Recommended Reading
I thought I’d compile a list of Black Widow comics I recommend. As always with superheroes there’s a lot of stuff, some of them are great and some of them are awful, and which is which depends on who you ask. So take this list in the spirit it was given: as one person’s opinion.
All titles listed in chronological order, with the most recent stuff coming first.
Introductory
Start here —
- Black Widow vol 6 #1-5, ❝ The Name of the Rose ❞
Marjorie Liu’s exploration of Natasha’s relationship with the superhero community & her relationship with past selves.
@ amazon - Black Widow vol 1 #1-3, vol 2 #1-3, ❝ Itsy-Bitsy Spider ❞ + ❝ Breakdown ❞
Grayson and Rucka debut Yelena Belova and pour on the character study.
@ amazon
Further Reading
Less essential, but either good, important, or historically interesting —
- Black Widow vol 6 #6-8 & Widowmaker #1-4, ❝ Kiss or Kill ❞ + ❝ Widowmaker ❞
Swiercyznski’s hypercompetent espionage thriller turns into a crossover with Hawkeye & Mockingbird.
@ amazon 1 & 2 - Black Widow and the Marvel Girls #1-4
An all-ages, continuity-free team up series featuring Natasha and various Marvel superladies. Light and cute.
@ amazon - Black Widow vol 4 + 5 #1-6, ❝ Homecoming ❞ + ❝ The Things They Say About Her ❞
Richard K. Morgan’s gritty Marvel Knights take. Less superhero, less continuity, more espionage, more violence. I have some Issues with this run, but it’s still pretty important.
@ amazon 1 & 2 - Marvel Graphic Novel #61, ❝ The Coldest War ❞
This is basically a summation of her character concept up to the Marvel Knights era— a story of love, loss, nationality, and evil robots.
@ amazon - Marvel Fanfare #10-13, ❝ Back in the USSR ❞
Classic mini-series from the early eighties featuring a dilemma of loyalties and an evil cowgirl.
@ amazon - Amazing Adventures vol 2 #1-8, ❝ Then came… the Black Widow ❞
Natasha’s first series from the early 1970s. Issue #5, a melancholy holiday, is a turn of the Bronze Age milestone.
@ amazon
In Other Titles
Team titles and cameo roles —
- Secret Avengers #16-21, ❝ Run the Mission, Don’t Get Caught, Save the World ❞
Warren Ellis and his murderer’s row of artists do Avengers spy-fi style. #20 is the stand-out Natasha issue.
@ amazon - Incredible Hercules #112-115, ❝ Against the World ❞
If I can put Incredible Hercules on a recommendation list, I am putting Incredible Hercules on a recommendation list.
@ amazon - Daredevil vol 2 #61-64, ❝ The Widow ❞
Bendis and Maleev meditate on past relationships and the danger of not moving on. The first 80 or so issues of Daredevil v2 are worth it.
@ amazon - Avengers vol 1 #39-45, ❝ The Valiant Also Die! ❞
Natasha’s original redemption arc, her first origin story, and the tale of the Red Guardian.
@ amazon
Obscurities
The uncollected & harder to track down —
- Journey Into Mystery #517-519, ❝ The Fire Next Time ❞
A twisty late-90s tale of humorously outmoded cyberterrorists and the evils of the internet. - Black Widow / Nick Fury, ❝ Death Duty ❞
One of several Black Widow graphic novels, this is a bleak meditation on the end of the Cold War mixed with 1920s gangster westerns. - Daredevil vol 1 #236, ❝ American Dreamer ❞
The beginning of Ann Nocenti’s Daredevil run, this done-in-one has Natasha confronting the ghosts of the military industrial complex. - Marvel Team-Up vol 1 #81-85, ❝ The Woman Who Never Was! ❞
Vintage Chris Claremont character work, complete with melodramatic inner monologues, mind-control, and ladies kung-fu fighting. - Tales of Suspense vol 1 #53, ❝ The Black Widow Strikes Again! ❞
Natasha’s second appearance, and probably the best look at her extremely brief career in Silver Age supervillainy.
