #81 have very poor reproduction in them. I'd avoid this book. You'd be better served finding back-issues on EBAY to read since the printing in the originals is so much better. Buyer beware on this one.