Black Widow #4 – Review

by Nathan Edmondson (Writer), Phil Noto (Artist)

The Story: A strong and mad Russian monk against a Russian super spy. Fight!

The Review: Black Widow is probably one of the characters who received quite a lot of attentions and the most chances from Marvel. Appearing in the 60’s, during the rise of Marvel comics, she was heavily featured in many teams, from many iterations of the Avengers down to the Champions. Appearing in many titles as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, one of Daredevil’s old flame and through various versions, she has always been a staple of this universe in many ways, yet never in ways that felt as if she was ready for a big spotlight.

Cue the Avengers movie, with Scarlett Johansson playing her in ways that not only made her cool, but also as a true character with actual potential. Enamoured with her as she kicked Chitauri butt and manipulated the very god of lies and deceit on the silver screen, the potential to make her a bigger star was there. With Nathan Edmondson primed on her series and writing it quite adequately so far, the series if off to a brilliant start, yet can it stay the course and continue a quality streak, or will a specific issue bring it down a notch?

The unfortunate answer is found in this issue, as the fourth chapter in Natasha Romanov’s saga is a good deal weaker than the first three issues, due to a certain number of problems, the first of them being the actual plot.

Focusing on Natasha chasing down a certain criminal after a botched job that didn’t even began in the right way, there is a certain lack of buildup or progression that allows for the titular character to shine or actually be of importance. While the focus on Molot, the antagonist of this issue, and his actions is a sound approach to storytelling, it would make for a lot better issue if there was more to him than just his actions.